MIKE DUNCAN’S DESPERATE SPIN…. Earlier this week, Republican National Committee Chairman Mike Duncan said Sen. Saxby Chambliss’ (R) win in Georgia was proof that Republicans “now have the momentum.” Today, Duncan goes even further, using the predictable outcome of a Red-state Senate race to deny Barack Obama a “mandate.”
Georgians refuted any notion that the ideology of the country has shifted to the left…. Notably, Chambliss won in spite of strong support by President-elect Obama and Democrat organizations for Jim Martin. Georgian’s clearly sent a message that any rhetoric about a liberal mandate is nothing but hot air. […]
In the first contest since the presidential election and what many believe is the first race of the 2010 cycle, Republicans won because we coupled a strong, conservative candidate in Saxby Chambliss with a solid ground game that reached out to millions of Georgians and turned out the vote.
First, no one believes this was the “first race of the 2010 cycle.” It was a run-off election to decide the outcome of a race in the 2008 cycle, which was, by the way, 30 days ago.
Second, Duncan is obviously latching onto the results in Georgia like a life-preserver, but the only “message” the Chambliss race offered is that a conservative Republican incumbent, with the aggressive backing of the Republican Party establishment, can still win a statewide race in a reliably “red” state. Indeed, Chambliss had a” solid ground game that reached out to millions of Georgians,” but he still needed a runoff to win a race against a largely unknown opponent.
Greg Sargent makes a strong case that Duncan’s desperation spin is good news for Democrats: “Repubs actually are citing what happened in Georgia, a McCain state that is much more conservative and Republican than the country as a whole — and where a runoff was nonetheless forced by an initially close vote — to make the claim that the country overall hasn’t granted Obama a mandate. That seems like a pretty clear sign that they’ve got absolutely zippo to use as an actual foundation for this argument.”
And yet, Duncan and his allies keep making it. Fox News’ Neil Cavuto suggested yesterday that Chambliss’ win was “a sign that voters are already reconsidering the Democratic victory they gave the country last month.”
These guys really need some new talking points.
