It seemed almost crazy last week in the wake of the Massachusetts Senate win for Republicans, but suddenly, Democrats were looking for someone or something to blame, and the head of the Federal Reserve had a bullseye on his back.

There had been rumbles about Bernanke for weeks, as his nomination for a second four year term as Fed Chief made its way through the Senate Banking Committee.

But on Friday, the political smack talk exploded, and raised serious questions about Bernanke's future.

"It's time for a change," said Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA).

"Dr. Bernanke played a lead role in crafting the Bush administration's economic policies, which led to the current economic crisis," said Boxer.

Remember, Bernanke wasn't appointed by President Obama, but rather by President George W. Bush, and so a lot of Democrats argue that the Fed Chairman is responsible for the economic turmoil that is causing trouble for Democrats.

"The Federal Reserve permitted grossly irresponsible financial activities," charged Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) in a statement released on Friday, as he accused Bernanke of allowing the "worst financial crisis since the Great Depression."

It seemed hard to believe that Bernanke was going to become a scapegoat, but we've seen weirder things happen on Capitol Hill in a short period of time, and his term as Fed Chairman runs out on January 31.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will have to get 60 votes to break through objections to a Senate vote on the Bernanke nomination, which means he will need the votes of some Republicans.

If you are a GOP Senator right now, there are two ways to look at this.

One is, you like Bernanke, you like his policies, and so you would like to keep him on board.  So you'll vote for him.

On the other hand, if Bernanke goes down to defeat, it causes turmoil for the President, and signifies the economic angst that Americans are still feeling.

There would be a lot more publicity about all the bailouts and more as Mr. Obama would have to choose someone new, and then the Senate would have to hold high profile hearings on the choice.

At the same time, that would give the President the chance to make a clean break with the Bush years, so there is some downside to that option.

It still seems hard to believe that Bernanke would go down in flames.  But we'll see what happens this week.