This is a wonderful article!! I feel their pain. Sort of.
Come to think of it, no I don't. We need to run the table in the Senate races too. On Mon, Nov 1, 2010 at 4:53 AM, Cold Water <[email protected]> wrote: > *Grim Dems await huge House losses* > By: Alex Isenstadt > October 31, 2010 04:53 PM EDT > > The last TV ads have been cut. The final polls have been conducted. The > end-of-campaign expenditures are being made. > > Now, for Democratic consultants and campaign officials who have plotted and > strategized for months to preserve the embattled House majority, there’s > nothing left to do but sit and wait for the expected horrors of Election Day > to unfold. > > There is nearly uniform consensus among Democratic campaign professionals > that the House is gone — the only question, it seems, is how many seats they > will lose. > > While few will say so on the record for fear of alienating party officials > or depressing turnout, every one of nearly a dozen Democratic House > consultants and political strategists surveyed expect a GOP majority to be > elected Tuesday — the consensus was that Democrats would lose somewhere > between 50 and 60 seats. > > A senior party consultant who was on the low end with his predictions said > the party would lose between 40 and 50 seats. On the high end, one > Democratic consultant said losses could number around 70 seats. > > All spoke to the grimness of the mood. > > “It sucks,” said Dave Beattie, a Florida-based Democratic pollster who is > working on a slate of competitive House races and who acknowledges that the > lower congressional chamber is lost. “I’m resigned to the fact that it > sucks.” > > While there was optimistic talk within party circles early this month that > the electoral environment was improving for the party, the operatives said > those conversations don’t take place anymore. > > “If some Democratic consultant told you they are feeling better, they must > have dropped some heavy drugs,” said a senior pollster who is working for > candidates in competitive races. “It’s hard.” > > The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee this week launched > something of a last-ditch offensive to save some of its incumbents, > purchasing airtime to defend endangered members like Iowa Rep. Dave > Loebsack, Illinois Rep. Bill Foster and New Jersey Rep. John Adler — all of > whom are highly vulnerable but whom party officials believe could ultimately > prevail. > > The committee also sought to shore up incumbents who until recently were > not thought to be in electoral peril: Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva, Iowa Rep. > Bruce Braley and North Carolina Rep. Mike McIntyre. > > Still, among those in the Democratic consulting class, there’s a gloomy > acknowledgment that many of the incumbents the DCCC has spent millions of > dollars to protect won’t be coming back to Congress. > > “Everybody that is tied will lose, and everyone that is ahead by a few > points will lose because of the GOP wave,” said one party media consultant > who is involved in a wide array of House races. “There are going to be some > surprises.” > > Some strategists have resigned themselves to an election night that will > bring an early end to the promising careers of Democrats they shepherded to > victories in 2006 and 2008. > > “In a wave election, part of the problem is that you feel powerless. > Everything I feel I know how to do, that I’m trained to do, I can’t do. And > that feeling is pervasive,” said the pollster. “There’s a sense that there’s > nothing you can do about it. When you know your friends are on the chopping > block, it’s hard.” > > “There’s nothing worse than talking to an incumbent member of Congress > who’s been cut off by the DCCC and who has no money,” said another > Democratic consultant who has worked on crafting some of the party’s TV ads > this cycle. “It’s like talking to a dead man walking.” > > But Nov. 2 will also bring a welcome end to a rough final stretch that left > many party strategists frustrated. Some talked about having to switch > campaign strategies multiple times in hapless attempts to raise rock-bottom > poll numbers. > > “It’s a 24-hour labor,” said John Anzalone, an Alabama-based pollster who > works closely with the DCCC. “In 2006 and 2008, everything was going your > way. This is brutal.” > > There is ongoing debate within Democratic circles about when, exactly, the > party lost its handle on the electoral environment. Some consultants say > they realized they lost the House in early October, when it finally became > apparent that incumbents couldn’t move their poll numbers. > > But others say the electoral map hardened this spring, after the House > passed a health care bill that remains deeply unpopular among voters. > Democratic campaign officials say it is no accident that there are few > Democrats in moderate-to-conservative districts who have promoted their > support for the health care measure on the campaign trail, and most don’t > even acknowledge it. > > “To a lot of folks, it was a symbol of government,” said Beattie, the > Florida-based pollster. “It’s not about the content for most voters.” > > Already, the finger-pointing is beginning. With outside conservative groups > pouring millions of dollars into races across the country, some operatives > singled out liberal interest groups for not engaging in the election. > > “If there’s one person to blame, it’s the liberal groups who said they > would get involved early but they didn’t,” said the media consultant. “I > think they’ve been totally unhelpful.” > > But, most of the consultants said, much of the post-election scrutiny would > surround President Barack Obama and a White House political operation that > over the past two years struggled to sell an ambitious agenda that turned > out to be radioactive to a wide swath of the electorate. > > “Here’s the part of this that bothers me the most: This is not an embracing > of Republicans. It’s a rejection of Democrats,” said Andrew Myers, a veteran > Democratic pollster who worked on several House campaigns. > > http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=03A44CBF-0C07-448A-99CB09FC8163E166 > > -- > Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. > For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum > > * Visit our other community at > http://www.PoliticalForum.com/<http://www.politicalforum.com/> > * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. > * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more.
