Brand D

The numbers in the generic House and Senate polls have been repeated ad nauseum, and I'm sure that you've heard even me say that I think those numbers don't mean much, however, these generic numbers from the latest NPR House poll are very important, because they were done on a district by district level of the fifty most competitive seat this cycle, forty of which are held by republicans. From MyDD:

In the fifty most competitive House districts this year, Democrats lead the generic ballot 48-41. While this is a smaller lead for Democrats than many national polls reveal, it is important to remember that this is primarily a survey of Republican-held.

When candidates are named across the fifty districts, Democrats lead 49-43.

Within the ten Democratic held districts, Democrats hold a whopping 60-29 advantage. This may only be a sample size of around 200, but these numbers show the tremendous strength of Democratic incumbents around the nation. We hold a 31-point generic ballot advantage in our ten most endangered seats? Amazing.

Within the "top tier" Republican held seats (not sure how many districts this included), Democrats hold a sizable 52-42 advantage in the generic ballot. These are the sort of numbers that make a takeover very likely.

Within the "bottom tier" of the competitive Republican held seats, Democrats still hold a generic advantage of 47-44. This is particularly amazing. This shows Democratic competitiveness across a wide swatch of districts.

Bush is at 45% "strong disapprove" in these districts, and only 24% "strong approve." Remember--these are in districts that Republicans hold.

Okay, that's very good news, news you can use if you're running for office this cycle. Here is how to take advantage of it. Candidates need to in every television and radio ad they run state that they are a Democrat. Say something like I'm "your name here", and I'm a Democrat, or I'm a proud Democrat, or and I'm the Democratic candidate for "your office here". Hell, I would even include a graphic showing that you are indeed a Democrat.

Say it loud, say it proud because what you're doing is branding yourself to the popular Brand D label. You must get the voters to associate your name with the Democratic label. Have you seen many republican commercials this cycle where the candidate says they are a republican? Didn't think so.

The last step, and I cannot stress how important this last one is because it helps all of us win. Have volunteers at every polling location handing out Democratic sample ballots. Have your volunteers barking out, "Get your Democratic sample ballots here!!" You can't have enough of them, and the quality of the printing isn't even important. If nothing else, simple xeroxed copies will do.

After all, here in Ohio they are only going to have to last five hours or so. Okay, that was a little snarky but seriously the voters don't care as long as it has the list of Democrats on their ballot. It's the last chance before the voter hits the booth to associate your name with the popular Brand D label.