Ominous Sign for Republicans

The race for New York Congressional District 26 is usually drama free. It’s a solidly safe Republican seat. Republicans have something like 30,000 more registered voters than Democratic voters in the district.

It’s a very safe Republican seat.

Well, it WAS a safe Republican seat.

How did the Republicans find themselves on the losing end of that kind of election? It all started with photos on Craig’s List. The previous congressman posted a shirtless image of him on the site and resigned shortly thereafter.

Thus the need for a special election. The Democratic candidate, Kathy Hochul used the fact that the Republican candidate, Jane Corwin said she would support controversial House Budget Plan put forward by Congressman Paul Ryan that in part, calls for the privatization of Medicare.

Hochul defeated the Republican candidate and the Tea Party candidate, ending with 48%. That is a significant development when you consider that was a very safe Republican seat and Republican special-interest groups dumped a lot of money in to that race toward the end.

Last week, when presidential-hopeful Newt Gingrich said he wouldn’t support Ryan’s plan, he was blasted by the Republicans. Now, after this loss, a good number of Republicans are scrambling to run away from the Ryan plan.

But another big portion of the GOP will be digging in their heels to stick with the Paul Ryan plan. They will want to make it the battle line and may choose to make Mount Medicare the hill they die on.

Democrats need to do what Republicans do very well. Stay disciplined and stay on message. There is blood in the water and the Democrats have to develop a killer instinct and go for the knockout blow. They should hammer this point home, over and over and over and over again.

The American people don’t support their plan for Medicare. The Democrats should remind Americans at every turn what the Republican budget plan really looks like in real world terms.

Much like this video…

A Democratic Party candidate got 48% of the vote in a three candidate race in a solidly Republican district. Imagine what things will look like in November 2012 in districts that are already competitive if the Democrats can stick to this plan.