 Because of the Republican resurgence and Truman's difficulty appealing to some Democrats, Republican presidential nominee Thomas E. Dewey was expected to win the upcoming presidential election.Democrats were energized by Barkley's keynote address, which promoted New Deal accomplishments and called the Republican-controlled Eightieth Congress a "do nothing" Congress.He mentioned Truman only once, leading Truman to suspect that Barkley sought to supplant him as the party's presidential nominee, but no such attempt occurred.