MEMO from Democratic National Committee

DNC Memo
 
From:    Brad Woodhouse, Communications Director, Democratic National Committee
To:         Interested Parties
Date:     June 8, 2010
RE:        Tonight’s Primaries and The Further Strengthening of the Tea Party
 
The Influence of the Tea Party on the Republican Party Continues to Grow
 
Today, voters in eleven states headed to the ballot box to select nominees for this fall’s elections.  Regardless of the outcome of these races, the biggest loser in today’s primaries will be the Republican Party, which is being pulled so far towards the right wing fringe most Americans can’t recognize it anymore.  The strengthening of the Tea Party within the Republican Party has produced a slate of unattractive general election candidates, a trend that seems bound to continue today.  
 
From Maine to California, the Republican Party and Republican candidates have lurched to the right with Tea Party candidates like Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul leading the way or with establishment candidates desperately seeking support from the Tea Party faithful.  In the quest for that support, Republican hopefuls have expended precious political capital and tens of millions of dollars.

 
The Tea Party: Radicalizing Establishment Republican Candidates
 
In California alone, competing Republican candidates for Senate and Governor have spent more than $100 million attacking one another as they’ve fled further and further to the right.  [Politico, 6/8/10] As a result, in a state with decidedly moderate political views, the Republican Party’s likely standard bearers for Governor and the U.S. Senate have spent millions of dollars making themselves less attractive to the Golden State's general electorate this fall.  Aspiring California Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman has pulled ahead not just by outspending her opponents, but also by working hard to demonstrate her Tea Party orthodoxy on issues like immigration by advocating for a border fence and embracing ultra-conservative anti-immigration spokespeople in her campaign outreach efforts.  Meanwhile, aspiring Republican Senate nominee Carly Fiorina has drifted increasingly rightward in her quest to earn the Republican nomination and appeal to Tea Party activists.
 
The negative, highly acerbic nature of the Republican primaries has taken a measurable toll on tonight's potential Republican nominees.  For example, despite the tens of millions spent on the air, Meg Whitman has a favorability rating of just 24%, while Carly Fiorina has a favorability rating of just 22%.

But what should be most troubling for the GOP is the radicalizing effect the Tea Party has had on Republican candidates.  The Tea Party’s influence is showing up in the rapid rise of previously unknown conservative extremists like Sharron Angle in Nevada, as well as the increasingly extreme positions of candidates like Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina.  Their far-right extremism appeals to Republican primary voters, but it will alienate large and critical blocks of general election voters this November.

 
Tea Party Candidates Surge Ahead
 
Sharron Angle, vying for the Republican Senate nomination in Nevada, is quite simply the poster child of the Tea Party.  She has come out in favor of abolishing the Department of Education, eliminating Social Security and Medicare, repealing health reform and deregulating Wall Street.  Those positions are truly extreme.  But her opponents aren’t much better – former frontrunner Sue Lowden, for example, in opposing health reform, actually suggested that Americans’ health care problems could be solved by reintroducing the barter system.  Those positions might play well in the primary, but they will hold little appeal for moderate general election voters who are seeking leaders with real solutions to America’s most pressing problems.
 

Conclusion

Republicans have been riding the tiger that is the energy of the Tea Party movement, and now they are going to have to live with the results.  The demand for ideological purity that the Tea Party has imposed on the Republican Party has radicalized otherwise mainstream candidates, has resulted in the nomination of candidates whose views will be offensive to moderate and independent voters who are key to success in general elections, and has resulted in Republican office holders or establishment picks lurching to the right or being purged by the Tea Party.

And just as the Republican primary process has resulted in producing nominees tailored to appeal to Tea Party adherents, the Tea Party’s popularity is falling precipitously with the rest of the public.  A Washington Post/ABC News poll released today shows that the Tea Party’s unfavorabilty rating has increased 11 points from 39 percent of Americans having an unfavorable view of the movement then to 50 percent having an unfavorable view today, reflecting the public’s closer scrutiny of Tea Party positions.  [Washington Post, 6/8/10]
 
As the Republican Party nominates Tea Party candidates, or sees its establishment candidates lurch to the right to fend off Tea Party challenges, it will be saddled with the Tea Party’s positions, views and rhetoric, all of which are increasingly falling flat with the American people.  The Republican Party will have to sell a platform to general election voters this fall based on their nominees’ out-of-the-mainstream positions like eliminating Medicare and Social Security, taking away federal aid to family farmers, opposing anti-discrimination laws, abolishing the Department of Education and DE-regulating Wall Street.

However tonight’s primary elections turn out, the Republican Party is facing a challenge that will persist well beyond this fall’s elections.  And, while the new Republican/Tea Party will be campaigning on every radical idea from eliminating Social Security and Medicare to returning to the policies of the past that cost our country so dearly, Democrats will continue to lead and advance solutions to the issues Americans care most about