As Ohio (State) goes, so goes the nation.
Levin, Schumer, Pelosi, Murtha, Reid and even crazy little Kucinich all proclaim the same; the 2006 election was about getting out of Iraq. Election rehashes about corruption, incompetence, and spending occur only when it suits their de jour agenda talking points.
Was the 2006 election decided by Iraq?
I do not think so. The very large number of Republicans across the country that I speak with do not believe that Iraq was the deciding factor.
The 2006 election was decided by Republicans who decided that elected Republicans had involved into corrupt fat cat and big spending Democrats. Thus republicans did not donate what they could have. Republicans did not volunteer, did not network nor did they do the things necessary to win in a media driven Liberal environment.
Republicans did not have the deciding factor — "fire in the gut".
Did Democrats have “fire in the gut” as they went to the polls? No, they did not, at least as a whole. The average Democratic voter wouldn’t vote for a Conservative for a simple reason, they think Conservatives are as crazy as left wing nuts are, but those left wing nuts are their left wing nuts, so they have to accept them.
Republicans lost because voters didn’t see that many Republicans running. They saw self-satisfied DC politicians listed on their ballot.
I know that people will point to exit polls which listed Iraq as #3 in terms of their voting priority, but exit polls are good TV and lousy politics. People will also bring up all the pollsters and their polls; Rasmussen, Finklestein, TeleOpinion, Gallup, Zogby, Mason-Dixon, Harris, Pew, USA, ABC, Washington Post and on and on. Polls are like batty aunts in so many ways, but basically everyone seems to have one.
Now, months later as the Democratic leaders and the media are trying to demean Bush, Levin, Schumer, Pelosi, Murtha, Reid and even crazy little Kucinich all proclaim the same; the 2006 election was about getting out of Iraq and everyone takes their statements at face value, including Republicans, as the truth.
The voters did not vote in the Democrats because of the Iraq war. The Democrats did not win because of Republican corruption, the economy, jobless statistics, nor taxation.
The much vaunted Republican powerhouse lost because not only did their fans not show up, the real Republicans players did not show up.
In short, the Republicans beat themselves. Not Iraq. Nor Florida.
