Democrats #39; new big fear
POLITICO #39;s Anna Palmer, Manu Raju and Alex Burns take a look at the current 2014 landscape and see major advantages for the GOP right now. But is the Dem str...
By: POLITICO
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Four years after the passage of the health care reform law and the subsequent shellacking in the 2010 midterm election, Democrats say they are not shying away from the Obamacare fight, even as Republicans make it the centerpiece of their 2014 campaign.
In a new memo, Democratic National Committee spokesman Mo Elleithee takes aim at the Republican strategy for the fall, saying that with the law now implemented, the GOP is for the first time running on a platform of taking away existing benefits. The messaging follows the partys loss in special election in Floridas 13th congressional district earlier this month, where a Republican barrage of anti-Obamacare ads tanked Democrat Alex Sink. But Democrats are pointing a recent incident in which New Hampshire GOP Senate hopeful Scott Brown was confronted by Republicans who are benefiting from the law as a sign of things to come.
Thats the choice voters have in November: between Republicans who voted over 50 times to take away your rights and go back to the days when insurance companies could cancel your coverage on a whim; and Democrats who will protect a law that is working for millions of Americans and make sure it works even better, Elleithee said.
The memo comes in advance of a joint conference call Friday by Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus and the heads of the partys House and Senate campaign committees to mark the four-year anniversary of the law and discuss its potential impact on 2014 races.
From: Mo Elleithee, DNC Communications Director To: Interested Parties Re: The Politics of Obamacare, Four Years Later Date: March 21, 2014
This week marks four years since President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law. Since its passage, Republicans have spent hundreds of millions of dollars attacking the law, confusing people and discouraging them from participating.
They ran against Obamacare in 2012 and lost. In 2013 in Virginia, Republicans ran against Obamacare and Democrats won historic victories.
All signs point to Republicans running against Obamacare again in 2014. But this year will be a little different for the first time they are running to take away benefits that virtually every American who has health care is benefiting from.
Whats more, theyve wasted time and energy voting over 50 times to repeal, gut or dismantle the law at the expense of other legislative priorities that have broad support, like commonsense immigration reform.
Polling consistently shows that the American people reject the GOPs repeal plans.
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Democrats Have Message For Obamacare-Bashing GOP: Bring It On
Democrats are girding for a tough slog in the midterm congressional elections by cranking up their fundraising and voter turnout programs, but there is only somuch they can do about one of the biggest political problems their candidates have to cope with: President Barack Obamas sagging approval ratings.
A presidents popularity among voters can have a powerful effect on midterm elections, and this year, Democrats have the misfortune of seeing most of their mostcompetitive House and Senate battles being fought in regions where Mr. Obama is particularly unpopular.
A state-by-state Gallup analysis of Mr. Obamas job approval rating for 2013 found that in five of the most competitive statesAlaska, Arkansas, Kentucky, West Virginiaand Montanathe share of people approving of Mr. Obamas job performance was below 40%. Republicans need to pick up six seats to win the Senate majority.
Rep. Steve Israel (D.,N.Y.), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee,acknowledged in an interview with the Wall Street Journal Thursdaythat the presidents approval levels were lacking but that our job is to build an infrastructure that can minimize the difficult climate and maximize a more favorableclimate.
The best thing the partysHouse and Senate campaign strategists figure they can do is raise a boatload of money and rev up their political organization in the battleground districts and states. This year, both House and Senate campaign committees have invested far more money andmoved much earlier than in past yearsto set up programs to identify and mobilize supporters there.
They are hoping to head offa historic political problem for the Democratic Party: In off-year elections, there is often a big dropoff in turnout by young people, members of minority groups and other key parts of the Democratic base. Mr. Obama, speaking Thursday night at a Democraticfundraiser in Florida, alluded to that problem.
During presidential elections, young people vote, women are more likely to vote, blacks, Hispanics more likely to vote, Mr. Obama said. But in midterms we getclobbered either because we dont think its important or weve become so discouraged about whats happening in Washington that we think its not worth our while.
Despite his unpopularity in key states, Mr. Obama has been able to lend a big hand to his party with his vast fundraising prowess through such events.
But in other ways, most Democrats in tough races are coping by finding avenuesin campaign ads, votes in Congress and other tacticsto keep their distancefrom Mr. Obama and the health-care law. Sen. Mary Landrieu (D., La.) bluntly touted her efforts to fix the health-care law in her first re-election ad. Whenthe House voted recently on legislation to postpone a key element of the bill the mandate that most individuals hold health insurance27 Democrats voted for the bill. Thats five more Democrats than voted for an identical bill when it came to a votein July 2013, and included several facing competitive elections.
Rep. Rick Nolan (D.,Minn.), a freshman who faces a potentially tough re-election fight,said he switched from opposing the delay to supporting it because of the major problems in the rollout of the law starting in October. Having been criticized in ads by the conservative Americans for Prosperity for supporting the health-care law, now he is being criticized by another conservative group, the Congressional Leadership Fund,for what it called an election year conversion.
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Chris Matthews: Democrats Are Going To Lose The Senate
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Chris Matthews: Democrats Are Going To Lose The Senate - Video
Bill Maher Most Republican Voters #39;Just Corporate America #39;s Useful Idiots #39;
By: Occupy Democrats
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Bill Maher Most Republican Voters 'Just Corporate America's Useful Idiots' - Video