Nancy Pelosi knows about shrinkage, but she’s about to learn more:
With President Barack Obama’s unpopularity hindering their candidates and Republican cash flooding into races across the country, Democrats are increasingly worried that the election will push them deep into the minority and diminish their hopes of winning back the majority in 2016 or beyond.
Looking to contain the damage, Democrats are pumping money into liberal congressional districts that were long thought to be safely in their column. Over the last several days, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has directed resources to maintain seats in Hawaii and Nevada, both of which broke sharply for the president in 2012 — an indication of just how much the terrain has shifted against the party over the past two years.
One of the great pains of the 2008 GOP nominating process (and the pains were legion) was watching the candidates twist themselves into low-sodium pretzels, trying to distance themselves from Bush without actually repudiating many of his policies they still agreed with, which most GOP primary voters still agreed with, but which most general election voters had despaired of. And of course the press was there to twist the stiletto at every opportunity, which is exactly its job.
Minus the stiletto-wielding press, it will be the singular great joy of 2016 watching the Democrat contenders do the exact same thing to Obama.
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