Look for the Republicans to pick up as many as 10 Senate seats in the midterm elections, says Bill Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard.
"I am uncharacteristically optimistic. I'm predicting a Republican gain, nine or 10 Senate seats," Kristol said Monday on "The Steve Malzberg Show" on
Newsmax TV.
"They'll win all the ones they look like they're going to win, and two or three that are really tight."
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Asked whether campaign ads accusing Democrats of fear mongering and race baiting would work, Kristol said:
"We'll see. It's worked at times . . . It just feels desperate to me. It feels out of sync with where the country is," he said. "I mean, we have an African-American president . . . very senior African-American officials.
"Are there racial problems in this country? Yes, there are. Do I see some discrimination? Sure, but this kind of crazy fear mongering? Ferguson, Missouri, that's one of the main cards they play.
"Isn't the governor of that state a Democrat? Isn't actually one of the senators from that state a Democrat? Is that a state . . . being run by racist Republicans? I don't think so."
If Republicans do reclaim the Senate, just how they plan to rule as the majority in both houses remains to be seen, according to Kristol.
"There will be a big debate after a day or two of celebration if the Republicans win the Senate, there'll be a big debate about how to conduct themselves," he said.
"I know the voices of prudence, of sobriety in Washington are making a case . . . don't overreach, don't make the mistakes of the shutdown or [Newt] Gingrich in '95.
"But I've got to think, if voters tend to repudiate this administration, they don't want the people in the House in Washington to just roll over for President [Barack] Obama, they don't want them to be timid."
Republicans, Kristol said, need to "think hard about a big, ambitious agenda and force President Obama to veto some things, try to stop what they can stop, and fight hard to stop something."