The Democratic Party has a messaging problem. We have the facts on our side so we are great on in-depth technical explanations. The Republican Party, on the other hand, excels at short pithy phrases that tickle the electoral id, regardless of the truth behind their message.
Just as the Republicans prefaced every mention of Obama administration actions with the phrase "job killing", thus defining the issues in the minds of voters, the Democrats need to now saddle Mitt Romney with his "budget busting tax giveaways" to the wealthy.
This branding needs to start NOW.
Romney is laying the groundwork (see "Bridge to Nowhere" stunt) for being seen as the "fiscally responsible" one. We need to get our message out NOW before that ground sets in the minds of voters.
Until the media is fed a competing narrative, they will report the Romney campaign narrative uncritically.
We have, to our advantage, that Romney's budget really does increase the deficit enormously. Unlike the Republicans "job killing" message, we have one that actually does make economic sense, if pressed for an expert explanation.
We (and by "we" I mean the entire Democratic Party and Obama campaign apparatus) can not simply continue what we've been doing, which is call Romney a liar and throw up our hands out how brazen he is.
The average undecided voter does not read political blogs, watch C-Span or the Sunday morning shows for long explanations of the Romney budget. They read short snippets on the news or read article headlines in the newspaper.
We need "budget busting tax giveaways" to be as ubiquitous in those places as "job killing" has been for the past 2 years. That means it (or a pithy equivalent if someone comes up with a better phrase) needs to be in every speech, every interview, every press release by every Democratic Party member, campaign or surrogate.
And this branding needs to start NOW.
It's clear the Romney campaign is pivoting to make this election about debt instead of jobs (perhaps because they see the possibility of unemployment below 8% by Election Day).
"Budget-busting tax giveaways" needs to be the first thing that come to people's minds when they hear the name Mitt Romney.
