Democrats to Gain In Mid-Term Elections?

I don't think so. I don't think that Democrats will gain much in the mid-term elections. The 2 party system (which is designed to create 1 party dictatorship), is just not condusive to real democracy.

The Democrats are too fractured, too weak, and have no pulpit to speak to America. They can't even take advantage of some of the biggest political corruption scandals in the country's history.
I always hear people say that the Democrats have no message. They actually do (when they can agree on something), but even then, the real problem is THEY HAVE NO WAY OF COMMUNICATING THEIR VISION TO THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. Democrats can't seem to understand this. It is not whether they have a message or not... they do. It's just that they are not heard by the American people. Republicans/conservatives control much of the corporate media in this country, especially major news outlets. They also control talk radio, dominating about 80% of that industry. They have dozens of allies in the form of Republican T.V. and Radio personalities who are popular with the American people and who are able to spread the conservative message (more like slogans). Republicans have wrapped their messages into slogans and 10 second soundbites so that they can be easily understood by a public that rarely knows or understands the actual issues, and who are concerned with having someone simple who they can understand, and tend to be guided by a few social/wedge issues.

We see jobs going overseas, healthcare becoming harder to obtain because businesses are actually beginning to phase this benefit out of their employment packages, food pantries across the country are seeing an increased need, good jobs are vanishing, middle class America is beginning to feel the pinch, private property rights are being infringed, the nation is basically broke with an 8 trillion debt that it can never repay which will lead to economic crisis within the next decade or two, America is behind in science- technology- innovation- and engineering, we are dependent on foreign oil, there's a growing distrust in government with all the corruption....and more..and that's before we get to the issue of Iraq and the out of control American foreign policy which is fueling terrorism, creating more tension and more enemies around the world and bankrupting the nation....
Yet in light of all this, Americans- particularly rural and southern Americans- continue to vote against their own interests, and vote on slogans and wedge issues and so-called religious convictions...taking food from their own tables (literally). Lack of education is a bitch!!!

And Democrats are in trouble in 2008 as well. 2008 will not be much of an election. Just another ceremony that Americans participate in every few years without much substance, creating the image to the world that the U.S. is a democracy, when it is not. 2008, by all accounts, should be an easy victory for Republicans and candidates like John McCain, who is heavily favored to get the Republican nomination.

Democrats are in big trouble...have been for over a decade now. If Hillary Clinton and Mark Warner are the best candidates that Democrats can find (My God!!!)...then they should quit right now. They would be better off saving the campaign money to help fix their broken and weak political party. Democrats..here is a clue: Create some major corporate T.V. and Radio networks to get out your message. This is key.... not only for Democrats..but Progressives, the Peace Community, the Disinfranchised voters of this country, Independents, political reformers, and angry Democrats. That has to be one of the first steps. You can have the best message in the world, but if you have no pulpit (media of your own, or controlled by your allies) then you won't be able to communicate your vision to the American people. Republicans figured this out years ago. They began building their talk radio and T.V. networks several years ago and that is what led to their rise in Congress under Bill Clinton. Today, they dominate the media because their allies own it and they have 75% of the pundits, talk show hosts, and analysts who dominate the airwaves today. Until that time, Democrats won't make any significant long lasting gains.

I agree with the commentators on this panel who say that Democrats don't have much of a chance to make any significant gains in the 2006 mid term congressional elections later this year.