Mediaboss Marketing

Democrats have known for some time that the terrain would be tough for them in this Novembers midterm elections. But as the general election season officially starts this week, there really are two questions to ponder in determining just how tough: What does history say, and what do the current numbers suggest?

First, the history. Midterm elections can be brutal for an incumbent presidents party, because voters tend to take out on the party whatever frustrations or disappointments in the president have accumulated.

That can be especially true in the midterm of a presidents second term in office. Fatigue can set in with a president who has been in office six years, as well as with his party. And that, of course, is where President Barack Obama and the Democrats find themselves this year.

Related:How the 2016 GOP Presidential Wannabes Spent the Summer

But the outcome isnt as uniformly bad for a two-term presidents party as often imagined. Data compiled by the American Presidency Project show that a presidents party often does get walloped in the midterm six years into his presidency. President Franklin Roosevelts Democrats lost 71 House seats and six Senate seats in 1938. President Dwight Eisenhowers Republicans lost 48 House seats and a bruising 13 Senate seats in 1958. Similarly, President George W. Bushs Republicans lost 30 House and six Senate seats in 2006.

But sometimes the results for a presidents party are more mixed in an election in the middle of his second term. President Ronald Reagans Republicans lost just five House seats in 1986, though they suffered a painful eight-seat loss in the Senate. And President Bill Clintons Democrats defied the trend and picked up five House seats while breaking even in the Senate in 1998.

This time, of course, Republicans need to win six Senate seats to take the big prize this November, which is control of the Senate, and they are confident enough that they are starting to lay plans for what they will do if that happens.

That confidence reflects the state of the current political indicators. Data from the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll show that both Mr. Obamas job-approval rating of 40%, as well as the 71% who say the country is on the wrong track, are in the same grim zone as the numbers facing George W. Bush the fall before his party lost all those congressional seats, and control of the House, in 2006.

Conversely, they are markedly worse than the numbers that prevailed as Messrs. Clinton and Reagan entered their happier six-year-election stretch runs. In both cases, the presidents job approval topped 60% at this stage of the cycle.

But history rarely repeats itself in perfect form, so its also worth keeping in mind this caveat that makes 2014 unpredictable: In the years when the presidents party takes a drubbing six years in, the opposition party has never been as unpopular in its own right as Republicans are with the general public right now.

Link:
How Tough Is 2014 Terrain for Democrats?

The corporate raider, played by Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney in 2012, is once again the Democrats favorite campaign villain.

This time, the partys broadcast ads feature at least nine Republican Senate candidates whom Democrats are trying to link to the shutdown of factories and loss of jobs overseas. When the candidate has no business record, the ads attack the billionaire Koch brothers, major Republican donors in this years elections.

The strategy harnesses a current of national anxiety over vanishing American middle-class jobs and displaced workers, and its focused on battleground states that include struggling manufacturing powerhouses like North Carolina and Michigan.

Outsourcing is second only to Medicare and Social Security as a Democratic ad theme, according to Senate Majority PAC, a group tied to the partys Senate leader, Harry Reid of Nevada.

Yet while Democratic strategists say its an effective fundraising tactic, it may be a harder sell to voters. Romney was depicted by Democrats as a job cutter based on his time at private equity firm Bain Capital. Many Republican candidates this year, including Joni Ernst in Iowa and Bill Cassidy in Louisiana, lack obvious ties to companies sending jobs offshore.

And while Charles and David Koch are among the biggest underwriters of Republican campaigns in this election through their network of political spending groups, polls show that many Americans dont even know them.

Its awfully difficult to explain who the Kochs are and what their relationship is to the Republican candidates, said Peter Fenn, a Democratic consultant who advised the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama and John Kerry.

The Kochs and the business record of their global array of petroleum, chemical, agriculture and mineral-services companies is a theme in Senate campaigns and three House races covering 10 states, according to Kantar Medias Campaign Media Analysis Group, which tracks political advertising.

Rob Tappan, a Koch Industries spokesman, said the ads are politically motivated attempts to mislead voters and smear the hard-working employees of Koch Industries. Koch has made tough but necessary decisions to close sites due to domestic and global market conditions, he said.

Sending jobs overseas is a Democratic theme in Colorado, where political ads say U.S. Representative Cory Gardner, a Republican challenging Democratic Senator Mark Udall, is being funded by the Kochs.

Continue reading here:
Kochs Tied to Job Losses by Democrats Reviving 2012 Ploy

Democrats are playing defense in deep-blue states like Hawaii, while Republicans are worried about holding on in strongholds like Georgia.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett is behind in the polls. (Tim Shaffer/Reuters)

Democrats are bullish about their opportunity to win the governor's mansion in Kansas. Republicans have sent staffers out to Hawaii for what they view as a promising opportunity to turn the state red.

Those statements may seem surprising given both states' political leaningsbut they're a testament to the fact that the 2014 gubernatorial map has shifted considerably in recent months, a new reality that may cause both parties to move resources to places they never expected at the beginning of the year.

Unlike the 2014 Senate map, which has remained relatively static over the course of the cycle, the gubernatorial map looks quite different than it did when the year began. Some races that were previously seen as competitive, like Ohio and Pennsylvania, are dropping off the map. Others that were low on the national radar, like Kansas, Hawaii and Connecticut, have turned into real races.

Of the initially competitive races that are falling off the map, two swing states with GOP governors running for a second termOhio and Pennsylvaniahave seen the starkest changes.

In Pennsylvania, unpopular GovernorTom Corbett is likely to become the first Keystone State governor ousted in the state's history, giving Democrats a near-automatic pickup. While Corbett was always expected to face an uphill battle to get reelected, no one thought he'd be more than 20 points down on Labor Day. AFranklin & Marshall pollreleased last week put Corbett at just 24 percenta full 25 points below Democratic challenger Tom Wolf.

Corbett is "a known entity: He was attorney general, he's been governor for three and a half years, he has established his public image and it's not a good one," said Chris Borick, who conducts Muhlenberg College's Pennsylvania polling. "For Corbett to, as an incumbent, change the race is going to be a challengeand up to this point it's seemed he is simply going to be unable to do that."

Following the release of the F&M poll, Corbett's campaign leaked a memo showing the incumbent down just 7 pointsfar closer than any public polling, but still a sign he's in deep trouble. The Republican Governors Association (RGA) has contributed millions to help Corbett flood the airwaves with ads this summer, but unless the race tightens the group could end up spending its money elsewhere.

On the other hand, Ohio GovernorJohn Kasich, originally expected to face strong opposition, will now coast to a second term in November: Democrat Ed FitzGerald, his opponent, has run one of the worst campaigns of the year, giving national Democrats little hope he can salvage the race.The Cook Political Reportearlier this weekmovedthe race to "Solid Republican."

See the original post:
Governors' Races Are Turning the National Political Map Upside Down

Democrats you ruined NJ, NY and CT please don #39;t move south and destroy those states
Go on the internet to government web sites and see how high the combined taxes are in the tri-state area. This is from years of democrat ruling the states. Democrats please don #39;t move south...

By: friendsofjimmys

View post:
Democrats you ruined NJ, NY and CT please don't move south and destroy those states - Video

Democrats Fear Benghazi Probe Will Stretch To 2016 - Happening Now
Democrats Fear Benghazi Probe Will Stretch To 2016 - Happening Now =========================================== **Please Click Below to SUBSCRIBE for More ...

By: Mass Tea Party

Read more:
Democrats Fear Benghazi Probe Will Stretch To 2016 - Happening Now - Video