By 
The NBC Sunday morning TV show, Meet the Press, has never had the same compelling viewership since the show's host for 16 years, Tim Russert, died of a heart attack June 13, 2008. But on Sunday, June 11, 2010, the show unexpectedly provided a bonus in the form of White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.
Gibbs displayed his usual boring blah-blah-blah format but then suddenly threw a curve ball -- the Democrats, his boss' party, could potentially lose its majority in the House of Representatives in this fall's countrywide congressional elections.
"I think there is no doubt that there are a lot of seats that will be up, a lot of contested seats," Gibbs said.
"I think people are going to have a choice to make in the fall. There's no doubt there are enough seats in play that could cause Republicans to gain control -- there is no doubt about that. This will depend on strong campaigns by Democrats."
Whoa there, young fella. You are saying your party isn't as strong as it was when President Obama won the White House two years ago? Is that what you are saying?
"I think we've got to take the issues to them," Gibbs explained.
'Do you want to put into the speakership of the House a guy who thinks that the financial calamity is tantamount to an ant?
"The guy who is the ranking member of the energy and commerce committee, Joe Barton, started his congressional testimony of the CEO of BP by apologizing not to the people in the Gulf but to the CEO (of BP).
"I think that is a perfect window not into what people are thinking, but the way they will govern. (Like) Joe Barton, John Boehner. Those are the types of things you will hear a lot both from the president and from local candidates."
Also hedging on the current strength of the Democrats, senior White House adviser David Axelrod was also dispatched to the Sunday show circuit where he was peppered with questions about why the party and the president were struggling to win over independent voters."Well look," Axelrod said on CNN's State of the Union show, "I think I may have said this to you before, but in December of 2008, when we sat down with our economic advisers, and they told us what the country was in the midst of, and what the next couple of years were likely to hold, I said to the president: 'Look, your numbers are not going to be nearly as good a year from now.'
"We would have had a tough election in any case in 2010. This will make that election a little tougher. So this is not a big surprise."
What is a big surprise are Gibbs and Axelrod conceding before millions of viewers that the Democrats are in trouble.
What do you think?
