The Line: When a Small Loss Is Your 'Best Case Scenario'

Chris Cillizza
Washington Post

National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Ensign (Nev.) is nothing if not a realist.

At a luncheon with reporters on Thursday in Washington, Ensign said the best-case scenario for his party in the fall election would be a three-seat loss.

"It would be a great night if we lost three seats," Ensign said, adding that winning back the majority in this election cycle would be "fairly miraculous."

Ensign described the 2008 election as "the toughest since Watergate" but insisted that he -- and his campaign team -- would not cede the cycle to Democrats despite the inherent challenges of the national landscape.

Ensign's argument? The Senate is the last, best chance to build a "firewall" against a President Barack Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.). "Senate Republicans really will be the firewall to stopping bad legislation or having the majority come to us to modify their positions," Ensign insisted.

To that end, Ensign's stated goal is to hold 45 seats after this election, a position that would ensure his party would be able to threaten filibuster on unsatisfactory legislation (60 votes are required to end a filibuster) and leave Senate Republicans the possibility of retaking the chamber in 2010 and 2012 (a total of 36 Democratic seats are up over those two cycles, compared with 32 Republican seats).

(Continued here.)