This little ditty in The Post (Washington, not New York) pretty well summarizes the political landscape these days.

Republicans, unhappy with the Democratic majority, have been using such procedural tactics as this all week to bring the House to a standstill, but the assault on mothers may have gone too far. House Minority Leader John Boehner, asked yesterday to explain why he and 177 of his colleagues switched their votes, answered: "Oh, we just wanted to make sure that everyone was on record in support of Mother's Day."

By voting against it?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic... [1]

We have paid very little attention to Congressional races at CHB but as this article notes, the Democratic majority in the House almost certainly will grow by double digits, not counting the losses already incurred in special elections.

A number of Senate seats are likely to change as well. About the only question left is whether the Democrats will net a large enough gain to invoke cloture on their own, or whether they will simply come close enough to allow the moderate Republican block to vote with them to achieve cloture.

The Democrats in Congress have been much maligned, here and elsewhere, for their ineffectiveness in shifting the direction of the nation from the House and Senate chambers. Most of this criticism has ignored the realities of getting anything past the Senate Minority Leader, much less past the President's veto pen. Some Democrats in the House who hail from conservative districts have been loathe to vote for legislation opposed by the President when they know it either will not pass the Senate or will be vetoed if it miraculously does.

Look for the Speaker to push her colleagues in the Senate increasingly toward setting the agenda for the fall elections by forcing Republicans to vote against legislation that the public wants to see passed. And perhaps in doing so, she can put an end to the reign of the current Senate Majority leader as well.

There is hope in more than just the Presidential race! And it appears the House Minority Leader is the unwitting foil who will bring it all about! Along with a major shakeup in GOP leadership come January. Good luck to you in retirement John!