FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Rep. Betsy Markey is hardly embracing her party’s agenda as she fights to get re-elected as a Democrat in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District, but Republicans aren’t letting her put any distance between herself and the national Democratic Party.
The GOP is taking every opportunity to link Markey with the party’s record, including the health care reform bill and the $787 billion stimulus plan, all of which are unpopular in this conservative enclave east of Denver.
As she struggles to catch up in the polls with Republican opponent Cory Gardner, Markey recently released an ad calling the Democratically supported federal bank bailout, “just another word for cop-out.” But Gardner, a state senator, is now widely considered to be a comfortable frontrunner in a district where, until Markey’s 2008 victory, Republicans had held the seat for 38 years.
Republicans are nationalizing other races as well and with considerable success, as most political experts predict the party will defeat dozens of incumbents in the House and several in the Senate.
“Nationalization is the key to victory for Republicans,” Democratic strategist Doug Schoen said. “Newt Gingrich proved how effective it could be in 1994, and the evidence already in from polls suggests its working at least as effectively this year, if not more so.”
Other races where the Republicans have strategically nationalized the campaign include Oregon’s 5th District, Florida’s 2nd District and Maryland’s 1st District, where freshman Rep. Frank Kratovil is described in one Republican-backed ad as voting with Nancy Pelosi 84 percent of the time.
Kratovil is trailing GOP opponent Andy Harris by 10 points.
Paul Lindsay, a spokesman for the House GOP campaign arm, which has funded many of these ads, says the goal is to link candidates to a national party agenda “that clearly many of their constituents and voters disapprove of.”
Gardner will roll out his first campaign ad Tuesday, and it is expected to tie Markey to President Obama, whom Colorado’s 4th District voters rejected in favor of Republican presidential candidate John McCain in 2008.
Gardner, who is a state senator, has also been touting Markey’s votes in favor of health care, the stimulus and a bill that would put a cap on carbon emissions, all widely unpopular in the district.
“She’s not running on her record,” Gardner’s campaign manager, Chris Hansen, told The Washington Examiner. “You would think she would mention one of the things she has supported, but she hasn’t. And she won’t.”
Markey’s campaign did not respond to a request for an interview, but a spokesman for the House Democratic campaign arm said Democrats have also been tying Republicans to a party strategy they say would privatize Social Security and Medicare and prolong corporate tax loopholes that support companies that shift jobs overseas.
They say recent polling indicates their tactic is working and point to districts such as Florida’s 22nd, where a Sept. 22 survey sponsored by a Democratically leaning group shows politically endangered Rep. Ron Klein leading GOP challenger Allen West by 5 points. A week earlier, Democrats released an ad claiming West is in favor of cutting Medicare and “destroying” Social Security, which West denies.
“We are defining these Republicans on our terms, and sometimes that involves us tying them to what the Republican agenda is,” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesman Ryan Rudominer said.
