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Pelosi to launch PR blitz to beat ’08 media frenzy |
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By Jonathan E. Kaplan
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Posted: 10/23/07 07:33 PM [ET] |
Nearly one year after recapturing control of Congress, House Democratic leaders will embark on a publicity blitz starting in November to combat a dismal 25 percent approval rating.
Democratic leadership aides huddled with rank-and-file chiefs of staff, legislative directors and press secretaries on Monday to persuade them to do more to promote a positive message. Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster, and Mike McCurry, one of President Bill Clinton’s former press secretaries, also were on hand to press for a concerted effort.
In a “Dear Colleague” letter sent last week to lawmakers, the six senior House Democratic leaders noted that bipartisan majorities have passed lobbying and ethics reforms, an increase in the minimum wage, a massive increase in student aid, legislation to implement the 9/11 Commission recommendations and other initiatives that President Bush has signed into law.
Democratic leaders want the rank and file to do more to publicize those details, because they are concerned that the public is unaware of those accomplishments and that it will become more difficult to hype their message as the presidential race further dominates the news.
Those leaders expect their members to hold more press conferences and town hall meetings, send out more franked mail and develop better online strategies. Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) is expected to keep tabs on which Democrats are doing their part to play up their record, leadership aides said.
“We’re concerned obviously that the accomplishments of both the House and Senate are overshadowed by failure to change direction in Iraq,” said Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.). “We’re hoping in the next three or four months to make it clear what has been done and make it clear we are upset that more has not been accomplished because of the president’s refusal to change direction.”
On the surface, the numbers for Democrats do not look good. A poll for National Public Radio conducted earlier this month by Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg and the Republican firm Public Opinion Strategies found that only 25 percent of voters approved of the job Congress is doing, while 38 percent approved of President Bush.
But Greenberg polled in competitive congressional districts in August and found that the public’s disappointment is not directed at individual Democrats, who were leading Republican candidates by an average of 51 percent to 42.
Despite the absence of anti-incumbent data, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has been leading the caucus’s public relations effort. She began holding weekly press conferences earlier this month and has been appearing on more news and talk programs. She is scheduled to appear Monday on “The Tavis Smiley Show.”
Democrats are keenly aware of the public’s frustration. Many believe that they were elected to bring an end to the war in Iraq, and they have been unable to do that because of an unwieldy Senate and President Bush’s opposition to any change in strategy in Iraq. But House aides have not coordinated the two-month public relations push with their Senate counterparts, Democratic aides said.
“We have a slim majority, we cannot get things before the Senate, and we have an obdurate president,” Rep. Paul Hodes (D-N.H.) said. “There is frustration out there about what Congress has done. There is so much information out there, it is hard to break through with messaging.”
Democrats also are frustrated that Bush has threatened to veto spending bills even though he never issued a similar threat when Republicans controlled the Congress. Moreover, Bush has vetoed an Iraq war-spending bill that included a date for withdrawing American troops, as well as a five-year, $35 billion expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program and legislation expanding stem cell research.
Hodes added that the early and fast-paced start to the presidential election season has compounded Congress’s difficulties.
Hoyer also agreed that the presidential campaigns would overshadow Congress, but that it would be easier to coordinate a message once the nominee is decided “in mid-February.” |
