Although the 2022 midterm elections are almost seven months from now, machinations and prognostications are in full swing. The prevailing sentiment all across the land is that the Republicans are in for a very big night when it comes to their quest to retake the majority in the House of Representatives (I recently offered my thoughts on their chances of taking back the Senate here).
Anyone who has voted Republican in more than two elections is understandably feeling some trepidation right now. The Grand Old Party has a history of being unable to get out of its own way when it appears to be cruising to a sure thing.
Fortunately, modern politics aren’t only driven by how the party or the candidates are blowing spending their money. Gone are the days when donors sent some money off to the Republican National Committee and had to hope that it spent it wisely. Now we’ve got super PACs throwing their weight around, and this will hopefully help push the Republicans across the finish line in November without many hiccups.
In fact, one super PAC is trying to make the GOP dream big.
House Republicans are so confident of snagging easy seats en route to regaining the majority this November, their big-spending outside super PAC is now targeting congressional districts President Biden won by as much as 16 points, Axios has learned.
Driving the news: The Consumer Price Index report being issued at 8:30am ET Tuesday is expected to show annual inflation surging to 8.4% in March — the highest rate since December 1981. With Biden’s approval numbers already languishing in the negatives, Republicans are going for the kill.
PINCH ME.
While it is true that I usually like to err on the side of caution, these are dire times. I find myself more in a kind of “if you’ve got your enemy in a rout, keep routing” mood lately. Rather than waste money piling on in races that will more than likely flip Republican in November, why not think outside the box? Like, WAY outside the box:
Why it matters: In targeting seats the president won in 2020 by an average of 8 points, the Congressional Leadership Fund is putting Democrats on notice it plans to play offense in previously safe Democratic districts.
- The group’s offensive play comes after its Democratic counterpart, the House Majority PAC, reserved advertising time in 51 media markets as it prepares to defend districts in many once-safe Democratic regions.
- The GOP group, which is aligned with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, is sitting on a mountain of cash and reported $93.5 million on hand as of the end of March.
- A CLF endorsement is both a signal it plans to spend serious dollars in a race and a sign to other donors that McCarthy’s team likes what it sees in the candidates.
There is nothing sweeter in American politics than watching the other side scrambling to spend money to defend candidates and seats that had long been thought of as being gimmes. That the Democrats are doing that this far out from the election is a sure sign that their internal polling is nothing but bad news and bleeding ulcers.
Here’s the limp response by the Dems to this news:
Abby Horrell, executive director of the Democrats’ House Majority PAC, told Axios: “While Democrats get things done … Republican candidates across the country will continue to obstruct, root against the economy, and vote against affordable insulin. Voters will remember who stands with them come November.”
Democrats always begin to bark to the press about obstruction whenever their million or so false narratives have failed to gain traction. It’s the political version of shrieking “Big meanie!” The “root against the economy” line is really precious. They’ve created the mess and now Republicans are capitalizing on their mistakes. That’s politics, Toots.
No one wants to deal with the kind of inflation that we’re seeing now. Also, no one believes that the party that wrought this much economic havoc in such a short time has anything in its tool bag to fix the problem.
The desperation of the Democrats is evident in everything they do right now, like trying to blame inflation on Vladimir Putin (which I’ll be writing about in my next column). They’ve probably got “Caution: Wet Floor” signs up all over DNC headquarters from the amount of flop sweat dripping off of everyone there.
The Republicans will almost certainly never see an opportunity this golden again. It’s refreshing to see some GOP money people pressing what appears to be an overwhelming advantage, especially for those of us who have been around a long time.
In the spirit of clean fighting, however, I would like to wish the Democrats all the luck in the world running on that “affordable insulin” issue.
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