Richard Cowan
By Richard Cowan
Here’s a riddle: Many Republicans deny it’s happening. Some Democrats don’t want to talk about it. What is it?
The answer is the growing US economy, on pace to expand as much as 3.5 percent this year, about the best performance in the industrialized world. Unemployment has fallen from 10 percent to about 6.3 percent and consumer confidence is at a six-year high.
Better economic data could help persuade voters in November to look past President Barack Obama’s weak approval ratings and his unpopular healthcare law and give Democrats enough lift to hold onto the Senate and limit their losses in the House, political strategists said. Yet a debate about the actual state of the economy, which Americans consistently rate in polls as among their top concerns, may be missing in the run-up to Congressional elections.
”It’s bad for Democrats to make the argument the economy is improving. Bad, bad, bad,” said Erica Seifert, a senior associate at Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, which advises many Democratic candidates.
Instead, many Democrats are focused on promoting ways to improve the economy—raising the minimum wage, providing affordable college education and closing the pay gap between men and women—all while ignoring the positive signs. That’s because even though the data is pointing higher, many American voters see an economic landscape still littered with long-term joblessness, stagnant wages and excessive personal debt, Seifert said.
It’s not just strategists who advise keeping the good news on the down low - politicians who might have been expected to trumpet how the nation has emerged from the worst recession since the 1930s are focused on improvements still to be made rather than the better data for the economy as a whole.
Between now and Election Day on Nov. 4, the battle for the Senate largely will be fought in Louisiana, North Carolina, Alaska, Arkansas and New Hampshire.
The big prize in November’s elections is control of the Senate, as Republicans see 2014 as their best chance in years to end the majority control Democrats have enjoyed since 2007.
For example, in Louisiana and New Hampshire, it would seem as if a 4.5 percent unemployment rate ought to hearten Democratic Senators Mary Landrieu and Jeanne Shaheen. If it does, they are not acknowledging it.
Asked about the possibility of a buffed-up economy improving her re-election prospects, Louisiana’s Landrieu said, “It’s not going to change anything about my campaign.” She added, “I’m going to continue to run hard and not take anything for granted.” Landrieu is a client of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner. Shaheen, asked about economic indicators that normally would make a politician smile, said: “One of the things I continue to hear from people is concern about the economy, about jobs, about student loans, about...retirement.” She added that her campaign will focus on how she has tried to tackle those problems.
Republicans are expected to maintain their hold in the House of Representatives, and possibly expand it, as midterm elections typically favor the party not in control of the White House. Republicans have not let the positive data stop them from attacking Democrats’ record on the economy.
”We are five years into Obamanomics and the economy is not improving,” Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin said at an April 8 press conference. Ryan, the unsuccessful Republican vice presidential candidate in 2012, is a leading voice on conservative budget and economic matters.
Along those lines, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who faces a tough re-election battle in Kentucky this year, regularly talks about “the sorry state of the economy” under Obama.
However, Pete Brodnitz of Benenson Strategy Group, which advises Democratic candidates including Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon, said it would be a “huge mistake” to ignore the economy’s improvements during this year’s campaigns.
”I personally think it’s very important that Democrats talk about how we’re making progress on the economy because if we don’t, who will?” he said. “If we don’t, people will continue to believe” Republican claims that there has been no improvement, he said.
Consumer confidence already is building, according to surveys, and job creation has been showing gains.
There were 8.8 million jobs lost during the deep recession that began in December 2007. Now, employment is accelerating, with 9.2 million jobs added since February 2010, according to government figures. Meanwhile, the national unemployment rate has declined to a 5-1/2 year low of 6.3 percent from a peak of 10 percent in October 2009. The anticipated economic upturn, Bowman said, “is not a game-changer” in the November elections, “But it could help a few Democrats” hold onto their seats, he said.
With Republicans needing a net gain of six seats to win control of the Senate, a few seats turning in Democrats’ favor due to the economy could determine whether Obama spends his last years in office with a divided Congress like now, or with one fully controlled by opposition Republicans. Senate Democrats are trying to defend 21 seats, compared to 14 being defended by Republicans.
There are some green shoots that could possibly portend a little difficulty” for Republicans going forward, said Karlyn Bowman, a senior fellow at the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute where she studies public opinion.Reuters
By Richard Cowan
Here’s a riddle: Many Republicans deny it’s happening. Some Democrats don’t want to talk about it. What is it?
The answer is the growing US economy, on pace to expand as much as 3.5 percent this year, about the best performance in the industrialized world. Unemployment has fallen from 10 percent to about 6.3 percent and consumer confidence is at a six-year high.
Better economic data could help persuade voters in November to look past President Barack Obama’s weak approval ratings and his unpopular healthcare law and give Democrats enough lift to hold onto the Senate and limit their losses in the House, political strategists said. Yet a debate about the actual state of the economy, which Americans consistently rate in polls as among their top concerns, may be missing in the run-up to Congressional elections.
”It’s bad for Democrats to make the argument the economy is improving. Bad, bad, bad,” said Erica Seifert, a senior associate at Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, which advises many Democratic candidates.
Instead, many Democrats are focused on promoting ways to improve the economy—raising the minimum wage, providing affordable college education and closing the pay gap between men and women—all while ignoring the positive signs. That’s because even though the data is pointing higher, many American voters see an economic landscape still littered with long-term joblessness, stagnant wages and excessive personal debt, Seifert said.
It’s not just strategists who advise keeping the good news on the down low - politicians who might have been expected to trumpet how the nation has emerged from the worst recession since the 1930s are focused on improvements still to be made rather than the better data for the economy as a whole.
Between now and Election Day on Nov. 4, the battle for the Senate largely will be fought in Louisiana, North Carolina, Alaska, Arkansas and New Hampshire.
The big prize in November’s elections is control of the Senate, as Republicans see 2014 as their best chance in years to end the majority control Democrats have enjoyed since 2007.
For example, in Louisiana and New Hampshire, it would seem as if a 4.5 percent unemployment rate ought to hearten Democratic Senators Mary Landrieu and Jeanne Shaheen. If it does, they are not acknowledging it.
Asked about the possibility of a buffed-up economy improving her re-election prospects, Louisiana’s Landrieu said, “It’s not going to change anything about my campaign.” She added, “I’m going to continue to run hard and not take anything for granted.” Landrieu is a client of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner. Shaheen, asked about economic indicators that normally would make a politician smile, said: “One of the things I continue to hear from people is concern about the economy, about jobs, about student loans, about...retirement.” She added that her campaign will focus on how she has tried to tackle those problems.
Republicans are expected to maintain their hold in the House of Representatives, and possibly expand it, as midterm elections typically favor the party not in control of the White House. Republicans have not let the positive data stop them from attacking Democrats’ record on the economy.
”We are five years into Obamanomics and the economy is not improving,” Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin said at an April 8 press conference. Ryan, the unsuccessful Republican vice presidential candidate in 2012, is a leading voice on conservative budget and economic matters.
Along those lines, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who faces a tough re-election battle in Kentucky this year, regularly talks about “the sorry state of the economy” under Obama.
However, Pete Brodnitz of Benenson Strategy Group, which advises Democratic candidates including Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon, said it would be a “huge mistake” to ignore the economy’s improvements during this year’s campaigns.
”I personally think it’s very important that Democrats talk about how we’re making progress on the economy because if we don’t, who will?” he said. “If we don’t, people will continue to believe” Republican claims that there has been no improvement, he said.
Consumer confidence already is building, according to surveys, and job creation has been showing gains.
There were 8.8 million jobs lost during the deep recession that began in December 2007. Now, employment is accelerating, with 9.2 million jobs added since February 2010, according to government figures. Meanwhile, the national unemployment rate has declined to a 5-1/2 year low of 6.3 percent from a peak of 10 percent in October 2009. The anticipated economic upturn, Bowman said, “is not a game-changer” in the November elections, “But it could help a few Democrats” hold onto their seats, he said.
With Republicans needing a net gain of six seats to win control of the Senate, a few seats turning in Democrats’ favor due to the economy could determine whether Obama spends his last years in office with a divided Congress like now, or with one fully controlled by opposition Republicans. Senate Democrats are trying to defend 21 seats, compared to 14 being defended by Republicans.
There are some green shoots that could possibly portend a little difficulty” for Republicans going forward, said Karlyn Bowman, a senior fellow at the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute where she studies public opinion.Reuters
