Required Reading

Tom Dougherty’s setup alone is enough to give you heart palpitations:

With the budget deal behind us attention will soon turn to the next battle, the increase in the debt ceiling. Few issues, even of late, have had the potential the debt ceiling increase has to provide epic opportunities for gain or loss as the likely battle unfolds.

These gains or losses will not just be on issues and policies but in areas that could have profound impact on the outcome of the 2014 elections. There are three frontlines in the battle – Republicans vs. Obama, Republicans vs. Democrats and Republicans vs. Republicans – and that makes this a true high-wire act for the GOP.

Making the act even more tenuous is there is no absolute date yet as to when the ceiling will have to be increased. The Treasury Department has estimated late February or early March but the CBO has said maybe as late as June. What is absolute is the later in the election cycle the increase must occur the less of a safety net Republicans will have, if any.

Read the whole thing.