RK ARCHIVE - ANALYSIS: How red state Democratic candidates can defeat GOP Bush rubber-stamp incumbents!

ANALYSIS: How red state Democratic candidates can defeat GOP Bush rubber-stamp incumbents!

By: Mitch Dworkin
Published On: 8/7/2008 11:35:27 AM

Hello Everyone:

I definitely think that Democratic challengers running for the House and Senate in red states can use Bush to their advantage if they are running against a GOP incumbent who has been a Bush rubber-stamp!

I will be using Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn who has been an overall Bush rubber-stamp as an example to illustrate this strategy as far as this post is concerned.
There is absolutely no question that Bush should a liability to any Republican incumbent and especially to those who ran close to him when he was more popular and then rubber-stamped him while in office:

http://politicalticker.blogs.c...

May 1, 2008

Poll: Bush most unpopular in modern history

WASHINGTON (CNN) - "A new poll suggests that George W. Bush is the most unpopular president in modern American history..."

Here are my eight points which I suggest that Democratic challengers running for the House and Senate in red states do to effectively use a very unpopular Bush to their advantage against GOP incumbents who have been Bush rubber-stamps:

1) Link GOP incumbents to Bush when they were running for office on Bush's popularity at the time. That means digging up their old campaign ads and previous news articles connecting them to Bush!

Here is how to do that with Texas GOP Senator John Cornyn from back in 2002 when Bush was more popular and when Cornyn proudly ran on his popularity:

http://media.www.dailytexanonl...

10/16/02

Barbara Bush backs Cornyn's Senate bid

By Anita Chang (Associated Press)

FORT WORTH - "Barbara Bush on Tuesday became the latest Bush family member to help state Attorney General John Cornyn in his bid for a U.S. Senate seat.

"We need a senator who's close to the president, can work with the president, and the president needs John Cornyn," she told supporters during a fund-raising luncheon at the Fort Worth Club.

The event follows a Cornyn fund-raiser last week in Houston headlined by President Bush's nephew, George P. Bush. He is the son of Jeb Bush, the governor of Florida.

Other Bush family members who have campaigned for Cornyn include President Bush, former President Bush and first lady Laura Bush. Vice President Dick Cheney and Bush senior adviser Karen Hughes have also come to Texas to throw their support behind Cornyn...

"When President Bush goes on Cornyn's television ads and says we need John Cornyn in the U.S. Senate, there isn't a good way for Kirk to counter that," said Rice University political science professor Earl Black...

A large portion of Barbara Bush's brief speech included details of her recent family vacation in Maine.

She brought a mother's perspective to the Senate race, noting that another Republican in Washington would greatly help her son's agenda.

"We've got to have John there, any mother will tell you, to help her boy," Bush said..."

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb...

BATTLE FOR THE SENATE

October 4, 2002

Betty Ann Bowser reports on the hotly contested Senate race in Texas.

BETTY ANN BOWSER: "Kirk's opponent is 50-year-old two-term Attorney General John Cornyn. In every sense of the word, he is President Bush's man.

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: I am here because there's no doubt in my mind that John Cornyn needs to be the next Senator from Texas. ( Cheers and applause ) he's the best man with whom I can work. He's a man who can help us get some things done to make America a safer and stronger and better place for all of us.

BETTY ANN BOWSER: The President has already made two campaign appearances for Cornyn, a commercial, and the White House has not ruled out more stops before election day.

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: We've got to have a man like John Cornyn representing our state in Washington, and there are a lot of reasons why.

REPORTER: The President's influence was evident at a Cornyn campaign event in Dallas for Republican women...

COMMERCIAL SPOKESMAN: President Bush is working hard for John Cornyn...

JOHN CORNYN: I am proud of the people who supported me in this race and I'm delighted to invite them back home to Texas. These are people we're proud of, the President and Dick Cheney, others. Politics is a team sport. Are you going to be with the President and on his team..."

2) Emphasize that these kind of GOP incumbents like John Cornyn who have been a Bush rubber-stamps did NOT do their jobs of representing ALL of their constituents BUT rather they were really representing Bush and his ideological Republican leadership in Congress!

Emphasize also that while rubber-stamping Bush, they did NOT do their jobs of asking the tough questions and acting as a check and balance on the White House which is what the role of Congress is supposed to be!

I would then mention that there are some responsible Republicans who did ask the tough questions, compliment them for doing that, and then contrast them with the GOP incumbent who they are running against!

Here are some examples of these more responsible Republicans who did ask the tough questions about Bush when it counted:

A) Sen. Chuck Hagel asked the tough questions about Bush and Iraq:

ANALYSIS: How red state Democratic candidates can defeat GOP Bush rubber-stamp incumbents!

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