Weekly Standard editor William Kristol, who last week was in despair over Mitt Romney's campaign, now says control of the House is within reach for the Democrats.
Kristol, writing in his magazine, cited a new Politico/George Washington University/Battleground poll that shows Democrats up 1 percentage point on a generic House ballot. He called the result consistent with previous polling and said it should be considered credible.
In previous election cycles, split popular votes and votes with small Republican margins have led to slim Republican majorities in the House. Kristol said that if President Obama's national lead holds in the presidential election, the Republican grip on the House is not safe.
"I don't think one can say that it's now out of the question that we could wake up on the morning of November 7 to the prospect of ... Speaker Nancy Pelosi," the conservative pundit wrote. He said it's time for the GOP to "start panicking."
A rounding error suggests the situation may be worse than Kristol thinks. The poll actually shows Democrats leading the generic House ballot by 2 points.
Steve Shepard contributed.
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