Big Surprise: Democrats and Republicans Don't See Eye To Eye

Written by Jeremy Jacobs on December 04, 2009, 01:57 PM

When the executive directors from the Republican and Democratic campaign committees get together, disagreement is expected. But what became increasingly clear when they - plus political advisors to the DNC and RNC - talked politics on Thursday is that they have extraordinarily different views of the political environment in the wake of the 2009 elections as they look ahead to 2010.

The executive directors all appeared at a panel put on by the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics and Politico. Each provided insights into their 2010 strategies and the Republicans, in particular, liked their chances. As an added bonus, there was no shortage of fireworks as things got testy pretty quickly.

Larry Roberts, a senior advisor at the DNC, provided one of the most interesting big picture insights. He said that from a Democratic perspective, weathering 2010 will boil down to running on President Obama’s accomplishments. “The key for 2010 is to highlight the results that President Obama has achieved,” he said. So at this point, the DNC is focused on getting important results on energy, healthcare and economic legislation.

That strategy seemed welcome in the Republican camp, who were quick to point out the number of Obama’s victories. "That’s not going to take too much time," said Curt Anderson, a senior advisor at the RNC. Anderson said jobs are the key issue for 2010 and that the debate on healthcare and other issues are side shows.

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Executive Director Jon Vogel framed 2010 in more philosophical terms. “People are going to look at who is on their side,” he said. On jobs, healthcare and the economy, he went on, middle class families are picking Democrats. Rep. Bill Owens’ (D) win in the recent special election in upstate New York demonstrates that, Vogel added.

Republicans also took issue with the Democrats’ suggestion that they can package the president’s stimulus package as an accomplishment. “If the stimulus was a success,” said National Republican Congressional Committee Executive Director Guy Harrison, “I’d love to see what Democrats describe as a failure.”

Roberts of the DNC and Anderson of the RNC took diametrically opposite views of what the Republican wins in the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial races meant. Roberts said the races won’t translate to the federal races next year. Anderson quickly responded: "If they want to draw no conclusions from those elections, I’m cool with that...If you want to say this was a good election than I hope you have another one next November."

Anderson said he saw two important groups move to the Republican column in 2009: Suburban voters and independents. “In both cases,” he said, “we completely reversed what happened in 2008.”

The panelists were also asked to name a member of the opposing party that they believe they will defeat next year. Some of their responses were particularly interesting. J.B. Poersch, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee’s executive director, said Louisiana Sen. David Vitter will lose to Rep. Charlie Melancon. National Republican Senatorial Committee Executive Director Rob Jesmer called that “laughable.”

Jesmer said it was a toss up between Sens. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) and Pennsylvania - where former Rep. Pat Toomey will run against the winner of the Democratic primary between Sen. Arlen Specter and Rep. Joe Sestak. Poersch notably said he though Specter would emerge from that Democratic primary.

On the House side, Vogel, of the DCCC, picked Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.). Vogel is especially happy with their recruit there, Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan. The NRCC’s Harrison listed a handful of candidates, but liberal lightning rod Rep. Alan Grayson of Florida toped his list.

Jeremy P. Jacobs is the  staff writer at Politics. He can be reached at jjacobs@politicsmagazine.com