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Karl Rove: GOP Will Capture Senate in 2014
Wednesday, December 25, 2013 07:37 PM
By: Todd Beamon
Political strategist Karl Rove congratulated himself on Wednesday for getting 10 predictions right for this year — and he forecast that Republicans will keep control of the House of Representatives and end up with as many as 51 seats in the Senate in next year's congressional elections.
For 2014, President Barack Obama's "disapproval rating will end higher than this week's 53 percent" in the Gallup poll, Rove said in an op-ed piece in The Wall Street Journal. "Republicans will keep the House with a modest pickup of four to six seats.
"The GOP will most likely end up with 50 or 51 Senate seats (in the former case, keeping Vice President Joe Biden fully occupied for two years presiding over the chamber)," Rove added. "Control of the Senate may not be decided until December's Louisiana runoff.
"Propelled by union contributions, Democrats will outspend Republicans overall in House and Senate races."
Rove, the former deputy chief of staff to President George W. Bush, noted that among his successful predictions for 2013 were that Obama's approval rating did fall "from 53 percent at year's start to 40 percent this week. There was a new administration scandal, the most significant being the IRS targeting of conservative groups.
"And Obamacare's implementation was indeed 'ragged and ugly' and 'a continuing political advantage to Republicans' as forecast," he added.
On the flip side, Rove said that he missed the mark four times this year: "Unemployment hit 7 percent instead of 8 percent; Syria's Bashar Assad remains in power; Fidel Castro is still alive, and President and Mrs. George W. Bush got a granddaughter, not a grandson.
"In one instance, the results were half-right," he continued. "The debt ceiling was raised, but Mr. Obama wasn't forced to make spending cuts in return."
Because of the continued problems with the Affordable Care Act, "GOP political divisions are giving way to unity" — a trend likely to continue next year, Rove predicted.
He is a founder of the Republican super PAC Crossroad GPS.
"Tens of millions more Americans will lose their coverage and find that new Obamacare plans have higher premiums, larger deductibles and fewer doctors.
"Enrollment numbers will be smaller than projected and budget outlays will be higher," Rove added. "The White House will blame insurers and Republicans for the law's continuing failures."
But despite these Obamacare issues, the embattled Kathleen Sebelius "still" will be Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services by the end of 2014, Rove said.
"Support for Obamacare will drop below 30 percent, causing congressional Democrats to clamber for major changes and delays," he added. "The administration will resist most such ideas, except lifting the individual mandate penalty for 2014."
