If Republicans Have Bad Candidates, It’s the Democrats’ Fault

[DonViejo]

By David Weigel

Earlier this week the National Republican Senatorial Committee crowed about an Oregon Democratic Party that was clearly panicking. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, one of the most popular figures in the party, was heading to the state to raise funds for Sen. Jeff Merkley—or, in the NRSC's words, to "try and rescue the increasingly vulnerable Sen. Merkely (sic) and help stuff his campaign coffers."

It's no surprise that Jeff Merkley would reach out to Elizabeth Warren is such desperate times. Warren is a master of the nasty tactics Merkley is embracing in his first reelect, frequently using violent, divisive, and partisan rhetoric. Warren is famous for using"unnecessarily aggressive" rhetoric remarking that she would leave “plenty of blood and teeth left on the floor.” Worse, Warren promises to "throw rocks" at people with whom she disagrees with. Even a leading Democratic think tank called Warren’s message“catastrophically anti-business.”

I'm fond of campaign messaging that assumes reporters are deeply stupid. There's no mention here, for example, that Warren's "aggressive rhetoric" was aimed at bank lobbyists—those beloved tribunes of the people. No mention of why using metaphors for "fighting" was out of bounds. No logic at all, really. Warren was traveling to a state that gave Barack Obama a 12-point win in 2012 and had not gone Republican at the presidential level since 1984. Why was her appearance supposed to hurt Merkley? What was the evidence that Oregonians didn't like her?

And where was the evidence that Merkley was "increasingly vulnerable"? Good question. A new Public Policy Polling survey, the first since doctor Monica Wehby won the Republican primary to face Merkley, gives the first-term incumbent a 14-point lead. Every poll in the race, minus a Daily Caller survey that put Wehby out front by 4 points, has given Merkley a double-digit lead. Wehby was entering a five-and-a-half-month general election with a favorable rating of 26 points and unfavorable rating of 40 points. One problem is that most (59 percent) voters were aware of reports that an ex-boyfriend (now donor) of Wehby once accused her of "stalking" him.

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