Beltway Happenings  
Oct. 31, 2010--With just 48 hours until Election Day (although early voting has been going on in many states) Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine and Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS), chairman of the Republican Governor's Association, spoke to reporters after their appearance on NBC News' "Meet the Press." 

Despite the widespread view that Democrats are headed for a drubbing on November 2, Kaine told host David Gregory, "We believe we're going to hold onto both houses." Kaine said, "They [Republicans] have a political and partisan agenda, which they've had from day one.  We're the problem solvers trying to get this nation going after a lost decade that they've created." 

Barbour told Gregory, "[T]here's no question that this midterm election is a referendum on Obama's policies."  Americans, Barbour said "will vote, in my opinion, to repudiate these policies."  "[W]hat I see is that we've just gone through, in the last nearly two years, the biggest lurch to the left in American political history," Barbour said. Asked whether he might challenge Obama in 2012, Barbour said, "I haven't given it any thought.  After this election's over, we'll sit down and see if there's anything to think about." [transcript]
As chairman of the Republican Governor's Association, Barbour is hoping for a big night on November 2.  Observers are wondering if he has White House ambitions.

Copyright © 2010  Eric M. Appleman/Democracy in Action. All rights reserved.
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