Just for Posterity

[_JS]

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I wonder what went wrong with "the architect's" master plan. And no, it isn't salt in the wound, I really am curious. No one can deny that Rove, Bush, etc came up big in 2000, 2002, and 2004. They seemed very confident, especially after John Kerry's fouled up remarks. I'd love to have been a fly on the wall of the GOP war room last night.

A new Washington must-read by political journalists Mark Halperin and John F. Harris maps "The Way to Win" for presidential candidates in 2008, but White House officials say they have their own way to win in '06. Besides Bush's residual popularity in some crucial states and districts, Republican officials say the other reasons they're optimistic are:

1) No Republican is being taken by surprise, unlike many Democrats in 1994. Shortly after Bush's reelection, White House and Republican National Committee officials began working to convince House members that the formidable reelection record for incumbents (since 1996, 97.5 percent) was not something they could take for granted. "What we attempted to do last year," said one of these officials, "was to go out of our way to say to people: 'You face a potential of a race. In order to win as an incumbent, you better have a plan,' " including an intensive focus on voter registration, a message plan that would unfold in phases, and a ground organization that was operating in a measurable, quantifiable way. One official involved in the process said Republican officials deliberately "scared" lawmakers, telling them: "You face a very tough road. You better be ready."

2) Absentee ballot requests and returns, closely tracked by the party, are meeting or exceeding past levels for Republicans in key states and districts. Republican officials say White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove and party operatives are scrutinizing this data with the same intensity that they followed metrics like voter registration earlier in the cycle. For at least 68 races, they have been getting reports once a week on the number of voters registered, phone calls completed and doors knocked on. Now, they're getting a second report on the number of absentee ballots requested, absentee ballots returned and early votes cast. "We can look at that data flow and make an assumption about what's going on and plotting it out," a Republican official said.

3) When the national parties, national campaign committees, state "victory" committee accounts and competitive campaigns are added up, Republicans maintained a substantial financial advantage over Democrats at the last filing period. "We didn't look on it as one pot," said one official involved in the process. "We looked upon it as four pots, with synergy available through all four."

4) Republicans say the district-by-district playing field favors them in several structural ways not reflected in national polls. Here is their thinking, starting with statistics from the President's 2004 race against John F. Kerry: "There are 41 districts held by a Democrat that Bush carried, and 14 seats held by Republican that Kerry carried, so we're fighting on better turf. You see it in the open seats, where Bush carried 18 of the Republican open seats and Kerry carried two. So we're fighting on better turf."

5) The get-out-the-vote machine designed by Rove and now-Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman in 2001 was dubbed the "72-hour" program, but officials say that's quite a misnomer and that it's really a 17-week or even two-year program. "In Ohio, we are making more phone calls this year than we made two years ago," said an official involved in the process. "Now, that's not the case necessarily in Virginia, which was not a battleground state. You have to build that. In other places, we built that and built it early."

On the road Monday, Rove playfully answered the receptionist's phone at a hotel where the President was conducting an interview with Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity. "Historic Statesboro Inn," Rove said authoritatively, then went to track down the manager himself, returning several times to update the caller on the progress of his quest. On Air Force One on the way home, "the architect" made a rare appearance in the press cabin, handing out chocolate-covered pecans to the reporters. He waved the lid of the tin theatrically and said, "Sweets for my sweets!" In only a few days, it'll be clear whether he has outsmarted the pundits and Democrats, one last time.

[sirs]

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I wonder what went wrong with "the architect's" master plan. And no, it isn't salt in the wound, I really am curious. No one can deny that Rove, Bush, etc came up big in 2000, 2002, and 2004. They seemed very confident, especially after John Kerry's fouled up remarks. I'd love to have been a fly on the wall of the GOP war room last night.

They did?  Better maybe, but "confident", given the frequent polling data?  The surprises WERE 2000, 02 & 04, especially '04.  Historically isn't a President generally supposed to lose seats during mid term elections?  Aren't we finally back to history?

[Brassmask]

So, sirs says "Remember when?"

And it really is all about Remembering when BushCo stole the first election.  And remembering back when after 9.11, the GOP successfully scared the shit out of a majority of people in the '02 elections and successfully manipulated the media and propaganda machines and "won".

Then remembering to '04, when they AGAIN stole the elections in Ohio with the help of Blackwell who went down in flames yesterday with the FIRST thief, Katherine Harris.

And now, somehow, they have failed in stealing the elections or successfully scaring the shit out of everybody.

[Universe Prince]

And now, somehow, they have failed in stealing the elections or successfully scaring the shit out of everybody.

So do you think the Republicans somehow forgot how to steal elections? The Algernon formula wore off and they have all forgotten their former wicked brilliance in stealing elections just in time for the 2006 election cycle?

[Brassmask]

I don't know what happened.

Maybe they couldn't convince any locals to do it for them  Maybe the locals were too scared of getting caught.  Maybe it is part of the DLC/Hillary collusion with the neo-cons plan.  Who knows?

I just know that Bush and Rove and them acted like it was just going to be a GOP landslide and they're shitting their pants today and firing Rummy.

[Universe Prince]

I just know that Bush and Rove and them acted like it was just going to be a GOP landslide and they're shitting their pants today and firing Rummy.

As I recall the story, Rumsfeld is resigning. But surely this vast conspiracy of the Republican leadership is just chuckling behind the scenes to see folks like you so certain that they are "shitting their pants". You don't really think that folks who secretly planned and executed the terrorist attacks, and who so successfully rigged previous elections and covered it all up would be defeated by one election day, do you? Clearly this is all part of their master plan to cover their tracks. No one is going to believe they could fix elections and then let themselves lose. You're obviously letting yourself get misled by their smokescreen of pretending to lose control of Congress.

Yes, I suppose that was needlessly sarcastic.

[sirs]

So, sirs says "Remember when?"  And it really is all about Remembering when BushCo stole the first election.  And remembering back when after 9.11, the GOP successfully scared the shit out of a majority of people in the '02 elections and successfully manipulated the media and propaganda machines and "won".  Then remembering to '04, when they AGAIN stole the elections in Ohio with the help of Blackwell who went down in flames yesterday with the FIRST thief, Katherine Harris.

Oh Brass, big boy.  You really don't want to go into that completely invalid incomprehendible garbage about stolen elections again, do you?  You really should enjoy the limelight presently, vs throwing mud all over it with those asanine bogus allegations.     Do you see rampant Republicans jumping up and down decrying "stolen...stolen?".  The last vote wasn't even counted before the Dems were going apesnot in both 2000 & 2004