Run Against DeLay Nationwide
DeLay's seemingly never ending ethics problems gives me an idea.
The DCCC recently announced a change in tactics that involved shortening its list of vulnerable Democratic incumbents. I welcomed this change because, among other things, less resources to protect Democrats means more resources with which to attack Republicans. Another change I feel that needs to be made is that Tom DeLay must become number one with a bullet on any chart of seats that ranks vulnerable Republicans. By this, I mean that we should spend at least three times as many resources in an attempt to defeat Tom DeLay as we will spend in any other district in 2006. I'm talking about something like $10M to defeat him in his own district, and even running a nationwide campaign to defeat DeLay by spending at least $100M against him outside of his districts.
I know that saying something like this will result in inevitable cries about how placing a relatively "safe" Republican seat at the top of our targeting list would be a waste of resources. Some might even call me clueless for making such a claim. However, I would like everyone interesting in helping the Democratic cause to stop and consider for a moment how much benefit could be gained from waging a high profile attack against DeLay. Specifically, if it is done properly, targeting DeLay could simultaneously nationalize the 2006 Congressional campaign and turn it into a referendum on ethics and reform, with Democrats portrayed as the reformers. In a very real sense, we could transform every single Congressional campaign into a battle of DeLay versus non-DeLay.
DeLay and his litany of ethics problems is the key here. Despite the growing list of charges against DeLay, the stink of corruption has not hurt the Republican caucus or party in general because only around half of the country has even heard of him, much less heard of the charges against him. However, if we can succeed in introducing DeLay to the majority of the country through the frame of corruption, we will instantly be able to nationalize the campaign and turn it into a referendum on reform. If we can raise Tom DeLay's national name recognition to over 90%, then the majority of the country will know his name better than they know the name of their own congressman. If we do so by running ads describing how corrupt he is, then the entire Republican delegation will start to seem corrupt.
So here is what I recommend. Starting around May 1st, 2006 and lasting until the end of September 2006, we should spend somewhere between $100M and $150M nationwide on an ad campaign attacking DeLay's ethics charges. This would be combined with a $10M run against DeLay in his won district, to ensure that there is the highest chance possible DeLay will lose in 2006. This is an obscene amount of money, but it would be required to raise his name ID to around 90%. Also, I believe that if the DCCC, blogs, MoveOn, DFA, DNC and 527's were to all chip in, we could both come up with the money and receive a tremendous amount of free media for our efforts. Then, starting in early September and running until the election, we run a series of ads promoting a number of good government reforms that would ensure that such corruption never takes place again and that would be enacted on the first day of a Democratic Congress. Viola, nearly every district in the country will become a referendum on DeLay.
If we were running against DeLay in every district nationwide, we would suddenly have a lot more winnable races on our hands. It may seem a little crazy to spend around 25% of our resources on one district, but for 2006 I think this is exactly the sort of bold tactical maneuver we need to make.
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