re: #280 Quoth the raven, Covfefe.

It would, of course, be great if O’Connor won. But even if he loses - if we lose - it still has to have Republicans running scared. Expect them to hit this hard if Balderson wins, because they want people to overlook that he just about lost what should have been a sure thing.

Except, that to Republicans, only one thing has any relevance at all to their political calculus: winning, and having Republicans in office. How they accomplish that is irrelevant, and “close” is a near-meaningless concept.

Somebody upthread pointed out that even if Balderson wins the special by a single vote, the egomaniacal gloating out of the White House will be overwhelming: no matter what sort of “harbinger” this special might be for November for the rest of the GOP. And they will, naturally, use every bit of media leverage they can muster to paint a rosy picture over their “victory”: which the media will eagerly lap up….