The morning after the 1994 election, while Democrats were licking their wounds, they got kicked again when Sen. Richard Shelby announced that he was switching his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican. Shortly after Shelby's switch, Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell jumped to the GOP side too. In addition, several more House Democrats who were reelected in 1994 from mostly southern states, switched to the GOP making the 1994 election a good old fashioned ass kicking of the Democratic party.
There is a realistic possibility that if the Democrats pick up at least five Senate seats on Election Night, several current Republican Senators could switch to the Democratic side of the aisle. Remember, Shelby switched because he felt Democrats were incapable of moving away from liberalism and Campbell switched because he felt Democrats were beholden to cronyism and did not respect other views among colleagues on issues important to Campbell. In 2006, cronyism is alive and well in the GOP ranks: Arlen Specter is shunned by the GOP leadership and White House for his views on domestic surveillance while Olympia Snowe, John Warner and Chuck Hagel are shunned for their views on Iraq.
-- Del Ali is the president of Research 2000, a nonpartisan polling and research firm.
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