on an unpopular congress and an unpopular administration that controls the levers of power. to the extent that you're proposing alternatives, you drive off constituency bases that may be unhappy with the status quo, but would be maybe be more unhappy with your solutions. so the safe thing is it to just be critical of what's going on, and say, look, the mid-terms are an opportunity to correct this, give us a seat at the table. obama is still president, but you can balance things out. ands that seems to work when one party controls the house, the senate and the presidency. it worked historically in 2006. it worked in 1994. it worked in 1966. >> how bad do the poll numbers have to get for both parties, jonathan kaepart where the strategy like the one former congressman davis just described, blows up in both parties' face. >> i think we're getting to that point now. i believe it was "the wall street journal"/nbc news poll last month that showed that everybody wants everybody gone from washington. all the incumbents, out.