Tough

Following the 2004 election, when Republicans picked up seats in Congress and retained the White House, Democratic leaders said they needed to get tougher.

Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who was then minority leader, set up a communications “war room,” and House counterpart Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) picked a political fighter, Rep. Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), to lead the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), a proven fundraiser and fighter, took the reins of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC).

Fast-forward three years. Democrats now control Congress and expect they will be running the White House as well in 2009. Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.), the likely Democratic nominee, has vowed not be “Swift-Boated,” a reference to how Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) fumbled in dealing with political ads that attacked the 2004 nominee’s military service.

Congressional Democrats have significant fundraising advantages, and Republicans are defending many open seats. Political analysts predict that Democrats will pick up a handful of seats in the Senate and a dozen or more in the lower chamber.

DCCC Chairman Chris Van Hollen (Md.) is an affable member who curses a lot less than his predecessor, but don’t let appearances fool you. His committee has hammered Republicans mulling retirement, hoping to help nudge them out.

In an interview with The Hill this year, Van Hollen said, “There are two pieces to that: One is putting pressure on incumbent Republican members to make the decision to retire, and the other is to put pressure on candidates that they’re trying to recruit and convince them that it’s not a good idea to run against one of our incumbents.”

Right before the recent special House election in Mississippi, the DCCC distributed a racially charged flier tying the Republican candidate to the Ku Klux Klan. Republicans cried foul, but that’s how campaign operations work. Winning, not manners, is what counts.

It’s easy and overly simplistic to say, as some Democrats tend to, that they were not tough when they were losing to Republicans in the recent past, or to say that the GOP has now gone soft just because its political stock has plummeted.

Yet Republicans on Capitol Hill have been faulted for not having fire in their bellies.

National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) Chairman Tom Cole (Okla.) and National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Chairman John Ensign (Nev.) are experienced political hands, but not bomb throwers. And Ensign had to be persuaded to lead the NRSC, a job no senator wanted. GOP leaders thanked him by giving him a seat on the influential Finance Committee.

The bottom line is that GOP officials are questioning whether the floor beneath them will continue to erode or if they have, in fact, hit rock bottom. And Democrats have shown that they will not let up as Republicans seek sure footing.