Last week I wrote about the three dozen or so Democratic challengers running on a platform to withdraw all troops from Iraq. Implicitly or explicitly, these candidates are telling the voters that the Democratic leadership in Washington is ineffective (at best) or hypocritical (at worst). That message has not been lost on Democratic leaders in Washington:
Even Democratic challengers recognize that Pelosi and Reid are too unpopular to allow them to run as defenders of the status quo. Instead, they’re arguing that the Democratic Congress has failed, and that voters need to elect real change agents to Congress. You can bet that Republicans in competitive races against Democrats will repeat this charge. That will make it even harder for Democrats in Washington to navigate a path that pleases the base while addressing the priorities of moderate voters.
