boutons_
10-04-2008, 04:43 PM
Open wide, Yoni, get ready to eat shit
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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 (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/U.S.+Republican+Party?tid=informline) in November.
"The crisis has affected the entire ticket," said Jan van Lohuizen, a Republican consultant who handled the polling for President Bush (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/George+W.+Bush?tid=informline)'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 (http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/members/m000303/)'s decision Thursday to pull campaign resources out of Michigan.
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 (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Republican+National+Convention?tid=informline),
"If you turn the clock back two or two and half weeks, you could make a plausible argument that if a couple of things go our way we will lose three to four Senate races," said one Republican strategist. "Now we will lose six to eight." Polling in most Senate races over the past 14 days has shown a five-point decline for the Republican candidate,
GOP operatives said the party's declining fortunes are rooted in a series of events over the past two weeks, including McCain's decision to suspend his campaign in order to help broker a deal on the rescue plan and Republican opposition that doomed the bill in a House vote on Monday. Those incidents helped reinforce voter impressions that Washington is broken and that Republicans bear the brunt of the blame
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/03/AR2008100303699_pf.html
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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 (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/U.S.+Republican+Party?tid=informline) in November.
"The crisis has affected the entire ticket," said Jan van Lohuizen, a Republican consultant who handled the polling for President Bush (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/George+W.+Bush?tid=informline)'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 (http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/members/m000303/)'s decision Thursday to pull campaign resources out of Michigan.
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 (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Republican+National+Convention?tid=informline),
"If you turn the clock back two or two and half weeks, you could make a plausible argument that if a couple of things go our way we will lose three to four Senate races," said one Republican strategist. "Now we will lose six to eight." Polling in most Senate races over the past 14 days has shown a five-point decline for the Republican candidate,
GOP operatives said the party's declining fortunes are rooted in a series of events over the past two weeks, including McCain's decision to suspend his campaign in order to help broker a deal on the rescue plan and Republican opposition that doomed the bill in a House vote on Monday. Those incidents helped reinforce voter impressions that Washington is broken and that Republicans bear the brunt of the blame
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/03/AR2008100303699_pf.html