Prior to the 2004 election, there was a lot of complaining here on Kos and elsewhere that the National Democratic Party was creaky and ossified, and was unable to respond effectively to the lean mean Republican attack machine. I remember the frustration reaching its peak during the Republican National Convention, when the Republicans dominated the cable news airwaves -- pushing their talking points night after night, on every show, and the Democrats didn't even bother to even send anyone to respond. Such behavior was in marked contrast to the Republican attacks during the Democratic National Convention, when Republican mouthpieces spread out like a Delta Force operation to attack every media outlet available.
Well, with Harry Reid, those days of Democratic teeth gnashing are over. Reid has set up a Democratic war room, which, as the Las Vegas Sun reports in a long cover story, has been devastatingly effective:
Observers said the war room in its first year had taken a more aggressive approach than the communications machine operated by Reid's friend and predecessor Daschle.
Daschle's operation had become "stale" in the words of one Capitol Hill reporter, and was slow at times to respond to attacks. By contrast, Reid's war room daily churns out "rapid responses" to Republican statements and is skilled at the daily punch and counter-punch of politics on Capitol Hill.
As an example of the effectiveness of the War Room, take a look at how well the MSM received Ried's move to close the Senate last week. In days past, the Republicans would have shoved their talking points down the throats of Chris Matthews, Howard Fineman and the rest of the yapping conventional wisdom regurgitators. Instead, the move came out pretty well in the press, with the Dems unquestionably getting the better coverage in the debate:
Last week Republicans blasted Reid and his leadership team for blindsiding them with a rare closed-chamber session to discuss an Iraq intelligence investigation.
War room staffers scored political points with the party base when it spun the move as the only method Democrats had to force GOP leaders to pay attention to a serious concern. But the GOP was livid.
"Reid's stunt was just the latest in his yearlong quest to put partisanship over statesmanship," the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the political arm of the Senate GOP caucus, said in a statement that also blasted the war room.
RNC spokesman Danny Diaz said the Reid war room was overly focused on placating the liberal base of its party. The Republicans, on the other hand, "communicate with middle America every single day," he said.
War room chief Manley scoffed at that, saying the GOP communicates best with the "wealthiest individuals and corporations of this country."
Reid's war room still has challenges to face -- most notably putting together a "contract with america" style agenda for the Democratic Party for the midterm elections. But considering how much Reid has accomplished so far, despite the fact that the Republicans control the Presidency and both house of Congress, I am optimistic that Reid's operation will be up that challenge as well.
I also suspect that there are quite a few Republican talking heads who are now wondering whether it was such a good idea to take out Tom Daschle after all. :-)
For me, all I can say is: Go Harry Reid!!! Plus, I can encourage you, and if you are so inclined, to reward good behavior by donating to Harry Reid's effort to take back the Senate in 2006!