Dems To Claim Offense On Stimulus

Dems will spend next week trying to claim the offensive on the economy after rising unemployment rates in recent months have driven Pres. Obama's approval ratings to new lows.

Party strategists see a Saturday front page story in the New York Times as a landscape-altering moment. The story suggests that, though liberal economists said the stimulus was too small and conservatives argued it was too big, the $787B package is working.

Economists, the story says, believe Obama's stated goal of saving or creating 3.5M jobs by the end of next year is on track, although more jobs are being saved than created.

The story, Dems argue, gives their party a chance to reclaim the initiative on an issue that, so far, has worked in the GOP's favor. Surveys continue to show voters are pessimistic about the economy, while one recent poll suggested voters are beginning to blame the Bush admin less and the Obama admin more.

"There is now a broad consensus among economists that the Recovery package was a worthy step that saved our economy from going off a cliff," Rep. Chris Van Hollen, the DCCC chairman, will say in a statement Sunday.

GOPers argue the stimulus still works on their behalf, especially given an unemployment rate that remains above 10% and shows no signs of dropping any time soon.

"If this is what the DCCC plans to go on offense with, they might as well tell their members and candidates to batten down the hatches because they are in for a very long next twelve months," said NRCC communications director Ken Spain.

Spain also pointed to reports this week that accountability over jobs the admin has claimed were created is sorely lacking. Thousands of jobs are listed on a government website as having been created in congressional districts that don't exist, and the GAO cast doubt on whether as many as 50,000 jobs have even been created.

(REID WILSON)

"Selling the effectiveness of the stimulus after this past week is not a strategy, it is a fool's errand," Spain added.

But Dems will try anyway: The party will spend next week repeatedly hitting the House GOP, which unanimously voted against the stimulus package. The DCCC has a list of 70 members they will say are guilty of hypocrisy for voting against the stimulus and then touting funding headed to their districts.

"Given that House Republicans helped create the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, and not a single one voted for the Recovery Package, it's hardly suprising that they root for failure while working to distract from the mess they created," Van Hollen will say.

The committee will give their chair credit too; Van Hollen had a well-publicized exchange with ex-Rep. Dick Armey (R-TX), the chair of FreedomWorks, during which he forced Armey to acknowledge he had not read the stimulus bill. Armey had launched a website urging members to read the bill before they voted on it.

Polling on the stimulus package itself has been decidedly mixed. A 11/12-15 ABC News/Washington Post poll showed 37% of Americans think the stimulus has helped the economy, while 62% said it had either made no difference (39%) or hurt the economy (23%). But a CBS News poll conducted 11/13-15 showed 53% believe the stimulus has already created, or will create, a substantial number of new jobs. A smaller 42% said the bill will not create new jobs.

But most acknowledge that Dems need a bigger advantage on the economy before next year's elections. The party has been pursuing a strategy that relies on long-term results: If the stimulus works and the economy turns around, Dems will get credit.

Meanwhile, GOPers have endeavored to present a united front in order to take advantage if the bill is not seen as turning the economy around.

Dems risk obvious punishment from voters if the economy does not turn around, and even insiders admit the party will be in trouble if unemployment remains high and key indicators do not pick up. But the party hopes the GOP is at risk too; if the economy does pick up, Dems can hammer GOPers as obstructionists who took the wrong path.

"We will continue going District by District to set the record straight and expose House Republicans and their Right Wing allies' shameless hypocrisy," Van Hollen will promise.