As The Republicans Lose Ground In The Senate Races Overall…
…Allen appears to be gaining ground in the hotly contested Virginia race with Webb. Although the Mason-Dixon poll has the two candidates dead even, Rasmussen and SurveyUSA have Allen with a six-point lead. That’s tight, but it looks like the bleeding has stopped, and the scales are tipping in his favor a bit. I’d like to think that at least part of that turnaround is because the focus has returned to the issues, where I think Allen is the clear winner.
Allen signalled the change in focus pretty clearly in this televised message to Virginians:
For more than a decade with Susan by my side, I’ve had the honor of serving you; as Governor, and now in the United States Senate. Virginians expect to hear us address the real issues you care about.
Over the past several weeks that hasn’t been the case. Some of this I’ve brought on myself.
But the negative personal attacks and baseless allegations have also pulled us away from what you expect and deserve. I’m confident that if this Senate race is decided on issues, ideas and my proven record of performance, you’ll allow me to continue serving you.
I think this is a winning strategy, and I think it’s the best strategy for the Republicans as a whole, as they face the tabloid feeding frenzy over the Foley affair. You can’t stop some folks from believing what they want to believe; these people are unreachable. There are a lot of people, though, who see through the mud and want a clear vision of what the plan is on Iraq, the economy, Iran, and the other things that matter so much more than this petty ‘gotcha’ brand of politics.
I wish Allen well with his renewed focus; I hope he sticks with it, and I hope the polls reward him for it. And I hope that Ken Mehlman, Karl Rove, and the other top GOP strategists adopt a similar tack. Enough with this nonsense; we got elected because of our core beliefs, and we need to get back to them: free trade, a strong defense, and making the Bush tax cuts permanent is a solid enough platform to ride to victory…
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