# Handicapping the 2014 midterms **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [January 5, 2014, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapping-the-2014-midterms/677960 "2014-01-05T19:29:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapping-the-2014-midterms/677960/41 "2014-04-25T15:05:17Z")
Why do you think that’s the cause? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapping-the-2014-midterms/677960/42 "2014-04-25T15:15:21Z")
And why do you think that will be the effect? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapping-the-2014-midterms/677960/43 "2014-04-25T15:36:13Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Now I think McConnell is going to win after the huge solid Jon Stewart did him by helping his ad go viral. > [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > Why do you think that’s the cause? > [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > And why do you think that will be the effect? I missed that ep, but [this sez](http://theweek.com/article/index/258070/speedreads-the-daily-show-turns-mitch-mcconnell-into-a-goofy-music-video-star): > [@](#): > > Earlier this week, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s re-election campaign released an odd ad consisting entirely of smiling photos of the senator under a dialogue-less musical soundtrack. On Thursday night’s Daily Show, Jon Stewart had an immense amount of fun replaying the ad under different songs — and encouraging readers to similarly enjoy themselves while his show goes on spring break. As Stewart noted briefly, the ad is probably a way to legally give outside super PACs some happy video clips for their own pro-McConnell commercials (thought Team McConnell can’t be disappointed that it has gone viral). None of that means the video doesn’t look better under Sir Mix-a-Lot… So, that means some Kentuckians might learn to associate McConnell with something fun. Doesn’t mean they’ll **vote** for him, or Jon Stewart would be president by now. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapping-the-2014-midterms/677960/44 "2014-04-26T03:43:06Z")
It makes an otherwise unlikeable guy seem amusing. It humanizes him. I can’t imagine that his ad team didn’t know what they were doing. Although Stewart picking it up and running with it… One of the dirty little secrets of campaign advertising is that you get your message out better if the media reports on your ad than if it is merely run as a commercial. Plus you don’t have to pay for the time! ---
**Author:** ![Truman\_Burbank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@Truman\_Burbank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truman_Burbank)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapping-the-2014-midterms/677960/45 "2014-04-26T16:39:33Z")
Yeah, that 'Demon Sheep" ad worked like a charm! ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapping-the-2014-midterms/677960/46 "2014-04-27T00:38:15Z")
I know a lot of people who claim to be independents, I played golf with a couple of them today, and they are really starting to get tired of the increasingly nasty rhetoric coming from the right, especially the racism. We talked a lot about LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling today. I don’t even know what his politics are, but an angry, old, white billionaire is going to get lumped in with the other angry, old, white, rich men that we’re going to see a lot of come election time. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapping-the-2014-midterms/677960/47 "2014-04-27T02:40:41Z")
yep, like Tom Steyer. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapping-the-2014-midterms/677960/48 "2014-04-27T14:20:24Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > It makes an otherwise unlikeable guy seem amusing. It humanizes him. I can’t imagine that his ad team didn’t know what they were doing. Although Stewart picking it up and running with it… > > One of the dirty little secrets of campaign advertising is that you get your message out better if the media reports on your ad than if it is merely run as a commercial. Plus you don’t have to pay for the time! In electoral politics, sometimes there **is** such thing as bad publicity. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapping-the-2014-midterms/677960/49 "2014-04-27T20:01:24Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > yep, like Tom Steyer. Who? ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapping-the-2014-midterms/677960/50 "2014-04-27T20:11:45Z")
The liberal Koch ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapping-the-2014-midterms/677960/51 "2014-04-27T20:28:02Z")
Oh, so he’s a virulent racist liberal with a history of environmental crimes? Tell us more about this awful, awful person! ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapping-the-2014-midterms/677960/52 "2014-04-27T20:50:35Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > The liberal Koch Yes, well, he might be an AOWB, but it’s the content and targets of the anger that make all the difference. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapping-the-2014-midterms/677960/53 "2014-04-27T21:35:30Z")
I don’t have a problem with Steyer. Or any other person who spends millions on political advocacy. I trust Steyer more than I trust a politician. so I want to hear what he has to say. ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapping-the-2014-midterms/677960/54 "2014-04-27T23:33:34Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > It makes an otherwise unlikeable guy seem amusing. It humanizes him. > [@BrainGlutton](#): > > In electoral politics, sometimes there **is** such thing as bad publicity. I think that the effect the altered videos have on viewers really depends on what song it’s being synced to. The “Behind Blue Eyes” one actually starts off portraying him fairly sympathetically (_No one knows what it’s like/ to be the bad man_), while, say, the one I found online matched up to Lily Allen’s “F\*\*\* You” was, er . . . not so positive. Mostly, though, the songs just highlight how bizarre the ad is - it does the opposite of humanize him, it emphasizes his dead, robot-like smile. Right now, the midterms are hard to predict - it’s going to be close whatever happens. My guess is the House stays basically the same while the Democrats _just_ barely hang on to the Senate. Either way, Jonathan Chance is right: gridlock for the next two years. Yay. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapping-the-2014-midterms/677960/55 "2014-04-27T23:37:10Z")
Yay is right. You think the economy has improved during that time to be a coincidence? We do best under gridlock. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapping-the-2014-midterms/677960/56 "2014-04-28T00:27:15Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Yay is right. You think the economy has improved during that time to be a coincidence? Pretty much, yeah. It’d be humming along like gangbusters by now if Dems controlled the House. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapping-the-2014-midterms/677960/57 "2014-04-28T00:51:03Z")
When was the last time the economy hummed along while democrats controlled everything? Anyone here alive at that time? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapping-the-2014-midterms/677960/58 "2014-04-28T04:13:11Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > I don’t have a problem with Steyer. Or any other person who spends millions on political advocacy. I trust Steyer more than I trust a politician. so I want to hear what he has to say. Why, how refreshingly open-minded of you! So, the takeaway is that if we are to be truly fair about this, then right wing rich folks should be able to spend their money in exactly the same way he does! I mean, its only being equal, right? Otherwise, its liberal hypocrisy _again_, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapping-the-2014-midterms/677960/59 "2014-04-28T04:54:54Z")
Everyone can spend their money however they want. Until your side gets a two thirds majority in both chambers, it’s a free country. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapping-the-2014-midterms/677960/60 "2014-04-28T12:37:08Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > When was the last time the economy hummed along while democrats controlled everything? Anyone here alive at that time? You must be pretty young not to be able to even remember the Clinton administration, and its budget _surpluses_, and the Fed chairman warning against “irrational exuberance”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapping-the-2014-midterms/677960.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapping-the-2014-midterms/677960.md?page=4)