RNC Chair: Liberal Tagging's Still Our Strategy

Republican National Committee chairman Mike Duncan, speaking with my colleague Linda Douglass, hinted that the GOP hasn't given up on the strategy of tying Democratic congressional candidates to Barack Obama's liberal record. Speaking of Mississippi's first congressional district, Duncan says:

It was an interesting district, because the Democratic candidate ran away from Barack Obama. He denied that Barack Obama had actually endorsed him there, because the contrast is so sharp between the two parties and this fall, the congressional candidates aren't going to be able to run away from Obama, because he has a real liberal voting record.

Douglass: Well, you're talking about whether the Democrats are going to need to run away from Barack Obama, but some in your party have suggested that it would be wise if your candidates put some distance between themselves and President Bush, whose approval rating is so low. Should they?

Duncan: Well, Linda, every candidate has to run their own race. And when I took this job there weren't a lot of people wanting to be RNC chairman, and President Bush talked about the fact that the political spotlight would go off of him, and go onto the presumptive nominee, and that happened the first week of March. Elections are about the future, and this election, particularly, is about big ideas because it's what Sen. [John] McCain wants it to be about. And there will be some disagreements between the Republican candidates, and there is room for disagreement in the Republican Party, but we're moving the country forward.

We have a philosophy of lower taxes and less government, individual responsibility, strong national defense and a broad framework that allows us to have some disagreement but still offers a stark contrast with the Democrats. The Democrats are proposing the highest tax increase in history by not keeping the tax cuts that President Bush put into effect after 9/11 to help stimulate the economy. That's a real difference. They are also proposing a trillion dollars in new spending -- Sen. Obama has already. That's going to require higher taxes. This is a real election and very stark contrasts.

I almost titled the post: Key Republican Calls McCain An "Orthodox Republican." Who was this apostate? This interloper? This Benedict Arnold? Read the last Q and A....