In a year when Republicans are operating in such an enviable - TopicsExpress

In a year when Republicans are operating in such an enviable political environment, why arent their U.S. Senate candidates holding big and impressive leads? Why does it look close? Why are party professionals getting worried? The Democratic president is unpopular. What progress can be claimed in the economy is tentative, uneven, feels temporary. True unemployment is bad and people who have jobs feels stressed and hammered by costs. Americans are less optimistic than theyve ever been in the modern era, with right-track/wrong-track numbers upside down. Scandals, war, uncertain leadership—all this has yielded a sense the whole enterprise of the past six years just did not work. But Republicans arent achieving lift-off. The metaphor used most often is the wave. If Republicans cant make, catch and ride a wave in an environment like this, theyve gone from being the stupid party to the stupid loser party. Whats wrong?