*FOX News First: September 5* *By Chris Stirewalt* *A FUNKY FRIDAY FOR DEMOCRATS * Here’s a thought experiment: If someone had told you a year ago that the jobs report out today would be miserable <http://email.foxnews.com/t?r=6&c=30084&l=173&ctl=59F30:6086CCEA2269AA7DCE0CEE0CF3F05645&;>, that Americans would be feeling levels of anxiety on national security <http://email.foxnews.com/t?r=6&c=30084&l=173&ctl=59F31:6086CCEA2269AA7DCE0CEE0CF3F05645&;> not seen in years and that the president’s job approval rating would have skidded to 38 percent <http://email.foxnews.com/t?r=6&c=30084&l=173&ctl=59F32:6086CCEA2269AA7DCE0CEE0CF3F05645&;>, how would you have forecast the elections two months away? What if you also knew that Democrats had committed a series of unforced errors, including a senator dropping his candidacy over plagiarism and a star recruit accidentally posting her whole campaign strategy online? What if you also knew that no Republican incumbents had been unseated in primaries? There are plenty of factors to consider, particularly Democratic spending advantages, but today provides a snapshot of a cycle that is tilting out of control for the majority party. Badly. Remember today the next time someone is trying to tell you that the atmosphere this year is anything other than brutal for Democrats.
*OBAMACARE HACKED AND STACKED AGAINST DEMOCRATS * The emerging conventional wisdom <http://email.foxnews.com/t?r=6&c=30084&l=173&ctl=59F33:6086CCEA2269AA7DCE0CEE0CF3F05645&;> is that voters are “kind of over” ObamaCare and that the midterm elections are about other things. But that’s sort of like saying that people are over fire being hot: It may not be a surprise anymore but it still matters quite a lot, especially when it flares up. Just consider the news that, true to widespread and oft-repeated warnings, hackers breached the site <http://email.foxnews.com/t?r=6&c=30084&l=173&ctl=59F34:6086CCEA2269AA7DCE0CEE0CF3F05645&;> for the program and that the incursion went undetected for six weeks. The problem is that it comes as a surprise to no one since the administration ignored its own security requirements and plowed ahead with the now infamous launch. *President Obama*’s signature entitlement program has been helped by low expectations following its 2013 crash – ObamaCare: Not Dead Yet! – but every time Americans are reminded about the botched and bungled implementation, it further hardens opposition to the law. What really matters, though, is what’s coming in the two months before the election. *Making the jump - *Health costs are soaring <http://email.foxnews.com/t?r=6&c=30084&l=173&ctl=59F35:6086CCEA2269AA7DCE0CEE0CF3F05645&;>. And companies are scrambling to offset increasing costs imposed by the employer mandate <http://email.foxnews.com/t?r=6&c=30084&l=173&ctl=59F36:6086CCEA2269AA7DCE0CEE0CF3F05645&;>, which is scheduled to take effect in January for larger firms. How many workers will be fired, stripped of hours or dumped from company plans is being worked out in finance departments even as we speak. Next year, more employers will offer more high-deductible plans, meaning employees will need to shoulder a greater share of their medical costs before their plan picks up the bill. University of Southern California professor *Paul Ginsberg* was quoted <http://email.foxnews.com/t?r=6&c=30084&l=173&ctl=59F37:6086CCEA2269AA7DCE0CEE0CF3F05645&;> in The New York Times this week, saying, “You can’t sugarcoat this…This is a more challenging situation for consumers and it’s a reflection of how difficult it is to afford health care.” It may be true that the buzz about ObamaCare has slowed to a murmur, but the part where the law touches more and more voters in their lives is accelerating. And that’s bad news for the party that celebrated the passage of the law as an achievement greater than any in two generations. *Still stings - David Drucker* has the straight dope <http://email.foxnews.com/t?r=6&c=30084&l=173&ctl=59F38:6086CCEA2269AA7DCE0CEE0CF3F05645&;>: “‘It’s not a magic bullet as a ‘last 90 days message’ in every race,’ a Republican consultant with House and Senate clients said. ‘But it deserves 95 percent of the credit for creating the favorable environment that we’ve been gifted.’” *e.g. - *In its latest ad <http://email.foxnews.com/t?r=6&c=30084&l=173&ctl=59F39:6086CCEA2269AA7DCE0CEE0CF3F05645&;>, the National Republican Senatorial Committee rails on Rep. *Bruce Braley*, D-Iowa, for his support of ObamaCare. Des Moines, Iowa senior *Darlene Blake *appears in the ad saying, “Bruce Braley voted to cut $700 billion from Medicare to support ObamaCare. That’s just not fair. We paid in, we paid for it, that should be there for us.” [Iowa Democratic Senate candidate *Bruce Braley* continues to hit <http://email.foxnews.com/t?r=6&c=30084&l=173&ctl=59F3A:6086CCEA2269AA7DCE0CEE0CF3F05645&;> Republican *Joni Ernst *over her pro-life stance.] *A defensive weapon, too - *After a barrage of attacks from Sen. *Mark Pryor*, D-Ark., over Social Security, Rep. *Tom Cotton*, R-Ark., is using ObamaCare to put Pryor on defense on entitlement issues. The spot features <http://email.foxnews.com/t?r=6&c=30084&l=173&ctl=59F3B:6086CCEA2269AA7DCE0CEE0CF3F05645&;> Cotton’s mother. Pryor responded to the response with an ad <http://email.foxnews.com/t?r=6&c=30084&l=173&ctl=59F3C:6086CCEA2269AA7DCE0CEE0CF3F05645&;> Thursday saying, “My opponent knows I did not cut Medicare benefits, I cut waste and protected benefits.” [Another Cotton spot attacks <http://email.foxnews.com/t?r=6&c=30084&l=173&ctl=59F3D:6086CCEA2269AA7DCE0CEE0CF3F05645&;> Pryor for opening the door for raising the retirement age. Cotton also hits <http://email.foxnews.com/t?r=6&c=30084&l=173&ctl=59F3E:6086CCEA2269AA7DCE0CEE0CF3F05645&;> the embattled Democrat for voting to give “illegal immigrants Social Security for work they did with forged identities.”] *AND NOW, A WORD FROM CHARLES…* “For God's sake, ISIS calls itself the Islamic State, and yet we are so politically correct, we don't want to use the word ‘Islamic,’ lest to be a slur on a great religion.” *– **Charles Krauthammer**, on “Special Report with **Bret Baier**.” * *Chris Stirewalt is digital politics editor for Fox News. 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