[POLITICO]
Another military conflict in the Middle East is the last thing either party wants to be talking about heading into the 2014 midterm.
For lawmakers on the ballot next year, the decision whether to authorize a strike against Syria that President Barack Obama has forced on Congress looks like an all-risk, no-reward proposition, campaign strategists from both parties told POLITICO.
Democrats will have to choose between defying public opinion — which is deeply divided over another military intervention — or their own president. For Republicans, the vote threatens to magnify the split between hawkish neoconservatives and isolationist libertarians that’s increasingly been on display since Mitt Romney’s defeat last year.