Iraq after the midterm elections

Ryan Lizza of the New Republic speculates about the effect the Baker plan will have on U.S. policy toward Iraq. Here's how Lizza sees a Democratic victory affecting our policy:

"Almost everyone I interviewed agreed that the midterm elections will move the debate left, not right. "What happens in the election is absolutely going to have bearing on what the final recommendations are," says one commission adviser, echoing comments from several others. A big Democratic victory would increase Baker's leverage with Bush regarding how to proceed in Iraq."

I haven't read or heard any commentators stating what seems to me the obvious consequence of a Democratic victory next Tuesday. If the Democrats win big, Republicans in Congress will rise up and insist that Bush present a plan for getting out of Iraq before 2008. They do not want this issue to dog them in another election. Withdrawal is not going to be pushed by the Democrats or the Baker Commission primarily; Republicans, concerned for their own political survival, will be the Bush administration's main antagonists.