As President George W.
Bush's job approval ratings continue to slump, Republican incumbents almost
everywhere are running away from him as fast as they can. It's gotten so bad
that even US Rep. Tom Reynolds, the chairman of the National Republican
Congressional Committee, doesn't have the word "Republican" on his
campaign website's front page.
Next door in Missouri,
Democrat Claire McCaskill has hammered incumbent GOP Sen. Jim Talent for being
a "George Bush Republican." In response, Talent has tried to play up
his bipartisanship and even, in an undoubtedly desperate move, boasted about
how he was working with liberal California Sen. Dianne Feinstein. The
"George Bush Republican" attack is being thrown at frightened
congressional Republicans all over the country as the usually hapless national
Democrats attempt to exploit the biggest opening they've had in years.
Almost exactly the same
attack will be used here in Illinois, except it will be the state legislative
Republicans employing the tactic to smear their opponents as "Rod
Blagojevich Democrats."
According to SurveyUSA's
monthly tracker, Gov. Blagojevich's job approval rating statewide is 44
percent, with his disapproval at 52 percent. But the Illinois House and Senate
Republicans aren't running candidates in Chicago and the heavily Democratic
areas of Cook County, where his approval is the highest. Their focus is mainly
downstate.
Blagojevich's downstate
approval rating is horrible. SurveyUSA's latest tracker had his approval there
at 36 percent with his disapproval at 60. The polling firm has been tracking
the governor every month since June of 2005 and only one time in that entire
period has his downstate job approval rating been in the 40s - and that was a
month after he had won the March primary and while he was still spending big
bucks on positive TV ads. His job disapproval rating downstate has been at or
above 58 percent in 11 of the past 15 months. According to sources in both
parties and in both chambers, the governor's approval ratings are even worse
than SurveyUSA's regional results in some individual downstate races.
Legislative campaigns
don't usually heat up until late September or even early October. That's why we
haven't seen a lot of this "Rod Blagojevich Democrat" stuff yet. But
as long as the governor's numbers are lousy in downstate areas you can safely
bet that the Republicans will do it. We have already seen Democrats run away
from the governor on the lottery selling scheme. Expect that trend to continue.
There are several ways to
tie incumbent legislators to Blagojevich. Photos or videos of a legislator with
the unpopular governor are always useful. Campaign contributions from the
incumbent would also buttress the Republican case, as would any ties to the
governor's many, many scandals.
And then there are voting
records. Back in the spring a pollster working on behalf of Republicans asked a
question in several downstate districts that ought to chill the Democrats right
down to their marrow. Voters were asked whether they would be more or less
likely to vote for their state legislator if they knew that he or she had voted
with Gov. Blagojevich more than 80 percent of the time. The results were off
the charts "less likely.".
Even independent-minded
Democrats who are extra special careful to stay away from the governor at all
costs will likely have voted for the vast majority of the bills that the
governor has signed into law. And in the slim likelihood that they didn't, the
Republicans can "nudge" those numbers higher by adding in committee
votes or votes on shell bills or amendments.
A case can be made that
this really isn't a national anti-Republican trend we're seeing right now, but
more of an anti-incumbent trend. According to SurveyUSA, President Bush's
downstate job approval ratings are almost as horrific as Gov. Blagojevich's
(40-58). So if Topinka can run a competitive campaign then this Blagojevich
gambit is the Republicans' best bet to stay in the game. It's an issue that
downstate voters seem to agree on and one that, if handled properly, has a
solid chance of rising above the usual campaign clutter. It will work even
better if the Republicans can tie the Blagojevich albatross to uniquely local
issues in the districts.
However, if Topinka
disappoints, Bush continues to tank and Blagojevich stays out of any serious
trouble, then you can probably disregard everything I've written above because
the situation could easily morph into a complete Democratic rout.
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Rich Miller also publishes
Capitol Fax, a daily political newsletter, and thecapitolfaxblog.com