Pirate's Cove

We also get a view over how the Democrats will frame their argument for the next two years as the minority party in at least the House

With Election Day still a week away, Democrats are previewing what promises to be a main line of argument if Republicans make strong gains in Congress: Conservatives bought their way to power with a flood of spending by outside groups.

These post-mortems, made before the patient is actually dead, have slipped into public statements from top Democrats in recent days. And the argument is being made even more strongly in not-for-attribution comments to reporters from party operatives: A tough-but-manageable political climate turned much more lethal with the infusion of tens of millions of dollars from anonymous donors funding ads for right-leaning independent groups.

Right, that must be it. But, hey, if they want to go down that road, do they remember how much Obama raised for the 2008 elections? That’s right, $745 million. That’s more than Bush and Kerry together in 2004. Also, remember that Obama originally stated that he would accept public financing, then went back on that pledge (the first of many promises he willfully broke). One of the reasons he broke that promise was, yes, a whine about McCain receiving  money from lobbyists and PACs. But, let’s have this conversation, Barry, and you can explain where all your campaign money came from. You can explain the other 9.7% not disclosed.

We all know that Democrats don’t take outside money, right?

For some Democrats though, outside groups have been a godsend—the ones on the left, that is. Liberal groups—including American Families First, Service Employees International Union, and EMILY’s List—are pounding the airwaves in some key districts and providing critical reinforcement to incumbents. What the beneficiaries have in common: support for the most crucial pieces of the ambitious Democratic national agenda over the last two years.

All this belies the real issue for the Democrats, that the American public is against their agenda, including independents

Republicans are on the verge of broad wins next week for one big reason: independent voters are ready to boot Democrats from office, according to a new POLITICO/George Washington University Battleground Poll.

Expressing deep dissatisfaction with President Obama’s policies and performance, independents have increasingly sided with conservatives in the belief that government grew too large, too fast under Obama—and that it can no longer be trusted. In the final pre-election Battleground Poll, Republicans hold a 14-point edge among independents and lead overall, 47 percent to 42 percent, in the generic ballot match up.

In 2008, Democrats misread their so-called mandate. People where tired of Bush, who wasn’t running, and weren’t thrilled with McCain, who was. The media beat the drum about how bad those Republicans, out of control of Congress already, were. Middle ground voters thought, in the middle of a big recession, they would give the era of hopey changeyness a shot, without considering what Obama and the hardcore Democrats wanted to actually do. Politics became The Next Great Model, rather that a referendum on wise governance. Now, after less than two years of Obamanomics, people understand they made a big whopping mistake. No amount of ginned up excuses will turn that around.

Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU. Re-Change 2010!