The Problem With Believing Your Own Hype
This IS the morning for questions, isn't it? Apparently there are enough insiders and Democratic operatives who think the party has an enormous advantage that they are pleading for huge gobs of cash to target additional House districts.
Top Democrats said yesterday that they are planning to significantly expand the number of GOP House seats they will target during the final 20 days of the campaign but that financial disputes and fundraising problems are hindering the effort.
Democrats said private polls have convinced top party officials that they could pick up 40 or more seats — nearly double their internal projections from a week ago — if they spend enough money on television advertising for long-shot races. Strategists James Carville and Stan Greenberg are among those pleading with party leaders to go deep into debt to run ads in as many as 50 GOP-held districts.
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Rahm Emanuel (Ill.) has privately signed off on targeting a new group of GOP incumbents who were once considered safe for reelection, starting with Rep. Gil Gutknecht in rural Minnesota, officials said.
The number of seats Democrats could pick up "is expanding, no doubt about it," Emanuel said. "But you have to figure out what is smoke and what is fire."
Always the problem, isn't it? But there are some signs that all is not what it seems to be. The "top officials" appear to be missing a huge, flashing red warning light:
"It has been more difficult raising money than I expected," said Ickes, noting that his group has raised between $5 million and $10 million, half its original goal. "My sense is there is more optimism than is probably warranted," he said about Democratic prospects.
But the insiders have a goal which they are quite open about:
But Carville, Greenberg, Emanuel and others are now arguing in private deliberations that Democrats have a historic chance to not only win the House but also capture enough seats to build an effective governing majority. They are telling donors that it is worth the risk to shoot for a 40-plus seat gain, which would give Democrats a large enough majority to guarantee that they could move legislation and carry out investigations of the Bush administration.
I personally would not bet the farm on all this optimism. But if the Democrats do manage to get a huge number of seats and conduct non-stop investigations for the next two years, they can kiss the White House goodbye, probably forever. I'd be more inclined to pay attention to that big, old red light, myself. A reluctance on the part of donors means they are not buying into the hype.
By K T Cat, Wednesday, 18 October , 2006 @ 7:25 am
Wait a minute. The Democrats want to borrow and spend?
STOP THE PRESSES!
By Bill Franklin, Wednesday, 18 October , 2006 @ 7:36 am
> But the insiders have a goal which they are quite open about:
Absolutely. Saw a bumper sticker yesterday that summed this up well:
“We Don’t Have A Democracy, We Have An Auction.”
The best thing we can do if/until the supreme court reigns in the unconstitutional powers of both congress and the executive is to try to keep both parties in power so they can bicker over competing corrupting influences.