(CNN) - The House has just adjourned - a week early -to go home so Democrats can run for their political lives. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, ardent as ever, calls in a group of journalists to make her pitch about the productive Congress - and begins with a list of achievements (health care, Wall Street reform, stimulus, small business jobs act).
"I'm so proud of it," she says, sounding like a parent examining a brilliant report card, beaming.
But near the end of the session, the tough, pragmatic Pelosi - the one who has the uphill battle to keep her speakership, the one Republicans boast they want to "fire" - let something slip through her relentlessly upbeat analysis. The unemployment rate, she admits, is a tough reality - and manna for the Republicans.
(CNN) – Democrats are heading into the weeks leading up to Election Day with a final push of ads, strategy and spin.
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee sources say they are up with ads in 36 districts. The sources said that Democrats are "heavily reserved" in air time, which could mean spending almost $50 million on advertising.
Expect this to be a nasty-and personal-campaign, as Democrats try to make this a district-by-district election while the GOP continues to nationalize it. Today I was told that the Democrats had "barely begun" their ad wars.
(Washington) CNN - At a session with journalists on Friday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made it clear she's not interested in talking about losing the House of Representatives in the upcoming midterm elections. She was defiant, and would not hear of the possibility of a GOP wave.
"I would rather be where we are than where they are," Pelosi said.
And what about the conventional wisdom that the Democratic base will stay at home because it is disappointed in Obama?
"I am the base," she said, recalling her days as chair of the California Democratic party, making the point that Democratic candidates "will own the ground on our races."
(CNN) - A senior Democratic strategist said Monday that the party could release campaign ads in some targeted congressional districts attacking Karl Rove and his ties to a new conservative group, American Crossroads. Rove, a former senior adviser to President George W. Bush, is helping to lead the new cash-flush group.
Democrats have been testing Rove's popularity, and he "continues to be unpopular with the Democratic base" says the Democratic strategist. The political spots presumably would remind voters that Rove is still a campaign presence for Republicans, particularly given his involvement with what the Democratic strategist calls "a secretly funded corporate campaign."
Washington (CNN) - As early as next week, the National Republican Senatorial Committee will "go on the offense," according to a senior Senate campaign strategist, laying out its path to victory in a number of Senate races – not claiming to be on the verge of a majority, but well on its way.
While the path to a majority just got a lot tougher last night with the defeat of Rep. Mike Castle in Delaware for the GOP nomination, this campaign strategist says "We're going to take our lumps after Delaware. But for all of the beltway narrative, we are winning in a lot of places."
Does that mean a majority? Maybe not, "but we're still going to win a bunch of seats."
Editor's note: Gloria Borger is a senior political analyst for CNN, appearing regularly on CNN's "The Situation Room," "AC360°," "John King, USA" and "State of the Union" as well as participating in special events coverage.
(CNN) - Once upon a time, back after Barack Obama's impressive 2008 presidential win, defeated and depressed Republicans had to do something to prove they still had a pulse. So leaders went out of their way - and it wasn't easy - to recruit stellar, well-known, GOP candidates for Senate: a governor in Charlie Crist of Florida, a secretary of state in Trey Grayson of Kentucky, a seasoned and popular congressman in Mike Castle of Delaware.
At the time, it seemed like a really good plan. And it got even better when President Obama and his jolly band of congressional Democrats shepherded through some controversial, and unpopular, legislation. Huge bills to reform health care and stimulate the economy played right into the GOP wheelhouse: too much government, too much spending.
Editor's note: Gloria Borger is a senior political analyst for CNN, appearing regularly on CNN's "The Situation Room," "AC360°," "John King, USA" and "State of the Union" as well as participating in special events coverage.
Washington (CNN) - There are just times, when you are president of the United States, that formally speaking to the American people is part of the job.
Not because it's politically wise, or even politically advisable - but because you have something important to say. As in, the seven-year-combat-mission-in-Iraq-is-over. Or, more specifically, as President Obama said, "it's time to turn the page."
It wasn't a particularly artful speech, nor was it full of new and interesting ideas. It was what it was: a ceremonial proclamation ending combat in a war Obama inherited (and opposed) and a declaration to fight another war (also, as he says, inherited) on the economy.
Editor's note: Gloria Borger is a senior political analyst for CNN, appearing regularly on CNN's "The Situation Room," "AC360°" and "State of the Union," as well as participating in special event coverage.
(CNN) - The thing that is hard to miss in Ted Olson's Washington office are the quills. They're in a mug, all 56 of them, each commemorating an appearance before the Supreme Court. In many of those cases, he was the standard bearer for conservatives. And a successful one; he won 44 times.
In fact, one of his most satisfying and famous wins was against Al Gore, the Democrats and super-attorney David Boies in the contested 2000 election. Olson represented George W. Bush.
The rest, as they say, is history. Olson won, Boies lost. That is except in the movie "Recount," as they both joked to me. Boies won the docudrama.
On Wednesday, the two men won, this time together.
Editor's note: Gloria Borger is a senior political analyst for CNN, appearing regularly on CNN's "The Situation Room," "AC360°" and "State of the Union," as well as participating in special event coverage.
Washington (CNN) - Ask anyone at the White House about the importance of the financial reform bill the president will sign today, and the answer is near-universal: a colossal achievement. And why not?
It's sweeping legislation: creating new consumer protections, making it unattractive for institutions to become "too big to fail," imposing new rules for financial transparency.
And, by the way, it's also a pretty popular idea, in theory at least: 60 percent of Americans say they want to reform Wall Street, according to a recent CNN poll. So it's a no-brainer, right?
Editor's note: Gloria Borger is a senior political analyst for CNN, appearing regularly on CNN's "The Situation Room," "AC360°" and "State of the Union," as well as participating in special event coverage.
Washington (CNN) - Aside from his extraordinarily bad judgment, Gen. Stanley McChrystal also had something else working against him: bad timing. Really bad timing.
President Obama, you may recall, has lately had some troubles with public perception of the way he has been handling the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. His leadership has been questioned. In fact, Americans have downgraded his ability to handle a crisis by 11 points in the past year, according to CNN polls. They don't think he's a very tough guy.
That is, unless they caught his announcement of General Stanley McChrystal's "resignation." It wasn't a towel-snapping I've-had-enough-of-this-kind -of-insubordination statement. Rather, it was a reasoned, calculated explanation of why the commander-in-chief could not countenance McChrystal and his cronies bad-mouthing the president and his entire national security team.
The president was forceful, and clear: It "erodes the civilian control of the military," he said. It files in the face of the "strict code of conduct" for the military," he told us. And, by the way, debate is fine, but this president "won't tolerate division."
Or immaturity. Or anything that is not worthy of the risks the troops take each day.
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