With the government shutdown and debt ceiling battles behind us – at least until January – focus has turned to what in politics passes for the long term: Next year’s midterm elections. The fight for next November is on.

But who has the momentum? Did the shutdown reveal Republicans’ as too far outside the political mainstream – or, worse, too divided internally to ever unite around an electable platform? For Democrats, will a disastrous debut for the government’s health care website turn Americans against them and Obamacare? And what about this talk of a so-called Democratic Wave?

Helping us make sense of the policy and the politics: Stu Rothenberg, Editor and publisher of The Rothenberg Political Report and Columnist at Roll Call.