A Silver Lining to a GOP Win of the Midterms: Pelosi Will be Removed from Leadership

If you consider The New York Times the flagship of Democratic centrism, the signals it is sending belie the prospects of the Democratic Party retaking the House in November.

Yesterday Nate Cohn's tendentious "Big Republican Advantages Are Eroding in the Race for House Control" was published. It lists GOP gerrymandering court loses in key states, coupled with Republican retirements and successful Democratic candidate recruitment in swing districts, to meekly conclude:

Even so, Democrats still seem poised to have viable if imperfect candidates in a large number of battleground districts. Upshot estimates indicate that Democrats would need to win the popular vote by 7.4 points — albeit with a healthy margin of error of plus or minus more than four points — to take the House. Today, most estimates put the generic congressional ballot very near that number. So far from the election, the fight for control remains a tossup.

When coupled with Cohn's intro -- "The Democratic advantage on the generic congressional ballot has slipped over the last few weeks." -- the reader is more likely to come away with the opposite conclusion: Republicans are likely to hold the House.

There is an attack piece on Trump's infrastructure scam ("Trump’s Infrastructure Plan Puts Burden on State and Private Money," by Patricia Cohen and Alan Rappeport) and yet another Russiagate 101 ("‘An Extraordinary Moment’: Explaining the Russia Inquiry") to refocus flagging liberal attention.

Then the other day there was another respectful nudge ("Nancy Pelosi Wants to Take Back the House. But She Faces a More Urgent Test.," by Sheryl Gay Stolberg) for Nancy Pelosi to get lost:

David Wasserman, who tracks House races for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, said that in an era when voters are disaffected with Washington, it is difficult for Democrats to make the case that they are change agents with Ms. Pelosi at the helm.

“There’s no question she’s been a highly skilled legislative tactician for Democrats for decades; she has also been very effective for Democrats raising money and behind the scenes,” Mr. Wasserman said. “But if House Democrats could do one thing to improve their odds of winning the House back, it would probably be to install leaders that no one’s ever heard of.”

One silver lining to Republican victory in November: It will force a change in Democratic leadership going into the presidential election.