Jonathan Chait | New York Magazine | Reader Supported News | November 1, 2014
here are lots of people telling you what the race for control of the Senate is about. Maybe it’s about Republicans turning the Senate into a temple of bipartisan governance. Or it’s about stopping President Obama from making deals to cut Social Security, or transferring terrorists from Guantanamo Bay to prisons in Kansas (where they will break out and rampage through the countryside).
It’s not actually about any of those things. The contest to control the Senate is about one thing: whether Obama can confirm judges and staff his administration. This can all be seen through the power of political science.
Consider, first, what the race to control the Senate is not about. It’s not about passing legislation of any kind. The possibility that the Republican Senate might lead to legislative compromise has been suggested by professional bipartisans like Gerald Seib (“full GOP control of Congress might well shift Republicans’ focus from stopping him to making things happen”) and some of the more pragmatic Republicans, like Senator Rob Portman:
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