DNC Pollster Says Process is Hurting Democrats

Worth Clicking: Blasts from the past wound Romney

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March 15, 2010

DNC Pollster Says Process is Hurting Democrats

DNC pollster Joel Benenson, in a new polling memo obtained by Politico, argues that Democrats' political woes "stem not from the scale of their agenda, but from the perception that they've turned into deal-making insiders on their path to achieving it."

Key quote: "Independents' concerns about health care reform are not about specific provisions in the bills passed by the Senate or House, but instead reflect concerns about reforms' stagnation and the backroom deal-cutting, particularly those that benefit the constituents of key swing senators or special interests, such as the pharmaceutical industry. What's critical is that Democrats do not mistake Independents' dissatisfaction with the way Democrats are running Congress with a rightward ideological shift."

It's no mistake Republicans have focused their efforts on process in order to block the health care bill.

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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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March 15, 2010