You've got a lot of nervous Republican members on the Hill, because you've got a number of things outside their control that are affecting them. The war in Iraq is something an average member of Congress can't do much about, but it's clearly driving a negative political environment.

296

The White House is trying to wrestle back control of the agenda. He's got to proactively make news rather than just react.

177

You wonder why politicians are not always consistent. It's because public opinion's not always consistent.

174

They took a page out of President Clinton's strategy -- legislative strategy -- which is to break things up into bite-size morsels -- that the public readily supports and understands, and get votes on it. And when its a 70 percent supported issue its hard for the Democrats to oppose it.

171

It could change, but at this point Democrat dreams of corruption being a central theme are not there in public opinion.

167

The wind is not at our back, it's in our face. If you're a candidate making an assessment about challenging an incumbent, having wind in your face is clearly a negative factor in the decision.

134

The immediate reaction of the president and the administration is not what the public expected from him. ... and ultimately, in a major national crisis like this, the buck kind of stops at the White House.

116