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It's not as clear though that Republicans will necessarily suffer from a government shut-down as they did under Clinton. First, although the Democrats still own the mainstream media, FoxNews is much more widely watched, there are many more alternative media, and NPR and CNN are openly trying to be less partisan. Second, the public is much more concerned about government spending than in the 90s. Third, this is not about one party holding Congress and another the White House; in this case both parties are responsible for crafting a budget the President will sign. And fourth, in order to win political points from a government shut-down, Democrats have to make people forget that this budget is one the completely Democrat-controlled Congress failed to pass when they were Constitutionally required to pass it. It seems to me that it's going to be quite difficult to make political hay over the fact that your opponents have failed to fix your own failure.