Why GOP Sees Hope for 2010

They got an electoral thumping in 2006 and did no better in 2008, but Republicans may be getting their groove back. The GOP is still polling at record lows, and the Ensign scandal won’t help the party buck its reputation for moral hypocrisy. Yet, Politico reports, the opposition is making shrewd attacks on President Obama’s programs, and a 2010 comeback is not impossible.

Republicans are still leaderless, too white, and notorious for infighting. But if they can control their worst urges they can exploit five Democratic weaknesses:

• Growing unease about the spiking US deficit.
• Obama’s promises about unemployment, which seem unlikely to be kept.
• Public anger with bailouts—for banks, car companies, and especially AIG.
• An end to Bush loathing, and increasingly strong Obama anger among Republicans.
• Democratic seats in normally Republican districts; lost in the GOP wipeout, they should be easier to recapture now.

(More Republican Party stories.)