Keeping and Losing the House

As is often the case, the White House and its party leaders on Capitol Hill are not on the same page.

In January, DCCC chair Chris Van Hollen told Politico: "We’ve been saying this would be a tough election year, but it’s a hallucination for Republican leaders to think they’ll take back the House — this is not 1994 déjà vu."

In March, Speaker Pelosi had this exchange with CNN's Candy Crowley:

CROWLEY: Do you think that you will lose seats?

PELOSI: Well, the election is not today. I expect...

CROWLEY: Just looking at the landscape.

PELOSI: Let me just say it this way, the Democrats will retain the majority in the House of Representatives. We have a huge -- we have, what, 54-, 55-vote majority. We had a swing in the last two elections of 110 seats. We will -- I am not yielding one grain of sand. We are fighting for every seat.

Yesterday, however, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said on Meet the Press:

"I think there's no doubt that there are a lot of seats that will be up, a lot of contested seats. I think people are going to have a choice to make in the fall. But I think there's no doubt there are enough seats in play that could cause Republicans to gain control. "