Take Back the Senate
Keep the House
TOSS OUT THE DASCHLE/CLINTON OBSTRUCTIONISTS DEMOCRATS!
Cut taxes, cut spending, remove democrats from office, NOW !!
Let's give GWB a majority in the House and the Senate !!
Snuff Saddam, now !!
Death To all Tyrant's !!
The Second Amendment...
America's Original Homeland Security !!
Molon Labe !!
Shouldn't Daschel go to jail for this violation?
OK, OK so I like a to dream every once and awhile.
From a 1/28/02 USA Today article...
More public Daschle finds image falters
WASHINGTON — One of the more crucial developments of the Bush era is how Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle has been introduced to the American people.
Beltway journalists and pundits often describe Daschle as a mild-mannered, hard-working Middle Westerner (some Dakotans draw the distinction from Midwesterner), but his image is evolving as less benevolent elsewhere around the country.
As his profile rises, so do his negatives. This has happened, in part, because he has been the head of the loyal opposition of a popular president. Perhaps more importantly, Republicans — and conservative interest group allies with deep pockets — have been attacking him as a roadblock to George W. Bush's agenda for two months.
Daschle is in a public no-man's land. He is clearly the Democrats' chief spokesman, but not yet the party's leader to most Americans. In a Pew survey Jan. 9-13, 39 percent of Republicans viewed Daschle as the leader of the Democrats, but only 23 percent of Democrats did. The survey, which had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points, showed Daschle barely edging former President Clinton when Democrats were asked to name their party's leader.His favorability rating in a "Battleground" poll taken Jan. 6-8 was 35 percent, but 26 percent also said they had unfavorable opinions of him. The rest either had never heard of him or had no opinion. The poll's margin of error was plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
President Bush's favorability was 81 percent, his unfavorability 16 percent. The ratio of good-to-bad should concern Daschle and his Democratic allies.If these trends continue, Daschle could eventually have disapproval ratings in the low- to-mid 40s. This is not Newt Gingrich territory, but neither is it anything near what Daschle would need to sustain a broad base of support against a popular president.
Republican pollster Ed Goeas, who does the bipartisan Battleground survey with Democrat Celinda Lake, said Daschle and his allies are running a credibility deficit on the economy, where they have been heavy critics of Bush in recent weeks.
The Battleground poll showed that 60 percent of voters trust Bush more than Democrats in Congress to deal with taxes, while only 26 percent like the Democrats' views on taxes more than Bush's. (Bush wants deeper tax cuts than passed last spring, while some in Daschle's party want to hold off on scheduled tax cuts in 2004).
Battleground found that Bush's advantage over Daschle and his allies on keeping America prosperous was 49-29 percent, on balancing the budget 43-26, on improving the nation's economy, 46-35. While 67 percent said they liked Bush's handling of the economy, only 39 percent liked what the Democrats were doing.
Goeas thinks Daschle was hurt by his major economic speech in early January, in which he criticized the tax cuts and a return to deficit spending.
"No one warned Tom Daschle that Democrats did not have the credibility on the economy to launch the attack in the first place," Goeas said, adding that Daschle blamed Bush's tax cut "for just about everything but the weather."
The problem for Daschle and the Democrats, Goeas maintained, is that Bush also is viewed today as a conciliator; 73 percent agreed that Bush had "made significant efforts to reach out to members of the Democratic Party," and 65 percent said Bush "has improved the tone of politics in Washington today."
Add these sentiments on top of the fact that Democrats cannot — by virtue of political tradition and national necessity — vigorously oppose Bush on the single largest aspect of his job, the war on terror, and Democrats "are in a box," Goeas said.
Democratic pollster Lake agreed to a point, but said her party does have issues to talk about this year.
"It's hard when you don't have the bully pulpit," she said. But she also pointed out that her polling showed Democrats are viewed as better able to protect the middle class, improve health care, strengthen Social Security and protect the environment.
Daschle and Democrats should focus on "how are we helping families in this recession," she said.
If today's Battleground trends hold, the Democrats' chances at taking back the House in the fall could be dashed. So, perhaps, would Daschle's presidential aspirations — if he has any. Some people are convinced he eventually will challenge Bush in 2004, but others would not be surprised if he walked away from politics altogether after his term expires in 2005.
But as a measure of how seriously he is taking his image — and the attacks on him on radio and TV — he began launching advertising this past week to defend himself in his home state.
Pay particular attention to the last sentence of the article. He's apparently having to cover his butt at home. The natives are getting restless??? Too bad he's in DC til at least '04.
In another vein:
FGS