Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Sen. Bob Menendez told me in a brief interview that his takeaway from Tuesday’s elections is that Democrats are the ones willing to shake things up in Washington, and that’s a message you can expect to hear from candidates in the coming months. In the battle for control of Congress, Democrats see improved chances, in part by the choices voters made in Tuesday’s primaries.
Menendez (D-NJ) boasted that in all three states which held elections Tuesday, Democrats outnumbered Republican voters, calling it “hooey” that GOPers think they have the intensity on their side this fall.
Menendez also said that Rep. Joe Sestak will be a great general election candidate against former Rep. Pat Toomey (R) in Pennsylvania. He said since Toomey is a former derivatives trader who voted for George W. Bush’s agenda Sestak will have no trouble reminding voters he’s the one who can shakeup Washington, especially after having challenged his own party establishment in a primary. “I’ll take that contrast,” Menendez told me.
In Kentucky, he said Democrats will portray Jack Conway as a “crusading attorney general” who uncovered millions in fraud causes and say that Republican candidate Rand Paul wants to end agriculture subsidies to farms. “I’ll take that too,” he said. He said Paul defeated Trey Grayson in the GOP primary because voters aren’t happy with the Republican establishment in Washington. Expect that to come up in Democratic campaigns.
Another trend to keep an eye out for is Democrats portraying the Republican candidates as “retreads” from the Bush era, Menendez said. That will include candidates Rob Portman in Ohio and Mike Castle in Delaware.
Menendez especially liked the results in the special election for Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional district, where Democrat Mark Critz bested Republican Tim Burns in a district that backed Sen. John McCain in 2008. “We can win when we create an election of contrast,” Menendez said.
He wasn’t as excited to talk about Arkansas, where Sen. Blanche Lincoln is facing a runoff against Lt. Gov. Bill Halter on June 8. While Halter told me he thinks he can win over the 13 percent of Democrats who chose a conservative candidate, Menendez sees those voters going to Lincoln.
