Menendez, Cornyn Discuss Upcoming Election

Republicans have a huge edge in enthusiasm heading toward Election Day, but Democrats' poll numbers are rising as more voters focus on who will fight for them, leaders of the two parties' Senate campaign committees said at a Club luncheon Sept. 29.

Sens. John Cornyn of Texas, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and Bob Menendez of New Jersey, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, parsed the upcoming Senate elections in 34 states.

Menendez said that after two consecutive election cycles of gains, the "historical headwinds" are against Democrats. But poll numbers are improving in such blue states as California and Washington, and the party's hopes got a boost when Republicans nominated out-of-the-mainstream candidates in Delaware and Nevada, he said.

He cited a New York Times/CBS News poll that found Democrats were considered more likely than Republicans to stand up for the middle class by a 55 percent to 33 percent margin.

"They have stood with the special interests, with Wall Street, with the big banks, with big insurance and big oil. And we have been fighting for the average person in this country," Menendez said.

Cornyn said generic head-to-head matchups between the parties tracked on realclearpolitics.com that show Republicans up by four percentage points, compared with an 11.5-point deficit in 2006.

"The American people have gotten very tired of being lectured to as opposed to being listened to," Cornyn said. "They see what's happening in Washington, and they are pushing back hard."

Polls show Republicans are more eager to vote than Democrats by a wide margin, Cornyn said. He pointed to Vice President Biden saying that liberal critics of the administration needed to "stop whining," and President Obama telling a Rolling Stone interviewer it would "irresponsible" for Democrats not to support candidates they backed two years ago.

Asked to name a surprise race on election night, Cornyn said Republican John Raese would win the West Virginia seat formerly held by the late Sen. Robert Byrd, a Democrat. Menendez would only predict that they would do better than many people expect.

Democrats control 59 seats, 19 of which are on the ballot; Republicans control 41 seats, 18 of which are on the ballot.

-- Herb Jackson, [email protected]