The Republicans are re-inventing the rulebook on how politics is done right now, and it might be a good time for Democrats to respond in kind.
see:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/ALLPOLITICS/02/08/reid.bush/
"the Republican National Committee began distributing a document -- billed as a research briefing this week." In the corporate world we would call that 'socializing' an idea. ...
... You wander around just asking for feedback, testing how it plays, getting feedback before anything is set in stone. Shopping it around.
Reid should start circulating a position paper on himself this week. On Tom Delay a couple weeks after that. Asking supporters and press, so how does this sound? Does our research here stack up? How would this story play to your fans?
Maybe someone out here can write one for him. What's the narrative that makes Reid a hero. Shows the character values any American can aspire to, that make us proud, and his attackers clearly charlatans.
Next week, we turn the attention spotlight onto any Republican that seems most vulnerable. (so many to choose from I know!) But it's not just "What did he do... so SCANDALOUSLY today. But rather, what is the story that defines his (or her) character? A story into which every new piece of fact can be played. The story doesn't even have to be true (Al Gore--the boy scout--was never a habitual liar. John Kerry--the volunteer veteran who led an anti-war movement--is a man without convictions?! Please! We're supposed to believe that?) In fact, it's by flipping their strengths, not exposing their weaknesses that the Republicans have destroyed our candidates since they honed their newfound skills on President Clinton and his wife.
The other team is playing a different game.
I've seen a lot of complaining that the press is excessively "he said / she said", these days. Well tough. They suck, getoverit. Play the ball from where it lies, and deliver a response that uses the same tools. Produce the he or she said.
The Republicans are changing the tools right now. (So are we, by the way... but that's another story)
Hell, did you notice that we've got government by memo now? I don't know what the difference is between a memo and "by fiat." ("Because I said so!" as an eight-year-old would say.) How did that bit of our treasured constitutional checks and balances get brushed aside?