Can’t beat something with nothing

Mort Kondracke: “Despite woes, GOP confident for 2006”

Carville and Greenberg advised that Democrats combine attacks on GOP failures with a promise, akin to the one the GOP made in its 1994 "Contract with America," to pass an agenda within 100 days of taking control of Congress that includes an increase in the minimum wage, lower Medicare drug prices and a windfall profits tax on oil companies to fund alternative energy sources.

But in an interview, Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman told me that "if you look at the polls, you'll see that Democrats are not seen as having a clear agenda. In the last 20 years, every time one party has been down, the other party has been up. But not now. It's true, we have difficult poll numbers. We need to change the numbers. And we have a plan to do so. But the Democrats also have bad numbers - just as bad. That tells you a lot about where they stand."

On “This Week” on Sunday, George Will noted that the eleven months until November 2006 is a “lifetime” in politics. The Iraqis will have their elections next month and this will almost certainly lead to a draw-down of American forces. Couple this with relatively good economic news on the domestic front (e.g. oil slipping well below $60/barrel and 5% unemployment) and the Republicans will likely hold control of both houses of Congress. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that the Democrats’ attempt at a “Contract with America” will be the most milquetoast and amorphous agenda ever proposed (see above: "a windfall profit tax?" Puh-leez.)