Republicans Can Retake House in a 2010 'Landslide'

Fred Barnes surveys the political landscape and sees the possibility of Republicans gaining up to 40 House seats—and thus regaining control of the chamber—in the 2010 elections. "A landslide of that dimension is quite possible," he writes. Democrats have time to reverse the trend, but they're "stuck in defense" and have shown no signs of doing so. If trends continue, Republican might flip up to 4 Senate seats as well.

Yes, this is "guesswork," Barnes writes in the Weekly Standard, but signs of "a strong drift toward Republicans" are clear: Obama's approval ratings are dropping, independents are leaning to the right, and "populist outrage" to a liberal agenda is growing. "Put the populists together with Republicans and independents now leaning Republican and you have a majority coalition. It hasn't fully coalesced yet. But there's a possibility, even a good possibility, it will." (More Republicans stories.)