While our conservative brethren in Right Blogisota are spending a lot of time branding the current Congress as unpopular because it is Democratic, Tom Reynold (R-NY) the leader of the NRCC in 2006, told The Hill that the public blames both parties:
. . .[Reynolds] sees the distant shape of an anti-incumbent wave that has just as much risk for Republicans as Democrats.
“The current numbers are anti-incumbent. My Republican colleagues shouldn’t take too much comfort in these numbers. They’re mad at the current Congress, not just Democrats,” he said.
We know what the right will be saying this coming week, according to The Hill article:
Republican political operations are hoping to capitalize on those perceptions with a media blitz during the Independence Day break. They’re not putting any money into television time, but they’re developing a Web ad campaign and blasting talking points to Republican leaders to bring home to constituents and talk radio about the “do-nothing Congress.”
Hear it once, hear it a thousand times, and know that it came from within the Beltway from people who probably have to use a search engine to learn the names of the towns in Southern Minnesota.
In The Hill article, Walz uses his usual bluntness to assess the situation:
Freshman Rep. Tim Walz (D-Minn.) says he thinks Democrats failed to communicate well with the public on the issue of pork and earmarks. But he also sees cause for hope.
“The silver lining is that people expected a lot. On Nov. 8, I think people thought the troops would be flying home and these investigations will be in full swing.”
Walz remains the only Minnesota representative who released a list of his earmarks.
He'll be meeting with his constituents during the Independence Day district work break. Four listening sessions are planned in Mankato, Kasson, Wabasha and LaCrescent on July 5 and 6. They are free and open to the public and the press. Walz knows his constituents expect a lot.
Walz knows Southern Minnesota from his many meetings, visits, and listening sessions since he was elected. He knows the district from his energetic campaigning last in 2005 and 2006, from his years as a football coach and a National Guard leader, when he trained men and women from across Southern Minnesota's small towns, from Courtland and St. Peter and New Ulm and beyond.
Are DC insiders' attacks the equal of a Farm Bill listening session in St. James, Minnesota, a veterans listening session in the Winona VFW, or the Saturday stops at grocery stores, food co-ops and farmers' markets?
Can talking points generated by Beltway Republicans compete?
Stay tuned.
UPDATE: A blogger in the MN-06 compares two of Minnesota's three freshman representatives. Perhaps those who hear about a "do-nothing Congress" can ask, as the blogger does, which representative is doing nothing. And that's just what each does in Washington, without counting work in the district on weekends and district work breaks. [/end update]
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