Bush's great fear: Three little words

Stakes for a Democratic majority in Congress

Most important, Americans no longer buy the White House line that Iraq is the central front in the war on terror. There could yet be an "October Surprise," an out-of-the-blue event -- another terrorist attack, say, or less plausibly a dramatic improvement on the ground in Iraq. But for Republicans, these are slender straws to clutch at.No less ominously, the economy is turning against the Republicans. After almost five years of solid expansion, growth is slowing and consumer spending is weakening; if the gloomiest forecasts are right, a collapse in the housing market could lead to recession next year.The Bush tax cuts have overwhelmingly favored the rich. Ordinary "middle-class" Americans are worried about jobs and pay. This, too, spells trouble for the incumbent party. It is no coincidence that many of the most vulnerable Republican-held seats in the House are in old industrial states such as Pennsylvania, Ohio and Illinois, where such economic worries are greatest.A Democratic capture of the House -- even of the Senate as well -- will not resolve these problems. Rather, the U.S. would be back where it has spent much of the past 40 years, with a divided government, and the certain prospect that this president would veto any controversial measure sent him by a Democratic Congress. The upshot would be more, rather than less, legislative gridlock.But even partial defeat for Republicans would hasten the end of the Bush era. Almost every president is a lame duck in his final two years, as the battle to succeed him grips the national attention. But this one's abysmal approval ratings mean he would be virtually a dead duck. Finally, too, his policies would come under the scrutiny by Capitol Hill committees that have been shamefully absent since 2002, when the Democrats lost a narrow majority in the Senate. Such, until January 2009 at least, may be Washington's improbable age of Nancy Pelosi. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/284403_focusdems10.html

Be afraid. Be very afraid, Bush.. Get out and vote November 7th!