Is the GOP giving up on the WH and primarily focused on Congress and States?

[CabCurious]

Last edited Mon Aug 27, 2012, 01:50 PM - Edit history (1)

EDIT: I am talking about the internal GOP leadership, not their voters.


Does anybody else think this?

They came out of the primary with candidates openly saying that Romney has no chance of winning. The party basically rallied around every other candidate (except Paul) at one point. They are not excited about this candidate at all. Making it even worse, his campaign seems to be one of the most incompetent ones we've seen in decades.

Are Rove's team and Koch's team both focused on matters other than the White House?

1. He picked a far-right VP from the most hated Congress.
2. The GOP Platform is the most far-right and divisive it has ever been, focused primarily on Tea Party social ideology.
3. They've raised historic amounts of money.
4. Romney has done nothing to swing center for genuine independents.
5. Conservative leaders, pundits, and entire newspapers are beginning to turn on the GOP.

For those more familiar with their spending and inner workings, are we seeing any signs that the money is shifting away from the WH race and towards Congressional and State races? Or is it too early for that?

The national polls show a "tightening" for now, but unless Obama gets swift-boated, I can't fathom how Romney/Ryan can maintain significant electoral gains running on character attacks of a sitting President while engaged in anti-Hope and negativity about our economy (which is a matter of pride for red meat eating America).

I think the entire machinery of the GOP is trying to reorganize themselves around a Tea Party base with eyes on the future. I think they know they lost this round and are trying to cut their losses.

[Turbineguy]

1. It's not a bad idea

so far it's worked pretty well in preventing improvements for ordinary Americans.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

2. The GOP won't be giving up jack IMHO

They want it all, badly- and could potentially win it all. They may not like Romney much (if at all) but they DESPERATELY want to get rid of President Obama and Romney/Ryan is their only "vehicle" for doing so. For the record, I believe that President Obama will win re-election and our chances of holding onto the Senate have gotten better. I'd like to think (and hope) that we could win back the House too but we may not be able to win back enough seats to recover from the 2010 washout.

The bigger question for me is what will the Republicans do- after stacking the deck so high against President Obama and the Democrats- if/when President Obama wins a second term and/or the Democrats hold onto the Senate (though that could be another topic in and of itself)?

[CabCurious]

3. I'm not talking about GOP voters... I'm talking about those cutting checks and organizing campaigns

The Romney/Ryan campaign really doesn't look like it's behaving in a way aimed at winning.

It's as if Romney is just a tool for a GOP propaganda machine, not a legitimate candidate (or leader). Even the racialized, character attacks on the President seem aimed at a broader attack on "liberals." This is nasty stuff that isn't gaining them the ground that they would need to win the WH.

We haven't seen any hard shifts away from the WH race, I agree.

That's why I ask what specific signs to look for and if there are any out there in terms of state campaign priority shifts.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

5. Oh, my bad

I don't honestly know. We probably won't see any shifts until the next two months- seeing campaigns fold up shop in states that they're pretty sure they won't win.

[WI_DEM]

4. No, they are going for the whole enchilada

even if they have to steal it through voter suppression.

[CabCurious]

8. They always do voter suppression. The question to me is whether this year's efforts are...

focused primarily on WH races or general congressional toss-up states.

[TroyD]

6. Never rule out the GOP

OP, it is very unwise to every rule out the GOP. They never give up anything without a dirty fight. Don't be fooled.

[CabCurious]

9. That's the thing... they have so much money

Even if they don't think they will win, I would still expect them to spend hundreds of millions trying to tear down Obama.

The biggest threat against them, ideologically, is having President Obama save the US economy over his 2 terms.

[Jennicut]

7. I don't think so, I just think they are incredibly clueless.

Clueless about how a far right VP pick and platform can turn off a lot of people from the Repub party.

[apnu]

10. I don't think so. They're too prideful and greedy to quit.

The GOP is about party first, nation second. They're clannish and griped by fear of the other. That alone makes them stick to their brand, no matter how nasty the shit sandwich may be.

Additionally, they are a bunch of prideful fools who are convinced of their own superiority and believe they already have all the answers. Never mind that they haven't had a new idea since St. Ronnie of Ray-Gun went supply side and all of their policies seek to return the United States (legally, congressionally) to 1912 (gold standard, anti-science, anti-women, anti-immigrant, Jim Crow... list goes on). But their pride keeps them thinking they've got all the answers and they're new and amazing answers too.

Finally, they're too greedy to quit the POTUS race. They're drunk on power and the lobbyists they're in bed with keep them drunk on power. This election is going to be the most expensive in U.S. history and they will out spend us (I'm counting Super-PACs here) by a significant and jaw dropping amount. They will burn all that cash even though Romney and Ryan do not even remotely excite anybody and Romney's negatives are just getting worse. Plus when confronted with a loss of power, those that have it (or think they do) fight the hardest before they lose it.

The GOP is incapable of throwing away this race, the Romney campaign will scarf up most of the cash spent nationally, both parties combined in total.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

11. Nominating Ryan makes sense for trying to keep the House,

since Republican House districts are gerrymandered to maximize the proportion of hard-right base voters. Remember, losing just 25 seats puts Nancy Pelosi back in the Speaker's chair. Energizing the base with a Ryan VP pick keeps the gerrymandering from being wasted by getting higher turnout in districts where the fix is in.

But IMO nominating Ryan makes very little sense for trying to put Romney in the WH or taking the Senate. Entire states can't be gerrymandered. Independents and Democrats won't flock to vote for Romney-Ryan, and might even be energized by Ryan's threats to Medicare and women's health to turn out for Obama and Democratic candidates for Senate.