Maintaining a Democratic Senate majority this year was always going to be difficult, given lower mid-term turnout and that we did remarkably well in Senate elections six years ago.
About 10 races (AK, AR, CO, GA, IA, KS, KY, LA, NC, NH, SD) are quite close, and their outcomes will determine the next Senate majority.
With less than two weeks to Election Day, it may be too late to get a new message into voters' minds. But better late than never, Jonathan Alter at the Daily Beast has an idea that might work, and certainly can't hurt.
Focus on jobs, and reframe the major way government can do something about jobs from "infrastructure" to "rebuilding America."
And have Bill Clinton talk about that.
More, below.
Alter believes that the Democrats can appeal to a voter cohort that they've had trouble attracting for decades -- white non-college educated blue-collar workers -- by quickly and loudly giving public works a better name than infrastructure, and providing a strong rationale for why rebuilding America is a good thing, that Republicans overwhelmingly oppose.
Here's most of his argument (my emphases added):
I can’t fathom why Democrats don’t pick low-hanging fruit — the jobs issues that poll after poll shows are much more critical to voters than ISIS, Ebola, and the Keystone pipeline, not to mention vaginal probes and whether some candidate voted for Obama. Yes, many Democratic candidates are pushing for a much-needed increase in the minimum wage. But that is of most interest either to hardcore Democrats or to non-voters clinging to the bottom of the economy.
snip
There’s a particular jobs issue that (white non-college educated blue-collar workers) respond to and it has a big, boring name: infrastructure. As long as they don’t call it that, Democrats have a chance to win a greater share of these white male voters. At worst, Republicans will hear the argument that their leaders couldn’t care less about rebuilding the country.
snip
But that requires framing the jobs issue properly. Fortunately for Democrats, they have a weapon in the American Jobs Act (AJA), an Obama bill that failed to win 60 votes in the Senate three years ago. With enormous support in the polls, the AJA consisted of rebuilding roads, bridges, and schools and investing in first responders, all projects that Republicans have supported in the past but now shun for no other reason than that the president backs them.
snip
This message for Democratic candidates can fit on a bumper sticker:
I want to rebuild America — my opponent doesn't.
From there, the message continues: I voted to rebuild our country, and he (or his party) voted against it--against money to repave roads, repair bridges, fix schools, help first responders we might need for an epidemic.
I want to invest in the future and the Republicans are stuck in the past.
These charges are all easily backed up by referring to where Republican candidates stood in 2011 on the AJA. Almost all of them had to comment one way or the other.
Alter adds that having Bill Clinton deliver that message in a "closing argument" major speech would hopefully get major media coverage and highlight some essential facts.
Like, IMHO, Democrats want to rebuild America, to provide good-paying jobs now, and decent roads, bridges, airports, schools, mass transit, and broadband systems, for the future.
And Republicans are against good-paying jobs now to rebuild America in any way, because they always have been against good-paying jobs for non-CEOs.
And they don't care about the future, only about winning the next election and cutting taxes for the billionaires who are bribing them to do that.
Of course, "rebuilding America" will not appeal only to white non-college educated blue-collar workers who've been delusionally voting for Republicans. Most Democrats will like that message too.
Alter's last-week reframing strategy may not happen, and may not work if it does.
But it's worth trying.