Whistling in the dark?
- 20 Oct 06, 08:11 PM
Many Republicans have begun to admit - more or less in public - that they expect to lose a lot of House seats on Election Day, but congressman is not one of them. He is the man leading the party鈥檚 fight to win as many House races as possible, and he was in a bullish mood when he appeared at the this week.
Mr Reynolds didn鈥檛 just whistle in the dark - he struck up an entire brass band there. He cited races where Republicans were raising more money than Democrats and insisted that the number of races 鈥渋n play鈥 was far lower than the Democrats suggest.
He also got off the best zinger of the event, lavishing mock praise on his Democratic opposite number for a four-minute run-through of what the party would do if they won power. 鈥淐ongratulations for the longest presentation I have yet heard on the Democratic plan!鈥 he crowed.
But Mr Reynolds - who is linked via a staff member to the Mark Foley scandal and may lose his own seat next month - did show a few cracks in the cheery facade.
Perhaps most tellingly, after tossing around dollar figures and the numbers of critical districts, he got the date of the election wrong. It鈥檚 7 November - but he said 8 November. Despite his upbeat rhetoric, he may actually be thinking a great deal about what happens the day after the vote.
Richard Greene is the 大象传媒 News website's Washington reporter
My producer is rather impressed, I think, that I am able to find shops that appeal to particular political sub-sections of the nation, but my wife has advised me well: these girls are right-leaning. The only problem is they are right-running as well - dashing past me, looking for all the world as if a child molester has just invaded their gently perfumed space. 
