The potential Republican nominees are tearing each other apart and are dragging themselves down in the polls like crabs in a bucket. The Media has started talking at least a little bit about the themes of the Occupy Movement. The economy is improving and Team Obama is getting a little better at dealing with the Rethuglicans. All good news, I know. However, NONE of these developments means this election is in the bag.
Keep in mind how many state legislators and governor's seats the Rs control. Think of how crucial the position of Secretary of State is to an election (remember Florida in 2000?). Remember all the shenanigans and scams the Rs will resort to for a win. Recall that the ends justify the means when you're in a holy struggle like they make the Culture Wars out to be. Keep in mind that the closer the electoral margins, the easier it is for their disenfranchisement schemes and vote counting scams to work.
Never forget that they will have almost an unlimited pile of money at their disposal to buy negative attack ads. No matter who their nominee is, they will be pulled along by an ad campaign that in all probability will be the most expensive and nasty in U.S. history.
They will call investigations in the House for the most inane reasons. The only thing keeping them from impeaching the President over nonsense like Solyndra are the votes of a few democrats in the Senate. ANY little hint of a scandal will be amplified by a parroting media and the blowhard-o-sphere.
Finally, don't think they're sane enough to keep ANY tactics off the table. They deliberately tried to torpedo the economy over the last 3 years so they could win elections. In 1980, they dealt with Iranian hostage takers and made sure the U.S. hostages weren't released until the VERY MINUTE that Reagan became president. Then, a few years later, they thought it was a good idea to sell MISSILES to these SAME hostage-takers so they could secretly fund anti-communist rebels. The ends justify the means. Dig up facts that make them look bad? Oh, is your wife a CIA agent too? Well, kiss her cover goodbye! SCREW national security! Think they aren't above prodding Israel to attack Iran to crash the Obama Recovery? Think again! Think the media might call them on it? You thought wrong!
Look, the news keeps getting better and better, but only until the media starts to think it's drifting away from the dogma of "false balance" and then they'll find some other narrative to muddy the waters. Even if my fears outlined above are unfounded, the more overwhelming victory this November, the more progressive legislation we'll get passed over the next 2 years, plain and simple. If you care about the issues enough to read Daily Kos, then you should not let up one bit in your organizing, volunteering and advocacy until the results start pouring in on Election Night.