A Fall Classic?

You may have heard of Charlie Cook, the veteran Washington, D.C.-based political analyst. I had the pleasure of hearing Cook speak earlier this year at a Media Summit presented by BASF.

Cook monitors political candidates and their ratings like baseball nuts watch box scores and batting averages. He’s a fascinating person to hear speak.

But despite his knowledge, Cook admitted he doesn’t have a real good feel about this fall’s election. He can’t predict who will win control of the House and the Senate in the U.S. Congress.

Cook examined the election from two perspectives — the macro political approach and the micro political approach. When you look at it from the macro political approach — or from top to bottom — Cook said Republicans appear to be in eminent trouble.

But when one looks at the election from the micro political approach, or from the bottom to the top, it appears the Democrats will have a difficult time gaining control of the House and the Senate. Republicans will lose some House and Senate seats, but they’ll probably hold their majorities, he said.

As far as the presidential election in 2008, Cook said two early contenders are John McCain and Hilary Clinton. And, yes, Hilary has a chance.

— Larry Aylward, Editor in Chief