Underreported election stories thus far:
U.S. Chamber of Commerce was motivated to spend big $ in this election against Democrats, but grew even more motivated to spend big $ in congressional elections because of its war with the Treasury Dept. and the Obama admin.
Lack of back up from progressive IEs hurts Pelosi's credibility with moderate-conservative Democrats. She promised Dems who voted left of their CDs that they would get back up. DCCC and labor doing what they can, but many others aren't or can't.
Lack of IEs in 2008 on progressive side and a misunderstanding of IEs after 2004 means many national donors don't understand the importance of IEs or how it can work for progressives. All of this makes raising money for IE operations much more difficult. This is not as much of a problem in some states where a slate of progressive donors already concentrate on funding in-state IEs. With those prior successes, the IE groups in those states have an easier time getting previous donors to cough off the cash again.
More below the fold...
More underreported stories:
How much the decimation of local press contributes to the ever worsening national coverage of elections and state/local politics. Lack of local press means campaign stops don't get covered, and investigative pieces and vetting of candidates by press don't happen. A handful of reporters can shape national perceptions, but the reporters that are left aren't necessarily the best.
How much independent groups are spending on mail, phones, and field this year. All the focus is on TV and radio ads, but this other stuff is harder to track both in quantity and quality. There's been very little exploration of this.
Sheer number of conservative grps spending in elections. Focus is on biggest groups like Americans for Job Security, Americans for Prosperity, American Crossroads, Crossroads GPS and US Chamber of Commerce, but small ones also affect races.
Lack of RNC $ for GOTV is big deal but IE field programs can help fill the void -- and we know American Crossroads is going to do stuff on that front. IE field programs are most effective down ballot, since the top of the ticket draws people out... the field programs with canvassing, mail, phones and voter guides reminds voters about the other races they should vote in, when they come out to vote for the top of the ticket. Especially important since we're heading into redistricting soon.
RNC and state GOP parties have run paid canvasses before. Not so much on IE side but experience from party side can carry over.
Conservative IE field programs will prob. have to hire from temp agencies... which often employ same folks that ACORN employed.
Many Dem campaigners didn't like ACORN because ACORN created problems that Dems and other #p2 grps had to answer for. As a side note, ACORN was an improved organization in 2008, but by then, they'd already worn out their welcome in many places or couldn't get funding to carry out field programs.
Misreported and underreported election story: Dem enthusiasm is decent. Gap exists b/c GOPers are esp. enthusiastic. This ruins activist left narrative that the base is depressed b/c Obama/Dems in Congress weren't progressive enough. Numbers don't bear this out. And one must factor that there are always issues with turnout with portions of the Dem base, particularly in midterm elections. What would be illuminating is comparing Dem enthusiasm this year, not with 2008, but with 2006 or 2002.
Just some food for thought.