I print below an excerpt from the Associated Press/Liz Sidoti story (which made the Yahoo Headline feature) in which the reporter deftly manages to skip over entirely the positive effects the Republicans will make with their showings in today's elections in New York, Virginia and New Jersey. Indeed, the story stubbornly sticks to the line that the G.O.P. is all but done for. No matter what happens today, at least in Ms. Sidoti's world, the momentum remains fully in Democrat control.For Republicans, an election win of any size Tuesday would be a blessing. But victories in Virginia, New Jersey or elsewhere won't erase enormous obstacles the party faces heading into a 2010 midterm election year when control of Congress and statehouses from coast to coast will be up for grabs.
It's been a tough few years for the GOP. The party lost control of Congress in 2006 and then lost the White House in 2008 with three traditional Republican states — Indiana, North Carolina and Virginia — abandoning the party.
So even if political winds start blowing harder behind them and even if they can capitalize on Democratic missteps, Republicans still will have a long way to go over the next year because of their party's own fundamental problems — divisions over the path forward, the lack of a national leader and a shrinking base in a changing nation.
The GOP would overcome none of those hurdles should Republican Bob McDonnell win the Virginia governor's race, Chris Christie emerge victorious in the New Jersey governor's contest, or conservative Doug Hoffman triumph in a hotly contested special congressional election in upstate New York.
In fact, 2009 seems to have underscored what may be the biggest impediment for Republicans — the war within their base...
Now I'm making no predictions about how the Republicans (or in one case, the Conservative Party) are going to do in today's elections. But I do know they are going to fare way better than they were supposed to following the election of Barack Obama a year ago.
We were told then that conservatism was dead, that the benevolent tyranny of the Democrats would be the new order for the rest of time.
But then came the Apology Tours, the massive boondoggle of the stimulus bill, the collection of czars, the soaring narcissism of Team Obama, and the Democrats' reckless power grab badly disguised as health care reform.
And bingo... it turns out that conservatism is anything but dead after all. The polls show conservative values (and even the term) is on the rise while the ratings for Obama and Congress are tanking.
Therefore, today's political contests are very important bellwether events. Everybody knows that including the DNC who spent a lot of money in those races and Joe Biden and the President himself who made personal investments there. And the liberal press knows that too. So, they're using the ignoble tools of their trade to omit, distort, and cover up what's really happening.
But despite the press spin, despite the big money of the DNC, despite personal visits of Joe Biden and the O himself, the conservatives are looking awfully healthy in those races. Thus, the mainstream media with their overtly liberal bias are heavily downplaying the results -- even before they come in. Ms. Sidoti's slanted report is just one example of many such stories floating around today.
For the media knows that a strong showing by the Republicans (especially in these northeastern areas of the country) would be a most important story indeed, an indication that the spell Barack Obama tried to cast on the American people just hasn't taken.
Oh yes, these races are very important. So watch them closely...and pray.
