Today’s New York Times reports that many vulnerable Democrats are hoping that Hillary Clinton isn’t at the top of the ticket in 2008:
MANHATTAN, Kan. — Nancy Boyda, a Democrat who ran for Congress in this district last year, owed her upset victory partly to the popularity of the Democratic woman at the top of the ticket: Kathleen Sebelius, who won the governor’s seat. Now, with a tough re-election race at hand in 2008, Ms. Boyda faces the prospect that her electoral fate could be tied to another woman: Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Mrs. Clinton is a long way from winning the Democratic presidential nomination, and over the last few weeks has struggled to hang on to the air of inevitability that she has been cultivating all year. But the possibility that she will be the nominee is already generating concern among some Democrats in Republican-leaning states and Congressional districts, who fear that sharing the ticket with her could subject them to attack as too liberal and out of step with the values of their constituents.
And as much as they fear it, Democrats are apparently afraid to talk about it openly:
House Democrats do not like to discuss the idea of reverse coattails for fear of giving it too much credence and angering the Clinton camp. But they are privately nervous about what Mrs. Clinton’s nomination might mean in Republican-leaning locales where they made gains in 2006 that were crucial to their becoming the majority.
Democrats say they have not polled on the issue, though a private survey that surfaced this year found that the nomination of either Mrs. Clinton or Mr. Obama could cut into support for House Democrats in tough districts.
Representative Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, says incumbent Democrats in generally Republican districts proved very capable of holding on in the last presidential election. He says the national race gives House candidates a chance to emphasize their independence by breaking with the presidential nominee when they differ.
“This is an opportunity to distinguish themselves on the issues from whoever the nominee is,” Mr. Van Hollen said. “If they approach it right and tell their constituents where they stand, it enhances their credibility and independence.”
In other words, they can win……if they run against the leader of their own party.
December 4th, 2007 at 8:54 am
We face a tough situation here in Texas CD-14. It’s almost the reverse or the reverse coattails of Hillary Clinton.
We’ve got a reverse coattails situation from Ron Paul. He could lose this safe Republican seat here. Republicans are in open rebellion against him. And the Democrats are salivating with the chance to pick up the seat. Remember, they picked up the safe GOP seat of Tom DeLay last year, cause of a fluke.
What’s worse, if Paul decides to run 3rd party for President, Republicans will have to scramble to find a replacement for his Congressional seat.
Hopefully, Paul’s opponent Chris Peden will pull it out in the Primary, and we’ll be able to avoid any messy situations. But given what happened last year with the Tom DeLay seat, it’s anyone’s guess?