The Next Republican Majority?

The GOP can win by standing in opposition to the president, but once the election's over it will need an agenda for the middle class.

As a very strange and very surprising primary season draws to a close, we're starting to get a sense of what the next Congress might look like. A number of unconventional conservatives, like Rand Paul of Kentucky and Sharron Angle of Nevada, are more than holding their own in early Senate polling. This is despite active efforts to characterize both candidates as dangerous extremists. As senators, Paul and Angle can be expected to vigorously oppose any expansion of the federal government. But Angle and Paul might be the only ideological purists among the Republican Senate hopefuls.

Carly Fiorina, until now best known for her controversial tenure as CEO of Hewlett-Packard ( HPQ - news - people ), is running ahead of Sen. Barbara Boxer in California, a three-term incumbent who hasn't faced a tough race in more than a decade. Fiorina won the Republican primary thanks in part to her pro-life convictions and the invaluable support of Sarah Palin, but the California electorate will look for signs that she is something other than a straightforward "mama grizzly." Dino Rossi, a Republican moderate best known for losing two gubernatorial races in Washington State, is tied with Sen. Patty Murray. The West Coast seems less enamored of the president and his party, despite the very Southern tone of the Republican opposition to President Obama so far. One can imagine Fiorina and Rossi following Sen. Scott Brown in occasionally working with congressional Democrats, if only to strengthen their reelection prospects.

http://www.forbes.com/2010/07/14/elections-congress-republic...