Chris Cillizza discusses a couple of reasons to be optimistic that 2010 will not be a repeat of 1994.
Although few savvy Democratic strategists debate the difficulty of the national political environment, they do note that there are two important differences between the 1994 election and this one.
The first is the relative weakness of the Republican brand. In 1994, Republicans had been out of power in the House for four decades, and most voters had a limited sense of what a GOP House would be like. In 2010, the American public has fired Republicans — in the House, Senate and White House — twice in the past four years. And, in a recent NBC/Wall Street Journal survey, the GOP had its lowest favorability ratings ever. (We repeat: ever.)
Second, Democrats understand the building frustration and desire for change in a way that the party simply didn’t get 16 years ago. “The one advantage Democrats have is early-warning radar that we are facing a tough environment, and many of our incumbents have geared up their campaigns much earlier than in 1994,” said Fred Yang, a leading Democratic pollster. “The possible wave may be too big for any campaign, but we’re going to be ready this time and run harder and more aggressive campaigns.”
It’s our job to remind voters why they hate the Republican Party more now than they ever have in the past. (We repeat: ever). Most people would rather contract chlamydia than see the Republicans back in power. The problem is that most people are feeling apathetic and unenthusiastic about what the Democrats have accomplished. Anyone who wants to reinforce those feelings over the next 60 days needs to consider what the hell they think they are going to accomplish. But I’ve been saying this since July 1st.
