Richard Cowan (writer for Reuters) October 22, 2012 “Some in Congress look to $55 billion fiscal cliff 'fallback'” http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/22/us-usa-congress-fiscalcliff-idUSBRE89L0YB20121022
Analysts are increasingly pointing to a status quo congressional election: one that keeps the House of Representatives under Republican control and the Senate under Democratic control. Even as Obama and Romney battle for votes in the last two weeks of their campaigns, some Republicans on Capitol Hill are speculating about a victory by the Democratic president. "If Obama wins, we're going to have to play the cards we're dealt and work out some negotiation with him," said one senior Republican aide who works on fiscal policy matters. Another Republican aide added that if Obama "squeaks out" a victory, the president "will have a choice to make: He can pick a fight, make the lame duck toxic and we can go over the fiscal cliff, or we can work to find common groundon the framework for a bigger tax and entitlement reformagreement" that could take at least a year to put together. At the same time, Democrats, who voice confidence in an Obama victory despite a late Romney surge, warn that they will stick to their demands that the wealthy share more of the burden of getting the U.S. fiscal house in order. "We really think we're going to have leverage and we will use it," the Senate Democratic aide said, pointing to a contentious lame duck session that might be in need of a "fallback."
