After a year of employing bulldozer tactics to try to force an unwanted agenda on an unwilling electorate, the brilliant political strategists resident at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. are in the process of getting their first real lesson in political strategy.  To wit, everything you learned at Princeton and Harvard is wrong.

Now you are seeing first hand what happens when radical textbook theories collide with checkbook realities.  Scared, unemployed or at risk of becoming unemployed voters, will not tolerate any more of your expensive, feckless and bone-headed policies.  In case you STILL don’t get it, what the Cook Political Report is telling you Democrat politicians is that, unless you go back to your old law firms or catch on with some leftie political “think tank,” you are about to experience the unemployment that your ruinous policies have caused for millions of Americans.

~~John Cronin~~

By JOSH KRAUSHAAR

Highlighting the GOP’s continued momentum, the nonpartisan Cook Political Report made ratings changes in 25 House races Thursday, all of which favor Republican candidates. The downgrading of Democratic prospects in the races paints an increasingly promising picture for GOP chances of taking over the House next year.

The respected political publication now rates 54 Democratic-held seats in the most highly competitive category — with 26 of them either pure tossups or favoring the Republican candidate. The publication rates 95 Democratic seats in total as potentially vulnerable — over one-third of the entire caucus.

Republicans need to pick up a net of 40 seats to win back control of the House. According to the Cook ratings, the GOP has only six seats that are at risk of flipping.

The list of potentially vulnerable Democrats, according to the Cook Report, includes members who have been virtually untouchable in the past, including Rep. Dave Obey (D-Wis.), the powerful chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, and Rep. Nick Rahall, the chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, who hasn’t faced a competitive race since 1990.

“At this rate, Democrats are likely to lose at least 25-35 seats in the House and would have to bend the current trajectory of the cycle to hold onto their House majority,” wrote Cook Political Report House analyst David Wasserman.

Republican members who began the election cycle in a highly vulnerable position appear to be in better shape. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), whose provocative rhetoric has made her a top GOP target, saw her status moved from “lean Republican” to the safer “likely Republican” rating — even though she’s facing two well-funded Democratic opponents, state Sen. Tarryl Clark and physician Maureen Reed.

Both Clark and Reed “would have probably beaten this lightning rod incumbent had they been running in 2008,” Wasserman wrote.

Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), who narrowly won reelection in 2008, is now viewed as a near lock to win a 19th term in office, despite facing a Democratic state legislator. Reps. Erik Paulsen (R-Minn.), Bill Young (R-Fla.), Tom Rooney (R-Fla.), Mark Souder (R-Ind.), Thad McCotter (R-Mich.) and Judy Biggert (R-Ill.) are also now seen as near locks to win another term, despite being rated as potentially vulnerable at the beginning of the year.

And the list of Democratic targets continues to expand. Rep. Betty Sutton (D-Ohio), who seemed like a sure bet for a third term, now faces wealthy auto dealer Tom Ganley, who dropped out of the Senate race this week to challenger her. That decision puts Sutton’s previously safe seat into the considerably more tenuous “lean Democratic” ranking.

“Welcome to another district Democrats didn’t think they would have to worry about this year but will likely need to come to the rescue,” Wasserman wrote.

Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-Mo.), the brother of Missouri Senate candidate Robin Carnahan, is suddenly facing his first tough reelection against attorney Ed Martin, who starts the year with nearly as much campaign cash as the incumbent. The Cook Report now rates the once-safe seat, formerly held by former House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt, in “likely Democratic” territory.

Read more at Politico