Van Hollen: GOP ‘high on their own hype’ ahead of midterms

“This idea that they’re going to be popping the
champagne corks prematurely and measuring the drapes is clearly —
they’re high on their own hype,” he added.

{mosads}Republicans
have been more and more openly optimistic about their prospects in this
fall’s midterm elections, where they would have to win 41 seats in
order to take back the House from Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and
Democrats.

That kind of pickup is seen as a tall order for an
opposition party no matter what the circumstances are, but groups like
the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, for instance, are projecting a 27-seat pickup for Republicans if the elections were held today.

House
Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence (R-Ind.), who declined
entreaties to run for the Senate this fall in part out of optimism for
Republicans’ efforts this fall, confidently predicted the GOP would
take the House.

Pence said that Tea Party activists would be an
integral part of the GOP’s election efforts, too, if the party sticks
to a limited government message.

“I think if we hold the banner
of limited government high…you bet, they’ll know what to do this
fall,” Pence said of the Tea Partiers. “And Republicans will back the
majority of the House this fall.”