The Only Hope is a Democratic House Majority

     I would still have to say it's long shot or at least they're certainly not favorites to win in 2014. However, the government shutdown fiasco certainly did nothing but improve their chances. This is why the GOP had to get a deal-Boehner, McConnell, and company never intended for this to go on too long anyway, in fact they never intended for it to happen at all-the longer it went on the more damage it was doing.

    I'm on record for saying the GOP won't do GS 3.0, however if they did this would improve Democrats chances a lot more, of course. If they do it again, maybe this could even make a Democrat takeover a very likely possibility.

   As it is, I would say the Dems are certainly at least alive now and even short of taking over could still see considerable gains. A few fundraising numbers coming in seem to bode well for the Dems: both the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) had huge Septembers.

    The DNC had the best month they've had all year with $7 million dollars raised in September:

     "September was the Democratic National Committee’s best fundraising month of the year.

The DNC — which has been mired in debt and struggling to raise cash since the 2012 election — raised $7.38 million and increased its cash on hand to $5.5 million, a party official told POLITICO."

      http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/dnc-fundraising-september-98534.html?hp=r12

     Meanwhile, the DCCC had a great September

      "The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee raised an eye-popping $8.4 million in September, the month preceding the government shutdown, according to figures provided to POLITICO and to be made public Friday.The figure stands as the DCCC’s best September ever in a year before an election, and is nearly double the committee’s August haul."

       "Of the total, $3 million came from online donations — making it the top off-year online month for any party committee in history. Some $2 million alone came in the six days after Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) launched his 21-hour anti-Obamacare marathon speech."

       "In a statement, DCCC Chairman Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) called fundraising peformance proof that the fall  fiscal fights had energized Democratic supporters ahead of next year’s midterm elections."

       “House Republicans’ reckless shutdown hurt the middle class – so our grassroots supporters and Democratic members stepped up to fight back, leading to a record fundraising month and continuing to give the DCCC the tools we need for 2014,” he said. “Just as voters are overwhelmingly fed up with this Republican Congress, Democratic supporters are, too, and they’re ready to elect people who will replace Republicans who put our economy at risk in order to advance a narrow political agenda.”

       http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/dccc-chair-cites-fiscal-fight-in-record-september-haul-98517.html?hp=r18

      If you're not fed up with the House GOP you just aren't paying attention. It's  like Mitch McConnell says-you can't learn from the second time the mule kicks you. 

      http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2013/10/so-will-there-be-government-shtudown-30.html

      Certainly the GOP had better hope the Hispanic vote doesn't come out in 2014 as they are now using the egg on their faces thanks to their disastrous shutdown strategy as an excuse to table immigration reform in the House when, they wanted to table it from the start. 

       http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2013/10/govt-shutdown-20-house-gops-new-pretext.html

       So right off the bat, this isn't a bad strategy for the Dems. 

       1. Get out the Latino vote. Usually it tends to be low in off year elections but the GOP's brutal attempt to bury it ought to be an impetus for higher turnout this time. 

       2. Just keep playing a replay of GS 2.0. Document the loss in economic activity for no reason at all than hurt GOP pride. 

     http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2013/10/it-delays-jobs-report-may-hurt-monthly.html

     From there, of course, focus on the sequester and the continued harm it's doing. 

     "Is the government shutdown really over? Not really. As David Dayen explains in a must read, the sequester and BCA spending caps are doing far more damage than the shutdown fiasco did, hurting the economy and constraining investments in the future, and it may well go on for years."

     http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/10/18/happy-hour-roundup-214/

     Let's hope that gloomy prediction is wrong, but, one way to ensure it is would be to get the Democrats back the House. Right now the conventional wisdom seems to think that the GOP House majority is a virtually impregnable wall at least for the next decade. Even if it's true-they certainly are doing everything to blow a good thing. If the Dems do 1 and 2 for the 2014 campaign it will have a good shot to shake this allegedly impregnable fortress.