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Political tremors? Rumblings in the DistanceBy Rick Horowitz
They're twitchy -- can you blame them? You'd be twitchy, too. Assuming, that is, that you like being in Congress, and that you'd like to keep being in Congress -- except that after your name, there's this letter "R" always sitting there in parentheses, and this year just doesn't feel like a good year for people with the letter "R" sitting there in parentheses after their names. They're Republicans. They're congressional Republicans, and November is coming and they're scared witless. They've seen the same polls you've seen -- and a few that you haven't. Is the country heading in the right direction, or off on the wrong track? Wrong track, by a landslide. Which party do you trust to handle this issue or that issue? The Democrats. Which party do you want to see in charge of Congress? The Democrats -- and by double-digit margins! Meaningless, they tell themselves. Those are generic numbers -- generic Republicans against generic Democrats. Voters vote for actual humans, not for parties. We'll be fine, they tell themselves. And yet... When was the last time the generic numbers were this bad? It's all Bush's doing, they say to one another. His numbers are way down, so our numbers are way down. As soon as he starts going up again, we'll start going up again. Assuming, that is, that he starts going up again. And if he doesn't? If the war in Iraq stays as ugly as it's been lately? If gas prices keep rising? If the Gulf Coast floods again? Doesn't matter, they tell themselves. Voters are smart enough to know the difference between a president who isn't even on the ballot and a congressman or senator who is. These are local elections, not national elections -- one district at a time, one state at a time. As long as we're doing our jobs, they tell themselves, we'll be fine. Then they take another look at those numbers. Maybe, they wonder, if we'd gotten our act together on the budget, instead of squabbling so much that we had to keep postponing it. Irrelevant, they tell themselves. Voters don't care about procedural stuff -- they just want to feel confident that we've got their interests at heart. Maybe, they wonder, if those new rules on prescription drugs weren't so confusing to so many people. Irrelevant, they tell themselves. New things always make people nervous at first -- they'll get over it, and they'll thank us for giving them so many choices. Then there's Jack Abramoff. Jack Abramoff, and everything people might associate with Jack Abramoff. Tom DeLay. "Duke" Cunningham. Fancy trips. Fancy gifts. Investigations and indictments. And more indictments. Irrelevant, they tell themselves. People understand that a few bad apples don't mean the whole Republican barrel is rotten. People do understand that, don't they? Doesn't matter, they tell themselves. It's irrelevant. It's all irrelevant. Incumbents get re-elected -- it's just that simple. We have all the fundraising advantages, and the district-drawing advantages, and the name recognition and all the rest. Plus we're running against the Democrats -- they'll find some way to mess it up. We'll be fine, they tell themselves. Our seats are perfectly safe. Now, if they can just stop that twitching... Posted 4/19/06. No
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Rick Horowitz
