McCain said that Senator Obama is already measuring the drapes at the
White House. He would not be unjustified if he did so. The odds are that
he will win, perhaps in a landslide. The Democrats are poised to win a
veto-proof Senate. And they are likely to increase their majority in
the House substantially. We will then have a situation the way President
Clinton had in 1993 when he first took office. Two years later
Republicans ended 40 years of Democratic control in the House and they
recaptured the United States Senate after eight years of Democratic
control.
One thing is for certain. Obama has a well-organized ground game. He has
a voter ID and turnout operation which is even better than the
celebrated operation run by the Re-elect Bush Committee in 2004. McCain
has nothing comparable. Some states are well organized and can deliver
for the Arizona Senator. In places where the state parties lack that
capability McCain will be out of luck. We know that left to their own
devices many voters will skip voting just because they are preoccupied
and no one reminded them or in cases of the elderly drove them to the
polls.
This has been an extraordinary election year. No one could have
predicted what has happened this year. When this is over we may have to
rewrite of the political science text books. I can't help but think of
the late Tim Russert of NBC's Meet the Press. How he would have reveled
in the politics of 2008. Perhaps he is watching from above.