Why Dems Could Win In November

Roger Simon of Bloomberg has a good piece on the real reasons (and it's not the Foley scandal) that Dems will batter Republicans in November. They have managed to get the GOPers on the defensive through a combination of great strategy, luck, and voter anger at GOP incumbents.

Democrats once figured they would have to come up with detailed and thoughtful arguments to beat the Republicans on Nov. 7. Now, the party's message is so simple it fits on a bumper sticker: ``Had enough? Vote Democratic.''

That exhortation is what Democratic strategists say is their party's key to victory: Making the election a referendum on President George W. Bush, his supporters and the war in Iraq, rather than about local concerns and individual races between candidates.

To make sure the election stays focused on Bush and his administration, Democrats such as Representative Ben Cardin, running for Senate in Maryland, are tying their opponents to the president in television advertisements. Even gubernatorial candidates such as Chet Culver in Iowa and Wisconsin incumbent James Doyle are focusing attacks on Bush. Doyle flies the flags at state buildings at half-staff when a Wisconsin soldier is killed in Iraq, which critics say is an attempt to politicize the war to his benefit.

Jenny Backus, a Democratic campaign consultant, said the Democrats have succeeded in making the election a referendum on Republicans and not a choice between the two parties.

The Dems found their focus strategy that they so painfully lacked in '04. Instead of running around trying to put control the damage done by Rove and the GOPers, they are confidently bashing the GOP over a key group of issues that are actually important to voters; corruption, Iraq, out of touch politicians.

Will the Dems follow this path again in '08? That's one of the reasons why a newcomer like Obama may be the best presidential candidate in two years. He has no long-standing record that can be trashed like Hillary's can. That no doubt helped the Democrats this year, with no public personality for the GOP to base their campaign around (Pelosi sure didn't work). Meanwhile, the Dems could just point to all of the Republicans tied to other "nasty" Republicans; Pres. Bush, Bob Ney, Mark Foley, Abramoff, etc.