Bush: 2008 will not be a rerun of 2006

Seeking to allay fears of another Democratic wave, President Bush on Wednesday told a group of House Republicans that the 2008 cycle is not going to be a rerun of 2006.

During the private meeting at the White House, Bush said that Washington is a town that always likes to count people out but that he was confident House Republicans would coming back swinging, according to GOP sources. Bush told Republicans that the party is on the right side when it comes to the issues and values that matter to the American people. While the 2006 was a dark time for Republicans, Bush said, 2008 will not be like 2006.

{mosads}Democrats grabbed control of Congress in 2006 by gaining 30 seats in the House and six in the Senate.

Republicans in the nation’s capital and across the country have been rattled by Democratic gains in two recent special elections in Illinois and Louisiana. Some GOP strategists say the losses of the seats that used to be occupied by Reps. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and Richard Baker (R-La.) should not be overstated, claiming that the Republican candidates in those races were not especially strong.

Others disagree. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) wrote in an open letter to Republicans on Tuesday that Republicans are facing a “real disaster” in November, adding that the two special election losses constitute a trend.

And Republicans are fearing that a third may occur next week in Mississippi in the special-election runoff for Sen. Roger Wicker’s (R) former House seat.

While losing the conservative-leaning House seats in Illinois and Louisiana has triggered major angst among Republicans, another special-election loss would set off widespread panic.

Fear is a great motivator, and it has spurred Republicans into action. Vice President Dick Cheney is headlining a fundraiser for GOP candidate Greg Davis, and a group of young House Republicans is also lending a hand.

“No question,” said Deputy Republican Whip Eric Cantor (Va.). “We are going to win this one and stop the bleeding.”

Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.) presented a multi-faceted plan to retain the Mississippi seat to the House Republican Young Guns group on Tuesday. The plan is designed to get staff on the ground and checks to Davis.

“We need boots on the ground. This is going to be about voter turnout,” Westmoreland said. “So it’s a matter of having enough people to go door to door, to go to Wal-Mart and Home Depot to get [Davis’s] message out.”

Westmoreland and several other members have dispatched staff to Mississippi to do just that. Others, like Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), have supported Davis financially.

“One thing that the Young Guns do is engage in races,” said McCarthy.

Young Guns, a fundraising group started in February by Reps. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), Cantor and McCarthy, provides assistance to House GOP candidates.

“Their energy and commitment is certainly welcomed and we applaud them for it,” said National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) spokesman Ken Spain. “At the end of the day, this is a team sport, and the more members we have like Reps. Cantor, McCarthy and Westmoreland getting involved, the more successful Republicans will be.”

But not all Republicans have been pitching in for Davis. NRCC Chairman Tom Cole (Okla.) said on Tuesday that Republican members who haven’t given to Davis “ought to be ashamed of themselves.”

Cole said he and Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) assembled a group of 12 lawmakers to serve as an advisory panel two weeks ago in order to increase communication among members on the 2008 races.

Cole said Boehner suggested the panel to address member concerns and include others in strategy sessions. The group includes Reps. Boehner, Cole, Cantor, McCarthy, Tom Davis (R-Va.), Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), John Kline (R-Minn.), Thaddeus McCotter (R-Mich.), Candice Miller (R-Mich.), Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) and Pat Tiberi (R-Ohio).

“They don’t make the final decisions,” Cole said, adding that he and Boehner suggested a list of lawmakers and no objections were raised on either side.

Asked whether he was concerned about the effect the outcome of the Mississippi race could have on his chairmanship, Cole said he always frets about the implications of a GOP loss.

“You always worry … We have had challenges in all of these races and it is not helpful to lose Republican seats and I don’t take it lightly.”

Boehner and Bush are both confident that the Republican outlook this fall is not as gloomy as most pundits are predicting.

In early April, Boehner said, “I think we are going to gain seats this year. Period.”

A Young Guns memo obtained by The Hill states that the overall spending on the race between Davis and Democrat Travis Childers is over $2 million. That figure includes money from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) ($815,000), the NRCC ($454,000), the conservative group Freedom’s Watch ($465,000), and the Davis and Childers campaigns.

Doug Thornell, a spokesman for the DCCC, said, “Desperate Republicans are doing everything they can to cover up Greg Davis’s record of driving around in a taxpayer-funded luxury SUV, raising taxes and doing the bidding of Big Oil special interests. The mere fact that the NRCC is spending nearly 15 percent of its cash on hand and has been forced to beg for help to protect a district George Bush won handily speaks volumes about the problems within the GOP.”