White House, GOP Agree on Something

UPDATE: House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., tells Fox that Gibbs’ comments will be part of a Wednesday afternoon meeting with President Obama.  “Our message to the president is we need to be speaking on message,” Hoyer said, “There’s need for coordination.”

In a rare show of unintentional bipartisanship Wednesday, House Republicans agreed with White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs’ assertion the GOP could move into the majority after November’s midterm elections. “Even the Obama administration understands that House Republicans are poised to take back control of the House of Representatives,” said Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind.

Gibbs noted on NBC’s Meet the Press Sunday that there was “no doubt” enough seats were in play for a switch.

House Democrats do not share that view, and they are not happy with the White House expressing it.

On Tuesday, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said that just because seats were “in play” did not mean that Democrats would lose them “by any stretch of the imagination.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., reportedly slammed Gibbs in a closed-door caucus meeting late Tuesday, wondering how the spokesman could know what was happening in members’ districts.

The White House mouthpiece countered that he was merely stating “the obvious.”

Republicans were careful to not get ahead of themselves. Though he was happy to slam Democrats, House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, noted that it wouldn’t be easy to regain control of the House. “I think we have a pretty steep hill to climb to get to the majority,” Boehner observed, “We’ve got a lot of work to do but it is possible.”

-Fox News' Chad Pergram contributed to this report.