No real surprise here...
An interesting piece in the Washington Post Sunday. It seems Republicans are about to launch a massive negative campaign aimed at discrediting Democratic candidates for congress in the final 60 days of the election. That, in of itself, is not surprising. What is surprising is that they admit it. According to the Post article, NRCC Chairman, Congressman Tom Reynolds of New York, "Opposition research is power. Opposition research is the key to defining untested opponents."
Opposition research is a nice way of saying that Republican operators have been checking into the backgrounds of Democratic candidates hoping to find something - anything - that can be used against them. Then they'll take some of the $50 million earmarked for this year's congressional campaigns and shower the TV airwaves "defining" the opposition in terms that are less than flattering.
Why? Simple...it's all about winning. Democrats need to pick up 15 seats in this year's election to take back control of the House. Political pundits, and polls, suggests that Democrats have a realistic chance of gaining 15 to 20 seats this year. Republicans believe that with an all-out, hard-ball, negative media blitz, they can minimize their losses to six to 10 - and keep control.
Brace yourself...it's going to start to get ugly.
Opposition research is a nice way of saying that Republican operators have been checking into the backgrounds of Democratic candidates hoping to find something - anything - that can be used against them. Then they'll take some of the $50 million earmarked for this year's congressional campaigns and shower the TV airwaves "defining" the opposition in terms that are less than flattering.
Why? Simple...it's all about winning. Democrats need to pick up 15 seats in this year's election to take back control of the House. Political pundits, and polls, suggests that Democrats have a realistic chance of gaining 15 to 20 seats this year. Republicans believe that with an all-out, hard-ball, negative media blitz, they can minimize their losses to six to 10 - and keep control.
Brace yourself...it's going to start to get ugly.
posted by Ray Hackett at 8:48 AM
3 Comments:
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C'mon Ray, if the Democrats want to pick up 15 to 20 Congressional seats (which by the way, they will not this year), THEY will have to "go negative" and try to make cases for the voters to fire the incumbents.
The Washington Post might have actually exercised responsible journalism if they had spoken to the DCCC and/or the National Democrats to see what their "plan" is to win the seats they need to get a majority that they've been claiming they would do since 1994. Seriously, I really would like to know what the DCCC's plan is. If the Washington Post won't do a story, how about you?
Bill...you are correct. Of course the Democrats will respond with their own series of attack ads. I've previously reported that the Democrats have purchased about $2 million in TV advertising time in the Hartford market to support the candidacies of their three challengers - and I certainly don't expect those ads are going to be highlighting what wonderfully nice people they are. We've seen this all before in past campaigns, the two major political parties step in and turn the campaign into something most of us find less than appealing.
Personally...I think it would be better if the two parties just sent the check to the local campaigns and let them spend the money the way they want to - then we can see who takes the high road, and who doesn't.
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