Somehow (I suspect a prankster friend), I got on Elizabeth Dole's National Republican Senatorial Committee mailing list. With *'s polling numbers going in the toilet, she has the difficult job of rallying the faithful, so here's her prognosis for 2006, published in this week's
The Hill magazine.
The Hill
Focus on: Election 2006
Dems' lurch to the left will hurt them in 2006
By Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.)
In a bizarre tactic that has left many Democrat strategists and centrist Democratic groups puzzled and disturbed, the Democratic leadership has jumped even further to the left since their last election defeats. The results have been staggering and numerous, and well-documented in the press, and have caused an acute case of political heartburn among many Democrat members and liberal pundits.
Shortly after the 2004 election, left-wing radical group Move-On.org proudly pronounced that "Now it's our party: we bought it, we own it and we're going to take it back." And it was of course correct on all accounts.
Enter Howard Dean as the chairman of the Democratic National Committee. He was too liberal to win the Democratic primary for president because he ran to the left of the more "conservative" senator from Massachusetts, John Kerry. Now he's reaching out to red-state voters with his pessimism and negativity.
The congressional leadership for the Democrats has formed an alliance with the extreme left as well. MoveOn.org and the Daily Kos are featured guests on conference calls and in meetings to develop strategy with Sen. Harry Reid (Nev.) and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (Calif.). By contrast, Republicans offer clear principles and solutions to the problems confronting the American people. The outlook for protecting the majority in the United States Senate looks good as a result.
Let's look at the facts about the upcoming elections.
The Democrats must defend 18 seats, compared to 15 seats on the Republican side. The GOP also has 14 out of 15 incumbent senators running for reelection, while the Democrats have lost at least three senators to retirement in Maryland, Minnesota, Vermont and potentially a fourth in New Jersey.
One important statistic tells us that, since 1914, almost 80 percent of congressional incumbents have been reelected. And of the nine winners of Senate elections in 2004, only one member did so by defeating an incumbent. Yet the Democrats have hung their hopes for a Senate majority on defeating incumbent Republican senators across the board in such places as Arizona, Missouri and Montana -- all of which broke strongly Republican last year.
As for open seats, thanks to the welcome news that Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison will continue serving Texas in the Senate, Republicans are defending only Tennessee. If there is any question on how a Senate race in the South will go for the party of Howard Dean and MoveOn.org, a quick look at the races in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Louisiana from the last cycle should answer that question.
So, just ignore the "bizarre tactics" and go back to sleep, Repugs. :rofl: