The TAKE with Rick Klein
Republicans can unite even when the president divides. Democrats can divide even when the president would seem to be uniting them.
The biggest upshot of the Brett Kavanaugh saga is that winners may be losers and losers winners.
The head-spinning three weeks since Christine Blasey Ford came forward with her allegation appear to be winding toward a conclusion. A Senate cloture vote is on track for Friday, with a final confirmation vote possible by Saturday night.
Whatever the outcome, both Democrats and Republicans may be relieved to move on and resume their regularly scheduled messaging.
Consider one point that they agree on: Anger is the coin of the political realm in 2018. Whoever comes up short in the fight over Kavanaugh will have a wealth of it to build around.
The RUNDOWN with John Verhovek
After a week of uncertainty over the roller-coaster Kavanaugh nomination, it seems we’re right back where we started, plus a whole lot more anger across an already divided nation and key questions lingering almost a month out from the midterm election.
The political consequences of the bitterly partisan process seem to be falling unequally across a chaotic midterm landscape in which control of the House and Senate is at stake.
What’s true of the political dynamic in Southern California, where Democrats have a real chance to flip five GOP-held congressional seats, is not true in states like Indiana, Missouri, North Dakota and Montana, where the razor-thin Republican majority in the U.S. Senate has a chance to expand.
Republicans in those key Senate battlegrounds might be able to use the nomination battle to rile up a GOP base some party leaders worry is lethargic in the face of a blue wave, but Democrats in districts Hillary Clinton won by double digits can cast the controversy as the GOP embracing scorched earth, Trump-era politics.
Heidi Heitkamp’s argument is simple: She voted to confirm…
