Democrats Play Bush Card, Hope It Works In 2010

Will George W. Bush be the gift that keeps on giving to Democrats? A new bipartisan poll suggests he's holding up quite well in that role so far.

The latest editon of the Battleground Poll sponsored by George Washington University found people divided 48 percent to 47 percent on the question of whether "the GOP in Congress is blocking change and not proposing solutions." Adding Bush to the equation changed the result. By 52 percent to 41 percent respondents agreed that "the GOP in Congress is blocking change and still supporting President Bush's policies."

Democrats already are clued in to the impact of wielding Bush's name. The Democratic National Committee Wednesday announced new TV and radio ads targeting four Republican leaders who have attacked the economic stimulus package -- Sens. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Jon Kyl of Arizona, and Reps. John Boehner of Ohio and Eric Cantor of Virginia.

"They supported the Bush policies that sank our economy into recession. They broke it -- now they refuse to fix it," the TV ad says. The radio ads say the lawmakers backed Bush's "disastrous economic policies" then "played politics" with the recovery package.

The Democratic half of the Battleground polling team, Celinda Lake, told reporters it would be nice if voters want to reward her party in the 2010 races for House and Senate, but Democrats had best prepare for a "blame election." She advised them to link Republicans to Bush at every opportunity. "Bush is still the leader of the Republican Party" in people's minds and responsible for "the chaos that has ensued" since his departure, Lake said at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast.

Ed Goeas, the Republican half of the team, predicted the GOP's Bush problem will fade, "especially if Republicans don't try to defend Bush and just move on." Meanwhile, he said, high spending and rising unemployment could turn Obama into a drag on Democrats.

"Even if you acknowledge that every problem in the world we have is because of Bush ... the bottom line is every one of these solutions are Obama's solutions," Goeas said. "He has to have some ownership in terms of those solutions."

Obama's favorable rating in the poll was 61 percent and his job approval rating was 53 percent. Nearly six in 10 people said Obama's economic stimulus package is on track and should be given a year to show results.

But Goeas said voter patience may run out sooner. In 1982, he said, the national unemployment rate topped 10 percent on Oct. 10 and Ronald Reagan's approval numbers dropped 15-16 points in a week. "That waiting-time period of a year has an expiration date," he said. "And that expiration date is if unemployment nationally goes over 10 percent."