Is a 50-state strategy enough?

I'm noticing here in the sticks that the Republican candidates are carrying on as if they were not affiliated with a national party going down in flames. Just the same old "I'm a businessman, not a politician/ I will cut taxes, cut taxes, cut taxes" bullshit. Moreover, they're probably going to get away with it. The fact that it's Republicans, not Democrats, that are spending taxpayers' money like drunken sailors never seems to register.

Regardless, taking into consideration Tip O'Neil's famous injunction that "all politics is local," what are local issues that we can exploit to undercut the Rs' success at pushing the low tax message? Or to put the same thing another way, what are universal issues that have resonance in nearly every locality to the degree that lowering taxes has? I think pitched right the environment and global warming are two; considering how poorly the Rs run the economy, countering every "We cut taxes" claim with "...and make your grandchildren pay them instead" (ie, we are the party of fiscal responsibility now) could help.

I know the party's been using direct mail for nearly as long as Viguerie's been doing it for the Rs since I get the damn mail but I think we need a more sophisticated approach and we need to fight for every single fricking vote. The Republicans have done such a thoroughgoing job of dynamiting the country that the opportunities for picking off their voters are roughly infinite. We just have to get through to the suburbanites that these dimbulbs cannot be trusted with their money, could never be trusted and are never to be trusted. Don'tchathink? Or am I going broke overestimating the intelligence of the American people again? Whuddayathink?

Drunken sailors spend their own money. Republicans are spending OUR money.

local issues we can exploit:
1) the environment
2) the Iraq war
3) tax fairness
4) minimum wage
5) universal health care

You are being compared to Republicans. Unite against this invective!

:)