WaPo: "GOP Strategists Whisper Fears Of Greater Losses in November"

[Amerigo Vespucci]

GOP Strategists Whisper Fears Of Greater Losses in November

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/03/AR2008100303699.html



GOP strategists worry that any bump from vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin won't be enough to prevent losses. (By Phelan M. Ebenhack -- Associated Press)

By Chris Cillizza and Shailagh Murray
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer and Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, October 4, 2008; Page A11

With the party already struggling to generate enthusiasm for its brand, Republican strategists fear that an outpouring of public anger generated by Congress's struggle to pass a rescue package for the financial industry may contribute to a disaster at the polls for the GOP in November.

"The crisis has affected the entire ticket," said Jan van Lohuizen, a Republican consultant who handled the polling for President Bush's reelection campaign. "The worse the state's economy, the greater the impact."

Republicans are trying to defend at least 18 House seats in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida, economic trouble spots that double as election battlegrounds. Rising unemployment, the meltdown in the housing market, and a credit crunch besieging consumers and manufacturers alike were factors in Sen. John McCain's decision Thursday to pull campaign resources out of Michigan. The McCain campaign's exit from the state leaves a pair of vulnerable Republicans, Reps. Tim Walberg and Joe Knollenberg, with a weakened party infrastructure heading into Nov. 4. Attempting to sound optimistic, Knollenberg, who opposed the bailout bill on Monday but supported a revised version yesterday, said simply, "I am going to fight harder."

In the Senate, where Democrats have been on offense all year as they try to attain a filibuster-proof, 60-seat majority, Republican incumbents are suddenly teetering in North Carolina, Kentucky and Georgia because of the economic crisis, according to several GOP strategists closely tracking the contests.

The pessimism in the GOP ranks reflects a striking shift in momentum in the four weeks since the Republican National Convention, when Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin made her national debut and rallied conservatives, helping to fuel the perception that longer-shot Democratic targets were drifting out of reach.

[Vincardog]

1. And it couldn't be happening to a better bunch of A$$holes

[4lbs]

2. Ride the Blue Wave of 2008!

n/t

[msongs]

3. make it official - "the McCain recession is costing you your job" nt

[WillyT]

4. K & R !!!

:kick:

[Democat]

5. "any bump from vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin"

If they are all hoping that Palin is going to save them, it's time for them to give up now.

[BumRushDaShow]

6. ???

Republican incumbents are suddenly teetering in North Carolina, Kentucky and Georgia because of the economic crisis, according to several GOP strategists closely tracking the contests.

I knew that Dole was having troubles and was behind in NC and there has been an all-out effort to unseat her... But Kentucky was not even on my radar at all when looking at the seats that were in play! I understood that VA, NH, NC, NM, OR and CO were in play. But now add MN (where Franken has taken the lead), GA, and KY? I would love to see 9 seats.

[Kahuna]

7. I'll bet they do. Voters are going to take this mess out on the entire

republican party....(I hope :))

[kennetha]

8. Funny how this sort of stuff is coming out now

I'm hoping it will utterly demoralize the repugnant base and we'll have majorities of the sort that we haven't seen since the early sixties. That's when the dems last got a hell of a lot of consequential stuff done. WOuldn't it be great if we could do it again?