Republicans Discover Bi-Partisanship

Thanks to media analysis, the Republican attack ads have largely backfired. And, the Rush Limbaugh attack on the Michael J. Fox ad in support of embyronic stem cell research has possibily cost Republicans the United States Senate.

Within the last few days, Republicans in close races or those in which they are clearly running behind have shifted to a new tactic...bi-partisanship. No matter that this Congress has been one of the more partisan in our history, staunch Republicans such as Rick Santorum (Pa) and Clay Shaw (Fl) are now touting their "cooperativeness" with unlikely Democratic "allies" from Barbara Boxer to Hillary Clinton. In addition to this last ditch effort to convince the voter of Republican bi-partisanship, the National Republican Party has apparently decided to focus on the lack of a national Republican agenda, in the claim that these are 435 "individual" races, based on local issues...i.e. we have no national platform to run on.

The apparent failure of the attack ads and this shift to "it's every district for itself," tells me the original Republican strategy for this election - terrorism and the economy - has failed. I would suggest the cause of this failure is that in the former case, the majority of Americans have come to think of the war in Iraq as a diversion from the war on terror and, in the latter case, they do not feel the current economy has done much for them personally.

[A third major issue of the majority of voters, illegal immigration, has once again been mostly ignored by both parties.]

It seems likely that Democrats will take control of the House and pick up seats in the Senate. These gains could be turned into a mid-term election landslide depending on turnout. With the polls showing the "independent vote" running 2 to 1 against Republicans, the Republicans have a tough choice in the closing days of the campaign: how to turn out their own base, while discouraging independents from voting? The tactics of the last few days - i.e. there are no real national issues at stake and its 435 individual elections and, anyhow, we are basically bi-partisan, may be their approach.