A Prediction

I read today in an AP story that “The Republican numbers are going to pick up,” according to a Republican pollster. This hopeful comment was prompted by the "avalanche" of early voting, mostly by Democrats.

I doubt it. I suspect that many, if not most, Republicans -- that is, the reasonable portion of the Republican party, not the rabid reactionaries of Tea Party ilk -- will quietly stay home, unable to bring themselves to cast another vote for the stock clown that won the race four years ago. That, plus the diminution of help from Russia, will result in a win, possibly even a landslide, for the Democrat.

Will it be as bad as it could be? Will the Republican party also lose its majority in the Senate, as voters turn from scaramuccia to arlecchino? Will enough of the spine-challenged members of that once-august body find themselves dragged down to defeat on the coattails of the fact-challenged incumbent? As a Republican, I hope not; as an American, I hope so. And as a Texan, I wish it were Cruz, the 21st-Century McCarthy, running for re-election this year instead of Cornyn.

It is what it is.