The Races: One Week Out

The turnout effort is looking good. But will it make up for the lack of a message?

by Rod D. Martin
October 30, 2006

I just got off the weekly White House/RNC leadership call, and the races are looking better than a lot of folks think one week out. Needless to say, it's going to be very hard to hold the House; but the Montana and Maryland Senate races (which nearly everyone has written off) have pulled even (unbelievable as it may seem so has the Mark Foley House seat), and the general trend is for races where a Marriage or Stem Cell Amendment is on the ballot to be doing much better than expected.

Ken Mehlmen (RNC chairman) had to get off the call before I had a chance to ask the most obvious question going forward: will Beltway Republicans listen to -- or even notice -- the poll I mentioned on this blog earlier today, showing that most Americans want less (and less intrusive) government, and that even more Americans think Republicans are responsible for giving them the opposite of what they want. It is this "Rats in the Cola Bottle" ruining of the GOP brand name that…