I thought the Democrats were supposed to come up with a Contract for the big push. Where is it? Or maybe they will unleash it right before they go for the recess. They have one more month of drama in DC, and then off they go into the horizon to snatch victory.
Things are looking good. The House will be taken for sure. The Senate also is within striking distance. If you can create enough of a momentum, you are golden.
The message is not hard to come up with.
Who could argue against balancing the budget again? Who could argue for the mess in Iraq? You spend $100,000 a minute for years to ignite a civil war in Iraq. How smart is that? Is that what will make America safe? Not only did they go to war as the weapon of first resort, they fundamentally mismanaged it. Hurricane Katrina you can blame on Mother Nature, and perhaps global warming that neocons deny even exists. But Iraq is so totally Bush' doing. The boy has lost it, let's face it.
And there are bedrock issues of education and health care. In a more globalized world where jobs fly around, those two have become even more important as issues. People will take up the challenge of the new reality, but they need help getting equipped. They need leadership.
I think the Dems already got the message. As have the people. Now is the time to hear the drumbeats. Now is show time. This is road show time. Get out and soak in the people. Go shake hands. Go party. Time for face time. Time for rubber to hit the road.
Democrats have to fight the security plank. You don't counter wrong foreign policy with no foreign policy. Strong on domestic policy, strong on foreign policy. The neocons might have bled the budget in the name of security, but they have not made America more secure. They have thrown gozilla money on the problem, but the problem remains.
When they talk security, slap them with Iraq.
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In The News
Democrats think ahead to victory in fall elections Youngstown Vindicator If Democrats win one or both houses of Congress in November's elections, as polls suggest is increasingly likely, President Bush's Washington will change dramatically..... Democrats will press to get out of Iraq. They'll mount investigations into the Bush administration's record that could rival those of President Nixon in Watergate and President Clinton in the Monica Lewinsky affair. They'll push a boatload of social-welfare legislation, such as raising the minimum wage, that reflects their pent-up priorities, while blocking the Republican agenda on social issues such as gay marriage, abortion and religion. ..... National polls strongly suggest that they could ride widespread voter discontent with the war in Iraq and Bush into control of one or both houses of Congress for the first time since 1994. ..... the next speaker will be Rep. Nancy Pelosi, a liberal feminist from San Francisco who decries virtually everything Bush does. ...... Issue one would be the war.
Congress Returns for Prelude to Election Forbes
Democrats on a roll in battle for US Congress Reuters "I don't think the question any longer is can Democrats win control of Congress ..... All 435 House seats, 34 of 100 Senate seats and 36 governorships are at stake .... Democrats needing to pick up 15 House seats and six Senate seats to reclaim majorities...... the final two-month push to the November 7 election .... About 40 House districts and a dozen Senate seats will be the key battlegrounds ..... the House .... where nearly every endangered incumbent is Republican....... the Cook Report lists 17 House seats as toss-ups -- all Republican ..... In the Senate, Democrats are expected to pick up seats. But to win control they will need to bump off at least five Republican incumbents -- difficult but not impossible even under favorable conditions...... In recent polls, Democratic challengers led Republican incumbents Rick Santorum in Pennsylvania, Conrad Burns in Montana and Mike DeWine in Ohio. Jim Talent in Missouri, Lincoln Chafee in Rhode Island and George Allen in Virginia also face re-election struggles. The open Tennessee seat of retiring Republican Senate Leader Bill Frist is also on the endangered list for Republicans.
Congress returns for prelude to November battle International Herald Tribune, France
Congress readies for "Security September" Seattle Times, United States the Republican majorities in both chambers at risk .... After a five-week summer break, the centerpiece of the House schedule for the coming week is a bill to toughen rules against horse-slaughtering. .... Republican leaders hope to complete a defense-spending bill, a defense-policy bill, legislation to give Congress' blessing to the National Security Agency's (NSA) warrantless-wiretapping program and to bring the president's military tribunals into constitutional compliance, and a port-security overhaul...... . "This will be a test of ideas on military security and homeland security." .... Democrats will counter with a push for a vote of no confidence in Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and with multiple calls to fully implement the recommendations of the bipartisan commission that investigated the Sept. 11 attacks. ...... Nancy Pelosi.. "They have weakened our military, hurt our position in the world, spent away our children's future and again not made America safer." ........ Democrats think the national-security theme will not have the sting it had in 2002 and 2004. .... "It depends on events"
National security battle awaits Capitol Hill as elections loom Boston Globe, United States
GOP's Hold on House Shakier Los Angeles Times, CA .... she wants to vote for a Democrat in this year's midterm election. Any Democrat. ..... "I don't think I've ever before been willing to vote for someone just because of their party affiliation" .... Democrats... also have narrowed Republicans' traditional advantage in fundraising. ..... The winds are blowing so strongly against the GOP that it raises a new question: If Democrats cannot win control of Congress under these circumstances, when will they? ...... the strength of the political machine the GOP has built ...... The party's agenda is tailored to mobilize its base, and its campaign machinery has made a fine art of getting Republican voters to the polls. ...... Republicans are trying to keep the focus on individual candidates and local issues, while Democrats are trying to turn the election into a broad national referendum on one-party rule in Washington, the war in Iraq and Bush. ..... voters are as restive as they were in 1994 ..... The trickiest campaign issue for members of both parties is Iraq. ..... "I don't think anything rivals Iraq as an issue that shapes the political environment in district after district." ......
Democratic Congress no longer a long shot San Francisco Chronicle, USA Nine weeks before election day, Democrats are poised to make their biggest gains since the post-Watergate elections more than three decades ago. .... The experts give Democrats a shot at winning control of the Senate, a possibility that was regarded as unthinkable when the summer began, and say the party's prospects of taking over more than half of the nation's governorships are near certain. ..... the political system today has been fortified to withstand big partisan waves or demands for change. .... Sophisticated redistricting, strengthened party loyalty and the advantages of incumbency are so powerful that even in a year when voters seem to be hollering for change, most strategists regard just 1 in 3 Senate seats and 1 in 8 House seats as being competitive. ....... phrases like "tidal wave'' and "Category 5 hurricane'' are being used to describe the Democratic surge ...... the campaign is shaping up as a clash between a potent call for change and a system designed to prevent it. ...... between 25 and 50 truly competitive House seats, and anywhere from six to 12 competitive Senate seats. ..... Of the 36 most competitive districts identified by analyst Charlie Cook, who publishes another nonpartisan political newsletter, 14 are in the New England states, New York, New Jersey or Pennsylvania. Another 12 are in the Midwest. ...... Democrats have a good shot at winning GOP seats in Pennsylvania, Montana, Ohio, Rhode Island and Missouri. But to win the majority, Democrats must win a sixth Republican seat in a less politically hospitable state such as Tennessee, Virginia or Arizona, as well as hold onto their own vulnerable seats in places like Minnesota and New Jersey. ..... "wrong track" leading by a 2-to-1 margin .... A Fox News poll conducted this week found just 24 percent of respondents approve of the job Congress is doing, compared with 61 percent who disapprove. ..... Republicans having raised $454 million for House and Senate campaigns, compared with $434 million for Democrats. ...... In 1994, 53 House Democrats represented districts in which President Clinton had lost.
More GOP Districts Counted as Vulnerable Washington Post, United States fighting to preserve at best a slim majority in the Senate ..... Over the summer, the political battlefield has expanded well beyond the roughly 20 GOP House seats originally thought to be vulnerable. Now some Republicans concede there may be almost twice as many districts ....... finger-pointing has begun as Republicans here and around the country blame the White House and the GOP congressional leadership ...... a superior Republican get-out-the-vote operation, a coming barrage of negative ads aimed at their challenger candidates, and a sizable cash-on-hand disparity between the Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee. ...... It's not just Iraq. It's also that most people don't feel better off economically." ..... All predict one of the most negative midterm elections in memory, with virtually no positive advertising from the national GOP committees or individual GOP candidates....... Republicans have financial and organizational assets to deploy ..... over the next 30 days, GOP candidates will attempt to convert the elections from a referendum on the president and congressional Republicans to a choice between competing philosophies on fighting terrorism and growing the economy. ...... six years of the Bush presidency have given the nation "an endless occupation and a wage-less recovery." The GOP message, he added, offers nothing beyond "fear." ...... Republicans' failure over the past few months to narrow the battlefield by using television ads to discredit little-known Democratic challengers. ...... Governors' races often move independently of national trends ..... prospects for Democratic takeovers are brightest in New York, Ohio and Massachusetts ..... this appears to be an unusual election in which incumbent-held districts are as vulnerable as open seats. ...... Republicans face potential losses in every section of the country, but the area that concerns strategists most is the arc of states running from the Northeast across the Midwest. There are three GOP incumbents at risk in Connecticut and four districts in Pennsylvania that could flip in November. In New York, Republicans worry that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D) and likely Democratic gubernatorial nominee Eliot Spitzer will roll up such large margins that several GOP-held districts could be caught in the undertow......... Ohio is another state where Republicans are braced for losses. GOP gubernatorial nominee J. Kenneth Blackwell, Ohio's secretary of state, is running far behind the Democratic nominee, Rep. Ted Strickland, and the unpopularity of Republican Gov. Bob Taft and the president have put several incumbents at risk, including Rep. Deborah Pryce, a member of the House leadership. ...... The reversal of fortune is particularly striking in Ohio and Indiana ...... But organization is less effective with depressed morale. ...... "but on September 1, 2004, John Kerry would have been elected president." .... the ability of the White House and the Republican National Committee to dominate the final days of any campaign ...... Donna Brazile..: "September 11 shifted something inside the American people, and there are some lingering doubts [about Democrats' stance on terrorism] Republicans know how to exploit." ....... millions of dollars' worth of negative GOP ads. .... Normally, incumbents wait until the final weeks of their campaigns to launch their attacks ...... "I don't know of a single target race... where the Republican candidate .... has spent more than 20 percent of what they intend to spend. .......
November Elections -- the Great War of '06 Los Angeles Times, CA the best way to understand them is to understand World War I. ...... Despite being called a "world" war, the vast majority of fighting from 1914-1918 took place in a relatively limited space. The same is true of the 2006 elections. ...... Gerrymandering is an ancient art, but the technology used to create districts has grown so sophisticated that both parties — but especially Republicans — have learned to use it with less shame and more sophistication. ...... would expose the administration to congressional investigations, which under Republican control have been rare and toothless. Want to know why Bill Clinton was plagued by constant scandals while his successor has been mostly scandal-free? It's not because Bush is a saint. It's because Clinton faced a hostile Congress, while Bush enjoyed a compliant one controlled by his allies........ Germany maintained the geographic advantage, with defensive lines established deep into enemy territory. Yet its morale and resources had been sapped, and its capacity to continue the fight was lagging. The Republicans are in a similar position........ Democrats are not putting forward a positive agenda ..... I would say that the key issue in November is accountability......... Bush has never been a popular president, yet he has been enormously influential both at home and overseas — in most ways, to the country's detriment....... our entire political system is premised on the idea that the executive and legislative branches will clash...... Partisan discipline has trumped everything, and the whole notion of checks and balances has fallen by the wayside....... Democrats .. aren't going to be able to stop the war in Iraq
Hill Set To Debate Security Issues Washington Post, United States
Wariness About Alternative Tempers Vote ABC News
Wariness About Alternative Tempers Vote Forbes
Wariness about alternative tempers US electorate's vote-for-change ... International Herald Tribune, France
Risky business--GOP touts national security U.S. News & World Report, DC
Bush Sets Republican Agenda for Congressional Elections Voice of America Bush is campaigning hard ..... he is still popular among members of his own party ..... he is using many of the same themes that won him re-election two years ago. ...... Ours is a party that is willing to confront challenges, instead of passing them on to future generations." ..... Bush says the most important challenge is securing the nation against another terrorist attack....... arguing some of his critics do not understand the depth of the terrorist threat....... nearly two-thirds of Republicans still approve of the way President Bush is handling the war in Iraq...... Bush says the security of the civilized world is at stake in Iraq. .... many Democrats say they would use control of the Senate to investigate the president's handling of the war in Iraq.
GOP lags in key Senate races USA Today Polls in five key states show Democrats poised to gain Senate seats but facing an uphill battle to regain control.
Why Senate Will Be Tougher For Democrats to Take Back Wall Street Journal (subscription), NY few go so far as to predict Democrats will seize the Senate.
Democrats to Sweep US Polls: Analysts Islam Online, Qatar For the third time in less than a year, Bush launched on Thursday, August 31, a new campaign to sell the Iraq war to a skeptical electorate.... Democrats have argued that the nearly 300 billion dollars and other resources spent on the war so far could have been put to better use.
Tough election road seen for Republicans Political Gateway, FL
Congress needs new focus on branch’s duty Lawrence Journal World, KS
Congress returns for prelude to November battle KPLC-TV, LA
Several themes in play for 2006 midterm elections Toledo Blade, OH
GOP faces tough midterm election News & Observer, NC
GOP faces expanded House fight Fort Worth Star Telegram, TX
Political clashes loom as Congress returns Canton Repository (subscription), OH
Democrats look north for victory Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, IN One key to the Republican takeover of the House under Newt Gingrich was the completion of a long-term realignment to the GOP in the South....... a quiet counter-realignment has been under way in the Northeast and Midwest. .... longtime Republican suburban bastions in Pennsylvania, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, New York and New Jersey were moving the Democrats’ way........ winning the bulk of these Lincoln-state seats would be the linchpin of any Democratic victory...... the Southernization of the GOP leadership – from President Bush of Texas and Gingrich of Georgia to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee and, earlier, Dick Armey and Tom DeLay, both Texans. The rise of the Dixiepublicans and their brand of conservatism has pushed moderates in the North in the Democrats’ direction........ Rendell says flatly: “In 10 years, we could wind up being a second-rate economic power if we don’t improve our competitiveness.” ...... The realignment of the South has been more important than any other factor in the rise of the Republican Party to majority status in Congress. It would be one of history’s ironies if that majority were imperiled by the reassertion of the Lincoln states.
Security likely to be topic of the month in Congress Kentucky.com, KY Increasingly confident Democrats say: Bring it on. ... when the Senate convenes, its first order of business will be the $453 billion defense appropriations bill. ..... "Security September" will provide Republicans with opportunities for an endless flurry of press releases, news conferences and floor speeches..... they seek to portray critics as naive appeasers of a murderous enemy......
Editorial | Midterm Elections Philadelphia Inquirer, PA
Little action expected Centre Daily Times, PA
GOP's Hold on House Shakier ktla 5, CA
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