Carney: Dems will have ‘bad Election Day’

Democrats are “going to have a bad Election Day,” former White House press secretary Jay Carney predicted a week before voters head to the polls for the midterm elections.

“No matter how you slice it, Republicans are going to pick up seats in the Senate and the House, and they may win control of the Senate. So they need to mobilize their base voters, and that is especially true of minority voters,” Carney said during an appearance on CNN’s “The Lead.”

“Democrats are, as we’ve talked about before, going to have a bad Election Day.” 

Carney’s prediction is supported by polling, which suggests that Republicans are heavy favorites to win Senate seats currently under Democratic control in Montana, West Virginia, and South Dakota.

{mosads}Polling analyst Nate Silver also narrowly favors the GOP to take Democratic seats in Arkansas, Louisiana, Colorado, Alaska, and Iowa, although Democrats are more confident about their chances in those contests. The president’s party also hopes to play offense in Georgia and Kentucky, and Kansas may go to an independent candidate.

But Carney’s concession of Democratic chances stood in contrast to his successor and former deputy Josh Earnest, who on Tuesday expressed confidence about Democratic ability to retain the Senate, as he spoke behind the White House podium.

“We continue to be confident because of the message that the vast majority of Democratic Senate candidates are carrying about how important it is for Congress to be advancing policies that benefit middle-class families,” Earnest said. “That’s in the best interests of the country. I think it also is a value that the vast majority of voters agree on.”

Earnest added that Democrats could use the experiences of the 2012 Obama presidential campaign to benefit their own efforts.

“There are some early data to indicate that those strategies are being successfully implemented this time around as well,” Earnest said.