Democratic insiders tell Bob Novak that they have little chance to regain Congress in 2004. Novak thinks that the Democrats have six senate seats that are in real jeopardy, including Tom Daschel’s seat in South Dakota.
This is a slightly right-leaning country and Daschel does himself no good opposing a popular President when he is from a state that elected Bush by a good margin. That explains this recent flip-flop. It’s easy for Ted Kennedy to thwart Bush’s judicial nominees, because he can’t be beat in his own state. Other Senators won’t be so lucky.
The Senate Democrats are slowly moving out of the mainstream in their views on abortion. While the country is split evenly as to whether it should be legal, a clear majority of Americans want to see the kind of restrictions that Democrats oppose. Things like parental notification, 24 hour waiting limits, and a ban on late term abortion are very popular among voters. The Democrats are not only thwarting Bush’s judicial nominees because of abortion, they are thwarting the restrictions that most Americans favor. The last election showed that opposing Bush is hardly a platform on which to win. The current filibusters are pushing them farther into the minority.
If the Democrats co-opted the restriction issues the Republicans favor, they could paint themselves as the party of moderation, and force the Republicans to debate abortion as a whole. By insisting on no abortion restrictions they allow Republicans to be the mainstream voice on the issue. This allows Republicans to show pro-life voters that they are limiting abortions, while not turning off the moderates. The Democrats position is a good one for raising money among virulent feminists and party faithfuls, but it isn’t a recipe for winning back the Senate anytime soon.
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