Eric Cantor Says Republicans Could Take Back The House In November: Will They Really?

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) hopped on the GOP-could-take-control-of-the-House bandwagon on Monday -- a prediction offered by none other than White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs over the weekend.

"I think we're going to retake the House, as Mr. Gibbs suggested yesterday," Cantor said on CNBC's Squawk Box. "That's going to change the dynamic for sure."

"When we regain the House -- because I do think that we'll retake the majority -- the president will have to deal with us," Cantor said, speaking more optimistically about the GOP's political fortunes than his colleagues have in the past.

(On NBC's "Meet The Press" on Sunday Gibbs speculated that there are enough closely-contested House seats in play in November that the Republicans could potentially win the necessary 39 races and take control of the chamber.)

The political team at MSNBC, including Chuck Todd, are quick to admit that Democrats stand to lose a lot in November's elections, but they predict that outright control of the House won't be one of the casualties. Here are four reasons why they say Democrats will keep the House in their hands:

• 1) Unlike in '94, the Republican Party has a [favorable/unfavorable] score that's no better (and sometimes even worse) than the Dem Party's.
• 2) Unlike in '94, the GOP isn't necessarily running on new ideas or even with many new faces.
• 3) The National Republican Congressional Committee has a HUGE financial disadvantage compared with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and the RNC's political/fundraising troubles won't be able to make up the difference
• 4) Winning 39 seats is a tall order. After all, when Democrats won back the House in 2006 -- during the height of violence in Iraq and after Hurricane Katrina -- they picked up 30 House seats. The GOP will need almost 10 more than that.
• One thing that's truly amazing about this cycle, historically: The fact we're headed for a third-straight cycle where more than 20 seats change hands.

Watch Cantor's appearance on CNBC:

Comments

[sampson2]

11:36 PM on 07/14/2010

So Eric Cantor said the GOP could take back the House in Nonvember. Come on HP what do expect Eric Cantor to say-We don't have a snowball's chance in Hades. It is not news and certainly not worthy of a headline.

[sharmaine73]

07:58 PM on 07/14/2010

Funny, I don't think these right leaning pollsters generally seeks out Democrats to ask if they will be voting. So let me clear this up. I am a Democrat and I will be voting in November. Any body else?

[sippewissett]

11:42 AM on 07/14/2010

Wishful thinking + Wingnut candidates = Don't hold your breath, Cantor.

[jsgaetano]

11:01 AM on 07/14/2010

"Today's GOP- the same stale talking points and failed, fraud-based ideology.

Vote for us!"

[Jamf]

10:18 AM on 07/14/2010

Is Eric Cantor sorta creepy, or what? (I mean, over and above the usual politician. Watching him talk makes me want to delouse...

[jsgaetano]

11:02 AM on 07/14/2010

So what do you think- is he a toe-tapper or a rentboy kinda guy?

[Jamf]

11:24 AM on 07/14/2010

Rent-an-Under-Age-Boy seems more like it to me. He has a major-league creep factor thing goin' on.

[Greg Petty]

12:11 PM on 07/15/2010

More a flamboyant Britteny Spears fan,

[GrannyForObama]

08:43 AM on 07/14/2010

The Republican Platform: Just say "Yes" to taking your hard earned tax dollars and handing it over in the form of tax cuts to a wealthy person on the theory they can then invest it in job creation in their OVERSEAS factories. Just say "Yes" to apologizing and kissing up to an oil company whose irresponsible business practices have resulted in the death of 11 people, job loss and economic disaster throughout an entire region of the courntry, and the greatest environmental disaster in our history, and whose top management thinks we are all just "little people". Just say "Yes" to a party who believes it's a good use of public resources and taxpayer dollars to start frivolous lawsuits regarding the President's birthplace. Just say "Yes" to a party whose candidates advocate ending Social Security, Medicare, the Department of Education, secession from the United States. Just say "Yes" to a party whose method of keeping the deficit down is to fund its wars "off the books". Just say "Yes" to a party whose heroine is Ayn Rand and whose philosophy is "I've got mine, who cares about you".

That's asking a lot, don't you think.

[RonK Michigan]

01:56 AM on 07/14/2010

I'm not certain why on earth he thinks that "the president will have to deal with us"??????? Nothing but B.S. gets through the Senate anyway......If the Repubs take the house I hope a bunch of Dem Senators start fillibustering everything they try to push through from the house - The country is headed down the crapper anywhay - what difference does it really make which party of idiots is to fault?????

Ronk’s Steven Wright Quote Du-Jour:
“If going to church makes you a Christian, then standing in a garage makes you a car”

[Mort]

01:13 AM on 07/14/2010

Eric Cant-or won't think in terms of reality.

[Winged Pegasus]

12:11 AM on 07/14/2010

Am I not allowed to give some background since my education and experience were assaulted. That would not be fair Mr or Ms Moderator, not at all!

[sweetwhine]

10:16 PM on 07/13/2010

Don't friggin' make me laugh. But maybe ol' Eric should come on out.

[Vic S]

10:37 PM on 07/13/2010

My comment in pointing out that parts of this politician's GERRYMANDERED voting district resembles an anorexic's waist, was not published. Go figure. I will keep up my comments until Huff Post has the guts to publish them. By the waist, I live in his so-called district, but his home and mine are located almost two hours apart.

[Jamf]

10:19 AM on 07/14/2010

He's afraid to "come on out," because he knows that being a child-molester is a crime. (Does he have that creepy look about him, or what?)

[Chernynkaya]

05:24 PM on 07/13/2010

Cantor Says Federal Spending Doesn’t ‘Create Jobs’ — At Job Fair With Companies Funded By The Stimulus

http://thinkprogress.org/2010/07/13/cantor-jobs-fair-stimulus/

[Greg Petty]

12:15 PM on 07/15/2010

Cantor says stimulus will not create jobs,Speaking at a JOB FAIR,this stuff is to weird to make up,All hirings were funded by companies stimulus funded??????

[jsgaetano]

05:13 PM on 07/13/2010

> Eric Cantor Says Republicans Could Take Back House In November

And a herd of elephants could stampede out of his @hole. That doesn't mean it will.

[Jamf]

10:20 AM on 07/14/2010

But he'd like it if that were to happen...the elephants thing, I mean.

[Paul Russell]

04:47 PM on 07/13/2010

We all knew that Republicans would take over the House just like we knew Democrats would 2 elections ago

It seems to be that way in Congress where both parties go back and forth

In reality, it means nothing as America is going back and forth

[jsgaetano]

05:14 PM on 07/13/2010

Republicans are long past the point where they could ever win an election.

They bet their future on creating a "permanent, one party majority"... and lost.

[pmag88]

04:34 PM on 07/13/2010

The Republicans have said and done so many outrageously stupid things these last few years that if it weren't for the double standard, they'd be a complete Joke. They have a lot of anger, which is an ok fuel for short term gain, but in the long term it only brings destruction. There's no clarity in the Republican Party and eventually people are going to see that their party wasted these past few years for nothing.

[dzent1]

04:19 PM on 07/13/2010

I see by his illusionary outburst that Cantor now has his medical pot card.