Interesting election lies ahead in November

 David Keyes is probably right that Sarah Palin will ”give it a shot” for the presidential nomination. Everything from her resignation as Alaska governor, to her book tour, to her appearances at Tea Party rallies and her Fox News appearances seem to bear this out.

But  a lot of people — not just Democrats, but Republicans and Independents — are questioning her decision to leave the office she was elected to in mid-term and concentrate on her presidential ambitions. Plus, some of the candidates she has endorsed so far — including one in our own congressional district — did not win.

As for the Tea Party groups Palin espouses, they may not help the Republican Party. Because of their candidates’ extreme views, endangered Democrats may be re-elected.

If the upcoming (November 2010) election follows mid-term election patterns, Democrats will lose some seats.  But as happened to both Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, who had approval ratings as low or lower than President Obama at this point, both won re-election two years later by a wide margin.

Surveys show that voters blame the GOP for disastrous economic policies that got us into a huge deficit, but don’t think the Democrats have done enough to correct this in the past two years. And yet critics rail at Obama’s stimulus program — which has saved millions of jobs — and his health care reform bill that will provide protection for more citizens and  help contain skyrocketing heath care  costs.

JAMES W. RAMSEY

Kootenai