“Pod Save America” hosts and ex-Obama aides Jon Lovett, Tommy Vietor and Jon Favreau on Tuesday downplayed the prospect of a Democratic blue wave in the 2018 midterms while making an appearance on Stephen Colbert’s CBS show.
On the prospects of a Democratic takeover of the House, Vietor said the prospects have “always been 50-50” and Lovett warned their party “lost everything two years ago” and “can lose everything again” during an appearance on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
{mosads}The trio’s caution on Democratic overconfidence comes as polls have tightened in recent weeks leading up to a pivotal election that could see the highest midterms turnout in decades if surges in voter registration and high early voting tallies are accurate indicators.
“I heard a lot of talk about the blue wave. I heard a lot of talk about blue wave,” Colbert said.
“Not from us,” Lovett, a former Obama speechwriter, responded.
“This has always been 50-50,” added Vietor, a National Security Council spokesman from 2011-2013. “And the only way we win is if everybody gets off their couch, knocks on doors and makes phone calls and gets three friends to vote.”
As of Oct. 20, more than 4.3 million Americans have cast their ballots via early voting in the midterm elections, marking a substantial turnout increase from the last midterm elections held in 2014. During that election, voter participation fell to its lowest in 70 years.
“The turnout for early voting looks good so far, doesn’t it?” Colbert asked later.
“You can’t look at early vote,” former Obama speechwriting director Favreau replied.
“Why can’t I look at it?” Colbert asked.
“How many times are we going to do this?” exclaimed Lovett. “It doesn’t matter what the early votes look like. It doesn’t matter what the polls look like. We can lose everything. We lost everything two years ago! We can lose everything again! Oh, my God!”
Democrats lead on the RealClearPolitics polling index on the congressional generic ballot by 7.7 points.
Republicans appear to have solidified their chances of keeping a majority in the Senate, with Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight projecting that the GOP has about an 80 percent chance of keeping the upper chamber. The website gives Democrats about an 86 percent chance of retaking the House.