Newt Gingrich, who masterminded the 1994 elections that brought Republicans to power on promises of revolutionizing the way Washington is run, told Time that his party has so bungled the job of governing that the best campaign slogan for Democrats today could be boiled down to just two words: "Had enough?"
All of the people who are out there saying that the Democrats should have already presented a plan for what they will do if elected are wrong. Right now, we need to keep bashing them over their myriad of problems. Cook said today that it probably isn't a good idea politically for the minority party to present such a plan at this time. He's right. Had enough is good enough this early in the campaign season.
The article also says that if the election was held today, strategists from both parties conclude they would lose the House and looks at the difficulties facing republican incumbents have with a unpopular president.
The bottom line is, look for a lot of airport fundraisers. House and Senate members want the money Bush can raise, they just don't want to be seen with him. This paragraph from the article contains three money quotes as to the dangers of actively trying to distance themselves from Bush. From Time:
But party leaders are warning privately against taking that strategy too far. "If Diet Coke criticizes Coke, people buy Pepsi, not Diet Coke," said Ken Mehlman, chairman of the Republican National Committee. In an internal Republican Party memo provided to Time, Jan van Lohuizen, a longtime Bush pollster, warns candidates tempted to distance themselves that "President Bush drives our image and will do so until we have real national front-runners for the '08 nomination. If he drops, we all drop." Another Republican strategist describes the problem for g.o.p. candidates this way: "Adding weight to the anchor doesn't help them."
Rock, meet hard place.
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