Taegan Goddard's Political Wire

November 12, 2009

Nationalizing Midterms Could Hurt Many Democrats

Nathan Gonzales warns that the White House's desire to nationalize the 2010 elections could hurt many Democrats as some of the most vulnerable "represent districts won by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) last year, and those Members may not be all that excited about a national referendum on Obama's job performance. Furthermore, nationalizing the 2010 midterms could throw fuel on an already inflamed GOP electorate."

"The White House plans to nationalize the 2010 elections on its own terms by putting the president front and center in order to minimize the party's losses... The plan is to use the 2002 elections -- when Republicans gained eight House seats and two Senate seats in President George W. Bush's first midterm elections -- as a blueprint. But there is an underlying assumption that Obama will be at least as popular next November as he is this year. And Democrats appear to want the turnout benefits that a national election may bring without any of the backlash."

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Taegan D. Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country, including the Washington Post, USA Today, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer and Christian Science Monitor.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

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