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A few interesting political tidbits interspersed with some photos of Wednesday night’s Rally in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. The 73Wire is reporting on a story at The Hill listing 5 factors that could cost at least a few democrats their jobs this November.
History
Since 1932, the president’s party has gained seats in the Senate and House only twice in midterm elections: in 1934, during Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first term, when Democrats picked up nine Senate seats and nine House seats; and 2002, during George W. Bush’s first term, when Republicans captured two Senate seats and eight House seats.
Jobs and the economy
“Jobs, jobs, jobs and jobs,” said Democratic strategist Chris Lehane when asked about the five biggest political dangers facing Democrats this year. “You could say jobs five times and that’s really it.”
The apathetic liberal base
Ross K. Baker, a professor of political science at Rutgers University, notes that many liberal Democrats are disillusioned by Obama’s policy positions.
“There’s a question of how fired up the base is,” said Baker. “A lot of people of the Democratic base have issues with the president on a number of things.”
Ethics
Democrats captured Congress in 2006 by claiming that a “culture of corruption” had flourished under Republicans. They pledged to “drain the swamp” of Washington politics and were helped by the late-breaking sex scandal involving former Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) and House pages.
Anti-Washington sentiment
When he accepted the Democratic nomination in August 2008, Obama pledged to fix the “broken politics of Washington.”
Nearly two years later, Washington has become, by most accounts, more partisan. Routine legislative measures, such as an extension of unemployment benefits and a freeze in cuts to doctors’ Medicare reimbursements, have become heavy lifts.
“Obviously, these are all good points, read the whole article here, though to really comprehend it all. Between the anti-government sentiment that’s fueling the tea party movement (and especially Rand Paul’s Senate campaign) and the fact that the stimulus has been a miserable failure or a crapshoot depending on your optimism it’s apparent a political “perfect storm” of sorts is brewing and aimed straight at the Democrat party.’
Oh yeah. Can you hear us nowwwwwwww??????
