Can The Republican Party Avoid The Off-Year Election Jinx?
The off-year congressional elections being held this month include many hard-fought contests in which the results could be very close. Understandably, each such race has generated much interest in the state where it is being held. Nationally, however, there has been relatively little interest in the congressional elections as a whole. There is a widely held belief that the elections will not have much impact on the country’s future. ‘Tain’t necessarily so. True, it appears that the present division of Congress will continue for at least two more years, with only slight changes in the margins by which the Republicans now control the Senate and the Democrats run the House of Representatives. But the prospect of little change is significant. Traditionally, the party of an incumbent President loses many congressional seats in an off-year. Off- ear races give the opposition an opportunity to turn the balloting into a vote of confidence on the presidential record, which usually reflects a no
