The happily married, but politically opposed, media stars, James Carville (Democrat) and Mary Matalin (Republican) agreed at the NBAA 2014 second-day general session on Wednesday that the Republican Party would likely take control of the U.S. Senate in the upcoming midterm elections on November 4.

“That is a dog bites man story,” Carville said of a possible Republican Senate takeover, pointing out that since World War II, the party with an incumbent president and a majority in the Senate had lost that majority in every mid-term election except one. “If the Democrats keep it, that would be a “Man Bites Dog” story,” he quipped.

Matalin noted that the statistical advantages President Obama had enjoyed among some groups of likely voters has shrunk to margin-of-error leads, while among other groups, slim Republic advantages had grown larger. Nonetheless, she noted that the Democrats “have a superior ground game and better hardware and software,” for getting out the vote, one of the wild cards in the elections.

Regardless of the outcome, Matalin sees the antipathy for the opposition that has energized many voters in recent elections as ultimately harmful to both parties, as well as the nation’s progress. “Winning on the failure of your opponents is not a [viable] strategy going forward,” she said. “The Republicans’ challenge, if they do win, is to say what they’re going to do and start arguing for it, not compromising to bring people around to this philosophy.”

Carville, in contrast, sees the lack of bipartisanship as the true threat to the electorate. “The political arguments have become more apocalyptic,” he said. “It’s always, ‘One engine is out and the other is sputtering, and we’re going in the ocean.’ If it’s your way or everybody dies, you can’t compromise.”

Also at the session Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), a senior member of the Senate’s Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and of the Budget Committee, urged attendees to contact their representatives regarding the passage of next year’s FAA reauthorization legislation. “This bill is our best chance to address the issues that matter most to the general aviation community,” he said. Nelson served as a payload specialist on the Columbia space shuttle in 1986, making him the first member of the House of Representatives and second sitting member of Congress to travel in space.

Delaware Governor Jack Markell (D) shared some of his state’s initiatives for enhancing its business aviation climate, including the impending formation of a Delaware Business Aviation Association, which took place yesterday afternoon.

NBAA Convention News 2014

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