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U.S. Rep. John J. "Jimmy" Duncan Jr. forecast woes for Republicans in the Nov. 4 election during a legislative briefing at the Blount County Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday.

"It's shaping up to not be a good year Republican-wise," he said, alluding to projected gains of at least five seats for Democrats in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.

Duncan, who is a Republican, said he does hold out hope for the presidential race. "It's going to be a real interesting next 70 days," he said.

"John McCain will win the election unless he messes up pretty bad between now and then."

Turning from campaign politics to the legislative accomplishments of the past year, Duncan pointed out the final 2007 appropriations bill that provided more than $1 million for the Blount County Sheriff's Office, Blount Memorial Hospital and other agencies.

Although Duncan supported the local projects, he did vote against the overall bill when it was approved.

"The Congress we're in right now has been the biggest-spending Congress I've ever seen," Duncan said.

"I voted against a lot of things I would have voted for if there was surplus cash."

Duncan said the U.S. is facing looming economic challenges. The congressman cited the $9.6 trillion national debt and more than $50 trillion in unfunded future pension liabilities, including for civil service employees and members of the U.S. military.

"I continue to believe that (the national debt) is one of the reasons the dollar has declined the way it has," he said."

Businessman Steve West, of West Chevrolet, asked what could be done to reduce gasoline prices, adding that it would take too long to reduce consumption through just mandating future fuel efficiency increases for new vehicles.

"Our folks need more relief, short-term, than that," he said.

Duncan said he supported more drilling.

"We've got to do solar and wind, but we're not anywhere close to developing that to the extent that would be feasible," he said. "You can't get out of it without more drilling."

When talking about road projects and the dire fiscal condition of the highway trust fund, Duncan mentioned the successful widening of U.S. 321 at Townsend despite opposition from people concerned about disturbing sites where Native Americans had lived.

Duncan recently returned from a trip to Asia and had positive things to say about what he saw.

"They are coming on like gangbusters," he said "I'll be surprised if it doesn't turn out to be an Asian century."

When asked about healthcare costs, Duncan said there was no simple answers, but advocated approaches to help out.

"We need totally unregulated medical insurance," he said. "Competition always brings prices down."