Despite what the political pundits and psycho conservative commentators are saying, Democrats have a real shot at taking back the Senate. they are in virtually the same position the Republicans were in last time in 2002. The best way to beat them, particularly in the South, is to go local.
I'm not saying that whomever our nominee is shouldn't come in to campaign. Obviously he should.But if the races for Senate are tied to the Presidential race, we'd be taking a big gamble, lose the race, and we'll lose more Senate races as well.
In LA in 2002, we Dems re-elected a Democratic Senator into the minority despite the popularity of President Bush. What did it? A local issue that blew up in Bush's and Suzie Terrell's face, the Mexican sugar imports. That was an issue that directly affected rural conservative LA voters, and they abandoned their president in favor of their wallets. That's how we can beat the Repubs in several states.
In SC, a Republican haven, we have a popular name, Inez Tenebaum running for Senate, and right now leads in all the polls I've seen. However, the presidential race, when it gets fully underway will take obvious precedence, and the label of Democrats as social liberals will come out. That alone, I believe, will annihilate Tenebaum in the race if that is all SC voters see of her. Democrats have to show voters in Republican areas (particularly the South) what Bush's policies do to them. Landrieu did it with sugar. In SD, up north, Daschle and Johnson did it with drought relief.
We have legitimate chances in 4 of the 5 Senate races in the South, plus SD, MO (i don't consider MO south), Alaska, IL and possibly PA, and the Senate is ours to take again. The Democrats can do it, but the Senate campaign must be separate from the Presidential campaign. If the campaigns in states are linked together, many voters that could've been won over will simply ticket split. That's how the Repubs hope to win, particularly in South Dakota against Daschle. The hope that, with Bush on the ballot, people will vote for Thune instead.
We can do it. I personally will be following the races, particularly in LA, where I'm a registered voter, and from whatever campaign I get hired for this year. GO DEMOCRATS!!!!!! Let's take them out.