While watching Oakland continue their self-destruction on Sunday Night Football, I just saw the latest Michael Steele (R) commercial.
His earlier ads mentioned that he would stand up to the special interests and also to both parties. However, he offered no real specifics. This allowed
Ben Cardin and the
DSCC to runs ads mocking Steele's closeness to Bush.
This latest ad has Steele talking to the camera and offering specific areas and issues where he feels both Republicans and Democrats are wrong (education and the working class).
Okay, so I give him credit for offering specifics, but it looks to me that he's made a big-ish mistake.
As we know, the national Republican Party has won in 2002 and 2004 by focusing on the base and getting those hard-core Republicans to turn out in force. Does anyone else think that Steele's latest tactic is running completely counter to that? I can't see the rank-and-file Republicans being thrilled at being told that their party (and Bush) failed on No Child Left Behing and that they ignore the people trying to get to the first rung of the economic ladder. I think this tactic is bound to fail in an enviornment where Democrats and independents are less likely than ever to pull the R lever...