How Big Money Is Saving Senate Democrats
Posted on September 19, 2014
"Harry Reid official portrait 2009" by United States Congress - http://reid.senate.gov/images/Reid-_2009_Official_Photo.jpg. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
(This originally appeared in the Wall Street Journal’s Think Tank)
Campaign money is the only reason that Senate Democrats in vulnerable seats are still competitive in what is, for Democrats, a mostly grim election cycle.
So it’s ironic that Majority Leader Harry Reid wasted time on the Senate floor this month trying to pass a constitutional amendmentthat would limit campaign funding.
A New York Times poll this month showed how bad things are for congressional Democrats and President Barack Obama. Voters trust Republicans more on key issues such as national security and economic growth, it found, and a majority disapproves of the president’s job performance.'
Yet the Democrats are still competitive.
As Karl Rove points out in Thursday’s Wall Street Journal, the reason is simple: money. Democratic incumbents in key states have more resources than Republican challengers, and they are putting those resources to good use: changing the subject and relentlessly attacking Republicans on peripheral issues.
The ultimate irony is that vulnerable Senate Democrats are getting most of those resources because of the work of … Sen. Reid. Senate Majority PAC, which has strong ties to Sen. Reid, is the primary funder of these campaigns.
Yep, the PAC connected to the guy who has sought to amend the Constitution to theoretically stop super PACs from thwarting the will of the American people is working to … potentially thwart the will of the American people.
Is this a great country or what?