A 1994-style scenario is probably the most likely outcome at this point. Moreover, it is well within the realm of possibility – not merely a far-fetched scenario – that Democratic losses could climb into the 80 or 90-seat range. The Democrats are sailing into a perfect storm of factors influencing a midterm election, and if the situation declines for them in the ensuing months, I wouldn’t be shocked to see Democratic losses eclipse 100 seats.

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Almost nobody likes tax day, but people may look back nostalgically on tax day 2010 and those of earlier years because, almost certainly, taxes are going up in the future, and they may go up a lot. With hindsight, tax day 2010 may seem almost dreamy.

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A recent Rasmussen survey reported that 66% of Americans believe the nation is over-taxed. There’s a reason. Under President Barack Obama taxes are going up-a lot.

House Ways and Means Committee Republicans have issued a summary of the 25 tax increases signed into law by Mr. Obama so far. They total $670 billion over the next 10 years, including 14 tax hikes (including an annual tax on every insurance policy and an annual tax on brand-name drugs) that break Mr. Obama’s solemn 2008 campaign pledge never to raise taxes on families making less than $250,000 a year.

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Let’s be clear, however: To repeal or even defang Obamacare will require a combination of skill, luck, and the right political environment. And it will require conservative reformers in both parties (yes, both parties – the only bipartisanship on display this past year, it is worth recalling, has been bipartisan opposition to Obamacare). It’s doable, but it won’t be easy.

It’s not hard to predict how the coming fight over financial regulation legislation will be framed by most of the mainstream media. Democrats like Christopher Dodd, the sponsor of the pending Senate bill, will be portrayed as cracking down on greedy Wall Street operators. Republicans will be portrayed as letting Wall Street operators have their way.

But the election is not today. And winds can change. Since early last year, many analysts have looked to two midterm races for answers about the coming election. The president’s party loses a manageable number of House seats, say in the 20s — a la 1982. In the second scenario, Democrats lose about twice as many seats and their House majority — a la 1994.

The greatest justice, John Marshall, who made the court a nation-shaping force, had been a state legislator and congressman. Between 1789 and 1952, most justices had some legislative or executive political experience. Chief Justice William Howard Taft, a former president, was followed by Charles Evans Hughes, a former New York governor. Hugo Black had been a senator from Alabama. Earl Warren had been California’s governor, which became a problem: Because President Eisenhower, like many others, believed that political thinking sometimes supplanted jurisprudential reasoning in Warren’s decision-making, he sought judicial experience in his remaining four nominees.

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BUENOS AIRES, April 14 (Reuters) – A reactor being built by Russia at Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant is scheduled to open in August, the head of Russia’s state nuclear corporation said on Wednesday.

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Google and an alliance of privacy groups have come to Yahoo’s aid by helping the Web portal fend off a broad request from the U.S. Department of Justice for e-mail messages, CNET has learned.

In a brief filed Tuesday afternoon, the coalition says a search warrant signed by a judge is necessary before the FBI or other police agencies can read the contents of Yahoo Mail messages–a position that puts those companies directly at odds with the Obama administration.

The common-sense hockey mom praised Bostonians for electing upstart GOP star U.S. Sen. Scott Brown as she stood in the shadow of the Democrat-controlled State House.

“Bostonians have never been afraid to stand up for their freedoms,” Palin said. “Shoot, look at what Massachusetts did in January. You shook up the U.S. Senate.”

BY JACKIE BUENO SOUSA

JSOUSA@MIAMIHERALD.COM

If Gloria Estefan decides to sing a tune while hosting President Barack Obama at her home Thursday, she may want to consider her 1989 hit Cuts Both Ways.

The controversy surrounding Sarah Palin’s upcoming speech at a Northern California university is turning into a police investigation.

The president of Cal State Stanislaus on Wednesday said the contract between a school foundation and Palin for her June 25 speech at the campus was stolen from a recycling bin in a vice president’s office last week.

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