Posted on 05/28/2014 9:18:01 AM PDT by Din Maker
Providing fodder for endless attack ads, challengers to Democratic incumbents in three tough Senate races voted for a budget even more draconian than Paul Ryan’s.
This November’s election will never approach presidential-year numbers, but if Democrats can add a percentage or two—and in some deep red states, more than that—victory could be within reach.
To boost turnout, Democrats have to make voters believe the stakes are high, and one of the best ways to do that, as history has shown, is persuading people that if Republicans are elected, they will scale back programs such as Social Security and Medicare. “It’s an oldie but goody,” says Larry Sabato, founder and director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, noting that Democrats won the Senate back in 1986 in large part on the strength of their promise to protect those programs. “You have to have some issue to excite the voters,” he says. “If anything upsets the apple cart, this might.”
Republicans are widely favored to pick up the six seats they need to gain the Senate majority, but race by race, it may not be the slam dunk the GOP anticipates. Sabato recently switched the Senate race in Arkansas from leaning Republican to toss-up based in part on incumbent Sen. Mark Pryor’s attacks on his challenger, Rep. Tom Cotton, for his votes for the Ryan budget and a more draconian Republican Study Group (RSG) budget for those who thought the Ryan budget didn’t go far enough to cut spending.
“The RSG budget is a travesty, and any Democrat who can use it should,” says Matt Bennett. Voted on with little fanfare in March 2013, just before the Republican-controlled House passed the Ryan budget, the RSG budget is called the Democrats’ “secret sauce” and effectively affects the Pryor-Cotton race In Arkansas. The RSG budget is particularly effective against Cotton, as he was the only member of the Arkansas congressional delegation to vote for it. He also was alone in his vote against the farm bill this year, which hurt him. “Cotton hasn’t roared out of the gate the way people thought he would, and the Pryor name is golden there,” says Sabato, adding that while the Democratic incumbent may not win in the end, the race is going to be much closer than anyone anticipated when Pryor was called “toast” just a few months ago.
“It’s a great vote to cite because it gives you some punch to TV ads,” says Sabato. “It’s not just rhetoric; it’s an actual vote.” The RSG contains a litany of problematic items for Cotton, from drastically cutting Pell grants to eliminating subsidized air service for smaller communities, a market access program that helps rural states sell their products, and a number of regional conservation programs. These items may not end up in ads, but Pryor highlights them as he travels around Arkansas.
The only thing the Rats have to offer is fear.
There went my breakfast!!!
She is a shrew. There is no other word for her. Well, mabe hag.
If Cotton apologizes and tries to run to the middle, he's toast.
TAX THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY to fund these programs.
The only thing the Rats have to offer is fear.
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Because it has worked so well for them for decades.
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