Last week, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi professed that Mitt Romney's supposedly bumbling campaign tactics were making her feel even more optimistic that Democrats will retake the House majority from the GOP this November. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, on the other hand, holds the precise opposite view:
“I’m very bullish on the House,” Cantor said at an event in downtown Washington. “I am very confident that we will strengthen our majority.”
The second-ranking House Republican said he believes the GOP will be on offense in 30 to 40 districts with the goal of adding to its 242 House seats. His comments stand in contrast to those of many political analysts, who project that Democrats will gain seats in November but fall short of wresting back control of the House.
Cantor gave high marks to the GOP’s presumptive presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, calling him “a true results-driven conservative.” Cantor endorsed Romney’s campaign last month, and he downplayed the lingering doubts about Romney that conservatives in his conference have expressed as recently as Tuesday. The House GOP conference, he said, was “excited” about coalescing around Romney as the nominee.
It's true that some of the more staunchly conservative members of the House are still holding onto serious reservations about Mitt Romney (the "er, we're excited to defeat Barack Obama" condemnation by faint praise), but it looks like Cantor is trying to strike a more optimistic tone and really get the campaign-party started. When asked about the possibility of becoming Romney's running mate, he added, "Eric Cantor is not interested at all in that."
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