Leading Indicators Point Down for GOP

[Hissyspit]

Source: Associated Press

Leading indicators point down for GOP
By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent

WASHINGTON - It is gallows humor time for Republicans in Congress, where one lawmaker jokes that "there's talk about us going the way of the Whigs," the 19th century political party long extinct. "That's not going to happen," Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., hastens to add, although a little more than a year before the 2008 election, the major leading political indicators still point downward for a party abruptly turned out of power in 2006.

Fundraising for Republican campaign organizations lags. That is strikingly so in the House, where the party committee spent more than it raised in each of the past two months, reported only $1.6 million in the bank at the end of August and a debt of nearly $4 million.

- snip -

Additionally, nine Republicans in the House and three in the Senate have announced plans to retire. Some of those leaving are in midcareer, when a departure often signals pessimism about the prospects for regaining the majority. Democratic retirements total two to date — both are House members who are running for the Senate.

"The Democrats will continue to be the majority party in the House and Senate and Hillary Clinton will make history by being the first woman president" in 2008, predicts Rep. Ray LaHood, one of three Illinois Republicans to announce his retirement so far. What makes LaHood's prediction stand out is his willingness to say it publicly.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070930/ap_on_el_ge/republican_woes

[aquart]

1. "...party committee spent more than it raised ..." Awwwww.

That is just the sweetest bit of information.

[tanyev]

4. I thought Reagan proved that deficits don't matter.

:rofl:

[Xipe Totec]

5. Starve the beast n/t

[xchrom]

2. i'm sure their millionaire and billionaire buddies will

hold the door open for them on the way out!!!! :rofl:

[Cobalt-60]

3. We won't be rid of them that easily

They'll linger forever on Faux News as correspondents.
Or their Billioiare pals will set them up in cushy positions for later use.

[samsingh]

6. the gop does not have a right to exist anymore

there are too many traitors to the country in the party

[Honeycombe8]

7. They are trying to energize their base. I don't believe for a sec that THEY believe...

that HRC will REALLY win the GE. Or at least that they would SAY it.

Keep in the mind the Repub mind...they are follow-the-pack guys. Those that veer off from the group get cut off. They move en masse toward each issue. They do not deviate, unless someone is getting ready to leave the pack on his own, like Hagel.

One way to energize the base is to say something like, "HRC WILL win the Presidency in '08." That would send shudders down any Repub's spine.