They think it's all some kind of a PR mistake, that if they package it right, Americans will see the rightness of their policies.

Mostly, Americans are a bit tired of their policies. The emporer has no clothes. Repubs have no interest in solving problems, they just want to exploit them for gain, whether financial or political. Corporate America has no interest in a 'better mouse trap.' In fact, they fear it and try to suppress anything that might starve their cash cows by diverting anything from their revenue stream.

The demographic troubles are just exploitable situations to them. They cannot fathom that anyone would actually want to solve that in a way that doesn't benefit a corporate interest somewhere. In fact, the status quo has been making them shitloads of money for a lot of years. You gotta know they'll fight any effort to 'solve' that one.

*They hate the poor and unemployed and have no problem with subjecting them to all kinds of degradations and humiliations so that they *might* be allowed to get some meager scraps of assistance that they haven't been able to cut (yet). Plus, they think that the poor (largely) votes Democratic so that they can get "free things" off the backs of other people.

*They are openly contemptuous of and condescending towards minorities and push the odious idea that they have allowed themselves to be enslaved by the Democrats and that they vote for Democrats for "goodies" and "free things" (just like the poor). Not only that but they push voting restrictions that disproportionately affect the poor and minorities. Some of them are trying to do *something* positive about immigration reform but far too many of them are still stuck in a highly nativist mindset.

*They hate LGBTQ individuals and refuse to support and fight against any equality measures, mostly in deference to the "American Taliban" wing of their party and continue to push anti-SSM bills and amendments (though they are facing more and more resistance).

*They don't believe that everybody deserves to have health care/coverage, that insurance companies should be able to pick and choose whom they cover, and that we should all have to pay ridiculous amounts of money for medical care.

*They believe that corporations should pretty much be able to do whatever they want regardless of whether it negatively affects the health and safety of their workers and/or consumers and they don't believe that people should be allowed to earn a living wage while allowing corporate profits to skyrocket, as well as allowing corporations to wiggle out of paying their fair share (while demanding that the rest of us "sacrifice" to balance the budget).

*They believe in using military force against countries and imposing our will on other countries at the expense of diplomacy.

I mean, at the end of the day, their "policies" simply don't (can't) look good or reasonable to most people no matter how much they crank up the old propaganda machine.

The GOP slogan for these voters: "Vote GOP to take away your health care: Moocher"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/in-rural-kentucky-health-care-debate-takes-back-seat-as-people-sign-up-for-insurance/2013/11/23/449dc6e0-5465-11e3-9e2c-e1d01116fd98_story.html

Corporate speak can sell anything, they believe.

Just use enough focus groups, nuance enough, call Madison Avenue.

There was "no immediate danger" following the Three Mile Island nuclear
near-meltdown.

If you tweak the polls enough, and tell them Romney's in the lead, there
will be a mad rush to vote for Mitt because no one wants to associate
with a loser, do they? Americans are winners, be like us.

I actually don't see the political world as about race, or Latinos, or even the 1%.

I think the internet and the mass media pop culture social networking world is one
where the average person hae become more politically aware than before, and they
en masse see America's problems as ones of power, economic inequality, corruption,
privilege for the rich, catering to the corporate agenda.

Americans - black, white, orange, spectrum - want good pay, clean air/water/food, health
care, a fast smart phone, and friends. Not much else matters to the little guys and gals.

Frank Luntz will save them with "magic words" again...it's all "framing"

I wish we were that "terminally ill".

Senate seats is a no-brainer because we're defending so many red state seats.

Their problem isn't mid-terms--cranky old white people are the most reliable voters. It's Presidential elections, where everyone else shows up.

Were you alive in 2010?

Seriously, that's not what the fan club usually tells us - in fact it's the reverse. Best case next year we hold the Senate, barely. This straddling of the middle ground by Reid and Obama and Pelosi has dealt a devastating bloe to the party - probably not fixable for at least a decade.

You're in error by blaming Obama and Reid for the fact that demographics friendly to Democrats (young, minorities, poor) don't vote in mid-terms. That's been the case for quite some time.

Democrats have won exactly one mid-term election in the House since 1992.

Heck, they made fools of themselves with impeachment in 1998 and still won.

Only midterm we've won was 2006, and one man gets credit for that: George W Bush.

The American people have a very short attention span and memory. Much can happen between now and then, especially around seats in the House.

I think you are right the Republicans will pick up seats in the Senate but I am not going to write off the Democrats' ability to maintain a majority especially with the independents that caucus with them.

I think the story in the House may be much more affected by the perception of voters of the ACA in the 2 weeks before the election next Fall and even the behavior of the GOP throughout 2014 - e.g. debt limits, etc.

Personally I think there will be "fix" to the cancelled insurance policies that "stinky or not" is pushed through and the sign-up process on the website will continue to improve and at the end of the day we will see a significant number of voters who have been able to get health insurance for the first time either through the Medicaid expansion or through signing up for private insurance on the exchanges.

The larger concern I have is the status of the economy. We have been in a recovery since 2009 and the history of expansions and contractions in the economy have a 4-5 year cycle on average. That means that historically we are about due for a contraction in 2014. The fact this has been an anemic recovery not only here but the normal trends in the rest of the world have not followed traditional patterns may make that cyclical prediction inapplicable.

But at the end of the day even if the ACA is working perfectly, the "scandals" of Benghazi, IRS, etc. have calmed, the second coming has started and world peace is achieved - if the economy is in the toilet all bets are off. People blame the party perceived as responsible for the economic woes (usually the party in the WH and/or in control of one or more houses of Congress).

Unfortunately as we know many that vote GOP are voting against their own economic interests when you consider the party is the party that protects monied interests.

The Repukes are not terminally ill.

them into thinking Obamacare will kill their babies.

....is that while the GOP has been shrinking their voter base, the Democrats are creating a permanent client class with ACA. A large number of people with pre-existing conditions will be dependent on ACA for the rest of their lives, along with a lot of other programs that are identified with the Democratic party.

The Reality Check made out to the GOP has yet to be signed, but eventually their bad judgement will get cashed in a future election, maybe not in 2014, but like the eventual rising of the sea, it will happen.

Spreading Suppression: Restrictive Voting Laws Across the United States


Over the past two years, more than 30 states have introduced legislation or enacted laws that would curb voter’s access to voting. Some states, such as the battleground states of Florida and Ohio have dramatically shortened early voting opportunities, including the weekend before Election Day when many minority voters choose to vote. Florida and Texas both passed legislation to make it harder for volunteer organizations like the League of Women Voters to register voters. Since 2011, ten states have joined Indiana and Georgia to require voters to show a photo ID to vote. Several others are considering photo ID legislation. Additionally, some states including Kansas, are requiring citizens show proof of citizenship to register to vote.

http://www.fairelectionsnetwork.com/spreading-suppression-restrictive-voting-laws-across-united-states