Democrats Are Getting Ready For The Blame Game

So far it seems like Sen. Reid and President Obama, the man whose policies are on the line, are taking most of the heat:

One of the Senate’s most vulnerable incumbents, Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) recently said he wants to replace Reid by electing Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) as majority leader. He made the comments at a fundraiser, according to audio obtained by The Washington Free Beacon.

Pryor said the “best thing that could happen” to the Senate would be if McConnell “gets beat and Harry Reid gets replaced.”

With an eye on saving his majority, Reid adopted a strategy of limiting legislative amendments to protect vulnerable colleagues from tough votes that could be used against them on the campaign trail.

Those moves have at times proved controversial with fellow Democrats, such as Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska), one of the party’s most endangered incumbents.

“I’ve told Senator Reid more than once that we can’t keep up this gridlock of voting on final bills without considering amendments — which is why I chose to stand up to him today and voted against moving forward,” Begich said in July after joining with Republicans to protest his leader’s policy on amendments.

Success has a thousand fathers and failure is yadda yadda and all that. Honestly, if the Democrats lose the Senate, I think it'll be the perfect time for the Great Abandonment of Obama that John has been predicting. He remains the most visible and powerful leader of the Democratic Party, except that he has had to stay off the campaign trail of any Democrats in contentious seats.

House Democrats, meanwhile, are complaining that outside money has simply abandoned them.

Spending on House races by organized labor as well as groups representing women and environmental organizations dropped by $18 million compared to the last cycle, the groups said.

Democrats are worried their lost seats in the House could be in the double digits, making it that much harder to take back the chamber in 2016, a presidential election year when the party hopes turnout will be better.

Democrats say the lost money is causing them to roll back advertising plans in 11 House races. GOP strategists say this caterwauling is all about setting up the post-election blame game.

Either way, it's nice to see Democrats taking shots at each other for a change.

Oh, just barely related, but here's a bit of fun. ABC's Jon Karl barbecues Press Sec. Josh Earnest at the daily briefing:

posted by Gabriel Malor at 03:15 PM

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