(H/T – Kevin Binversie, whose critique is also worth reading, and not just because he was on the Ron Johnson campaign)
Where do I begin with the teaser for Nathan Gonzales’ post-mortem on Roll Call? I’ll go with the section titled The Redefinition of Russ:
“We zoned in on those two things and had the ammunition from the last two years with Obama,” said Johnson’s media consultant, Curt Anderson, Wes Anderson’s brother, who worked at the National Republican Senatorial Committee in 1992 when Feingold defeated Kasten.
Curt Anderson said the Johnson team believed Feingold’s independence was based on some “inconsequential votes.”…
But in an election in which voters were most concerned about the economy, Republicans focused on Feingold’s votes for the $787 billion economic stimulus bill, health care reform and Obama’s budget.
Democrats admit that instead of rewriting history and distorting Feingold’s record, Republicans were able to focus on what they believe he is now. By the end of the race, Feingold’s greatest strength was sapped.
It also helped us (and didn’t help the Democrats) that, much like the Republicans 4 years earlier, they refused to believe they were in serious trouble. From Kevin:
Out in DC last week, I had more than a few conversations with friends and a few web journalists (Off-the-record in those cases) who covered the race on the road with the Feingold campaign. Many of them told me they were amazed at how Democrats in Wisconsin were unwilling to accept the bad environment in front of them [Slate’s Dave Weigel personally told me out-going State Senator Pat Kreitlow (D-Chippewa Falls) told him he was going to win his race. On Election night, Kreitlow lost to Terry Moulton 54% to 46%.].
Arrogance plus liberalism kills politically.
