Democrats' troubled senate candidates

Washington Times:

"Saturday Night Live" veteran Al Franken should have had an easier run for U.S. Senate in Minnesota against an embattled Republican incumbent but is being dogged by $70,000 in unpaid taxes and is slipping in the polls — just one of the topsy-turvy races clouding Democrats' expectations of big gains in November.

The Franken tax flap, a bruising Democratic primary in Oregon and signs of trouble for the Democratic incumbent in New Jersey have Senate Republicans thinking they might salvage a bad election year from a potentially terrible one.

Republicans face no easier task in the House, and have little chance of wresting control of the chamber from Democrats in November. Yet a few vulnerable Democratic seats give Republicans hope of chipping away at the majority's 235-199 advantage.

The unexpected twist is welcome for Republicans, who are grappling with economic woes that voters typically blame on the president's party, continued dissatisfaction with the Iraq war and a huge fundraising disadvantage.

"This year for us is going to be about defense," said Rebecca Fisher, spokeswoman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), which is guarding six vacant seats and lags its Democratic counterpart in fundraising by a 2-1 margin.

"But what we've seen in the last few months is a lot of change in these races, even races we were very nervous about," she said. "As worried as we were about a significant number of seats in the beginning, that is beginning to change."

House Minority Leader John A. Boehner called the November elections "a battle Republicans can win."

"America is a center-right country, and middle-class families and small businesses have no interest in Democrats' agenda of higher taxes, ever-higher gas prices, more wasteful spending, government-run health care that will drive up costs and weak national security," the Ohio Republican said last week.

...

I think Boehner has the right attitude. The Democrats are very vulnerable. They have done one of the worst jobs in history during the last two years. They are disastrously wrong on energy and the war. They have voted over 60 times for defeat in Iraq while our troops were defeating al Qaeda. The Iraqi army has improved to the point that it is taking on the Iranian backed militias.

The Democrats are also wrong on taxes.

The Democrats have been aiding the enemy by failing to approve revisions to the FISA law. These are just a few of the numerous issues on which the Democrats deserve to be defeated.