REPUBLICAN MORALE – AT 8:37 A.M. ET:  We very rarely see stories about rising Republican morale.  Republicans really don't know how to have fun.  But the Politico, which is liberal, reports rising Republican confidence that the party can take the Senate in November.  We want to make your morning:

Republicans feel like they’re finally getting their mojo back.

Emboldened by the president’s weak poll numbers, the botched Obamacare rollout and a still-sputtering economy, GOP donors and operatives are increasingly bullish about their prospects in the midterm election — most of all capturing the Senate. Seats that a year ago looked like sure bets for Democrats now have the makings of real races — in states such as Michigan, Virginia, and, if former Republican Sen. Scott Brown runs, New Hampshire.

Worries last fall that the party would pay a heavy price at the ballot box for forcing the government to shut down have faded as quickly as attention has shifted to frustration with the health care law.

No one is saying that the party has solved its underlying problems — deep distrust between the establishment and tea party wings, and the disconnect with young and minority voters that was on display in 2012. And Republicans were similarly optimistic in 2010 and 2012 about retaking the Senate until poor candidates blew winnable races.

But there’s a palpable sense of optimism that 2014 will be the GOP’s year.

“People like to hang out with winners, and it feels right now as though Republicans — unlike the early part of last year — have found their sea legs and have a bit of wind at their back,” said New York investment banker and major GOP donor Jeffrey Berenson.

After getting outraised by $16 million last year, the NRSC announced recently that it collected just slightly more money than its Democratic counterpart in December. Leaders of the major conservative outside groups say that skittish donors have started to open their checkbooks with the new year after a lackluster fundraising haul in 2013.

COMMENT:  All true, but the race has barely begun.  And in some states the GOP is still plagued by the absence of superior candidates.

Also, the Republican Party still has not figured out a way to deal with the great finger on the scale, the clear liberal bias of the American media.  Even if that bias only shifts the electoral result by four points, it could be catastrophic for the GOP in 2014, as it has been in past elections.  The Reagan way was to speak over the heads of the "journalists" and directly to the American people.   The modern Republican Party hasn't learned that lesson.

February 10, 2014