The other day, I laid out the case for a Republican tidal wave in November. We now have new evidence to add to the pile. Indeed, things are not looking good for our donkey friends on any front. After a panicky weekend of stories about the effects of the faltering economy on Democratic prospects, we now get evidence of anger and chaos.I’ve mentioned before that the Democrats are having a problem finding a strategy they can use to attract voters. They wanted to sell the Stimulus, but it went bust and made people insanely angry at the level of debt the Democrats piled onto the country. They wanted to sell the improving economy, but it didn’t improve. They had a jobs bill that didn’t create any jobs. They wanted to trumpet ObamaCare, but the people hated that. They wanted to rely on Financial Reform, but that’s a snoozer. They tried scapegoating Bush, but that’s not getting traction either.1. Chaos: Yet Another Bad Strategy
And Obama is no help. In fact, he’s become so unpopular that Democrats won’t even be seen with him anymore, e.g. Russ Feingold who vanished off the face of the Earth when Obama came to Wisconsin the other day. Add in the BP thing, the McChrystal thing, the Arizona thing, the corruption thing, and you’ve got a serious problem with coming up with a message.
So what’s a Democrat to do? Well, the new plan is to turn the election into a race on local issues, i.e. avoid national issues entirely. But of course, there are two problems with this. First, they haven’t done anything better locally than they’ve done nationally. Secondly, midterm elections have always been a referendum on the incumbent party. Running on local issues just won’t work.
The Democrats three biggest sources of funds are lawyers, bankers, and unions -- in that order, and their biggest treasure trove of financing comes from New York. But things are going wrong for them in New York. Indeed, there have been several articles lately talking about how dire the Democrats’ relations with Wall Street and New York have become. Said one anonymous Democrat: “Clearly, it's an extremely difficult environment out there.”2. Anger: Fund Raising Blues
There are three issues going on here:
First, many bankers are upset about being demonized by the Democrats during the Financial Regulation debate. Indeed, many banks have decided to sit out this fundraising cycle. Key Democratic supporter Goldman Sachs, for example, has refused to host or attend any fundraisers for Democrats. Said one banker:
Said another:“The fact is that the ink is not even dry on [financial regulation], and everyone in town is still getting fundraising requests from members of the conference committee and all sorts of other people who were beating up on Wall Street. It’s unseemly at best, and right now we are just not inclined to say ‘yes’.”
Secondly, Jewish donors are upset at the way Obama treats Israel. Several off-the-record comments have confirmed that most of these donors have closed their checkbooks to the Democrats and, more significantly, a large number of them, who have previously said “I've never written a check to a Republican in my life,” are suddenly attending Republican fundraisers.“Sometimes their chutzpah just has no bounds. People like [Gillibrand] who didn’t stand up for us at all during the debate are certainly going to feel some pushback.”
Third, Obama’s style has become a problem. Just as Obama treats everything American (or British) with disdain, he’s treating New York donors with disdain. This is something they aren't accustomed to. In fact, in the past, they had the Clintons who pandered to their every whim. Said one Washington Democrat:
No, it's not. Obama has shown no interest in mixing with these people. Moreover, not only is he not showing them the love the Clintons did, he's actively attacking them:“For the Clintons, these donors were part of their social circle. They vacationed with them, they had dinners with them. That's not the case for Barack.”
And this disdain is hurting other Democrats as well, who are discovering that Obama's contempt is affecting their fundraising as well: “Obama doesn't care about [these donors], and it trickles down to the rest of the system.”“They were coddled and worked very hard. Now, they're not just told they're not needed but that they're part of the problem.”
So how are the Democrats responding? Like they always do. . . by publically blasting the contributors. Said one Democrat, “The New York donor community is all ego driven,” and these complaints are simply from people who are upset about “not getting invited to movie night at the White House.” Way to improve relations!
Finally, the anti-Democratic-incumbent wave continues. Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin was supposed to have an easy re-election. Apparently not. Two polls this week show that Feingold is only 2% ahead of his challenger (45% to 43%), Ron Johnson, a relatively unknown businessman from Oshkosh with no prior political experience.3. The Unforgiving Public
What’s worse for Feingold, his approval ratings are equal to his disapproval ratings at 42%. Anything less than 50% support for an incumbent at this stage, usually spells disaster as undecideds tend to break for the challenger.
Add in Toomey’s growing lead over Sestak, and it suddenly looks like the Republicans might capture the Senate after all, especially with the excitement edge benefiting Republicans.
All of this is simply more evidence of what is becoming an obvious trend. The Democrats are in trouble. The polls say it. The MSM’s defensiveness says it. The Democrats’ panic says it. And now the Democrats’ donors are saying it. And the Democrats don’t have a clue how to respond to any of this.
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