Republicans are totally obsessed with the "I" word, starting from the top with the unindicted co-conspirator in chief who warns of the dire consequences to the economy if his "A plus" performance is prematurely ended by impeachment. His spirit animal Rudy Giuliani agrees, warning there'll be revolution in the streets if Trump is impeached. Republicans are just begging Democrats to take the bait and get the Republican base all frothed up. It's not working.
Instead, what Democratic leaders are talking about when impeachment comes up is that whole "rule of law" thing. That includes making sure that the legal process proceeds and protecting Robert Mueller's investigation, including with legislation. And contrary to White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who says impeachment is "the only message [Democrats seem to have going into the midterms," FiveThirtyEight has been doing the tracking on this. They've tracked what types of Democrats are doing well in primaries for Senate, House and governor this year: “we looked at the campaign website for each of the 811 people who, as of Aug. 7, had appeared on the ballot in Democratic primaries for races with no Democratic incumbent." Just one of these challengers talked about impeachment on his website, a New Jersey House candidate who lost his primary.
It's not that congressional Democrats don't recognize that impeachment was made for the eventuality that we'd end up with someone like Trump (though it's hard to imagine the founding fathers could envision a disaster of this magnitude). There are several dozen House Democrats who are on board with the idea. What leadership is saying is that they need an actual trigger—Trump's firing Mueller could be that trigger for them, as could solid evidence of Trump's collusion with Putin.
The reason Republicans are all but begging Democrats to make this election about impeachment and make sure that Trump is front and center on the midterm ballot, is that they know that's what will bring out a GOP base. Democrats aren't going to fall for that.
Let's keep Republicans scrambling. Please give $1 to take back the House.