Template for a successful Dem campaign

Josh Marshall offers a suggested meme for any Democrat running for (re)election this Fall:

The president wants us to forget the mistakes he's made in Iraq. He says capturing bin Laden isn't a priority for him. And now he's off caught up in a fight with senators of his own party about which kinds of torture we should use. This president just can't or won't keep his eye on the ball. President Bush took his eye off the ball in Afghanistan when bin Laden was in our grasp because he wanted to hurry up and get into Iraq. And now he wants us to forget about Iraq because he doesn't want to take responsibility for all the mistakes he's made in Iraq. The American people have a choice on November 7th. If you think our country is going in the right direction, if you think Iraq is making us safer, vote Republican. If you've had enough and think it's time for a change, vote Democratic."

-- quoted from a (fictional) congressional candidate.

Stirling Newberry has some similar advice wherein he says that Democrats should...

... talk about a simple set of points: Iraq is idiocy, wages are terrible, and the corrupt Republicans are responsible for both. [...] Corruption links the two - it is corruption that brought us failure in Iraq and failure in the economy.

And then he adds his third piece of his message:

The simple meme to tell voters is that "Bush has a secret plan to cancel Social Security." It really is that simple - people need to go to the polls believing that if they didn't their Social Security checks are in danger. Since this is true, it is easy to say. Sure you can throw in Republican dirty tricks over 911, and the little issues like improving health care access on the margins. But that is the job of individual candidates in individual districts, each of which has its own balance of concerns.

Since this is a simple point, it isn't well served by reminding people of history, or large volumes of analysis. Instead, there are a few simple numbers. Americans believe that the country is on the wrong track, they are willing to vote Democratic in the abstract, and the strength of Republican belief is at a low ebb. Iraq is the "wrong track" proof, wages are the "Democrats are better for your paycheck" item, and corruption and Social Security are the KITV.

The word the Democrats are looking for is "fix", they are going to "fix" Washington. It should say something that a stealth campaign around "Enough is Enough" has had more traction, and has more bumper stickers, than anything the party machine has come up with. It's time that the Democratic Party listen to the people, since demos does mean people - and start saying on television what many people are saying on their rear fender.

Had enough?