MEMO
from
National
Republican Congressional Committee
TO: INTERESTED PARTIES
FROM: NRCC COMMUNICATIONS
DATE: NOVEMBER 7, 2012
SUBJECT: STRATEGY TO REMAIN ON OFFENSE
KEEPS HOUSE IN GOP HANDS
To win in 2012, you had to understand 2010.
Republicans
made historic gains two years ago – defeating Democrats in every region
of the country and evicting Nancy Pelosi from the Speaker’s chair.
These wins were born
out of America’s frustration with Washington. For two years straight,
Democrats ruthlessly forced a big-government, Washington-knows-best
agenda on the American people. It was a disaster for the economy – and
for the Democrats, it proved a disaster at the
ballot box.
When
the dust settled, few believed Republicans would be in a position to
maintain a lock on this new majority. Angered and emboldened by their
landslide losses, Democrats
declared a war on our new Members. But in the bitterness of their
defeat, they made a seismic miscalculation: Democrats fundamentally
ignored the message of 2010. Republicans, meanwhile, kept our promise
to the voters who elected us.
As
the campaign unfolded, Democrats pulled out the same aged and generic
playbook that ignored the message they were sent by voters in 2010.
Republicans zeroed in on the hard
work of campaigning, never taking anything for granted. From recruiting
to redistricting, we entered this cycle on the offensive and never
stopped. We forced Democrat incumbents into retirement. We shrunk the
playing field for our opponents. We consistently
outpaced them with resources. To top it all off, Republicans even
managed what everyone thought was the impossible: We actually
won the Medicare debate.
Nancy Pelosi will never, ever be Speaker of the House again. This is
the story of why.
An
Offensive Strategy From the Beginning
By
picking up where we left off in 2010 and highlighting pickup
opportunities, House Republicans effectively defined the playing field
for the 2012 cycle and forced Democrats
to defend their own turf. With ten formerly Democrat-held seats
now in
the Republican column (and more yet to be decided), it’s safe to say
the NRCC’s strategy reaped significant benefits for House
Republicans.
The
NRCC spent 98% of its resources on offense in 2010 leading to historic
Republican gains in the House. Using our strong cash-on-hand
advantage
in 2012, we were able to
continue to force Democrats to spend money on their own turf:
NRCC Offense |
$24,424,980.29 |
39% |
DCCC Offense |
$42,146,397.54 |
72% |
NRCC Defense |
$38,327,335.04 |
61% |
DCCC Defense |
$16,195,704.37 |
28% |
Forcing
Retirements
Because
of our aggressive efforts, several self-proclaimed moderate Democrats
gave up their conservative façade and retired. This left
national
Democrats with even more of
a challenge to recruit new candidates and convince American voters that
they represent fiscally responsible principles and not just dangerously
partisan policies.
In 2011, we showered vulnerable Democrats in tough districts with ad
campaigns,
putting them on defense over their reckless spending addiction
while in Congress. For example, Dan Boren held a Republican-favored
district in Oklahoma’s second district before retiring amid a barrage
of paid media from the NRCC:
“On
the day after the midterm elections, NRCC Executive Director Guy
Harrison held a conference call with reporters and singled out Boren as
a top
2012 target. Just hours before his unexpected retirement announcement,
the NRCC launched a series of robocalls in Boren’s district hammering
Democrats over Medicare.”
(David Catanese & Alex Isenstadt,
Another Blue Dog bites the dust,
Politico, 6/9/11)
In all, twenty-seven House Democrats announced their retirement from
the House of Representatives during the 112th Congress.
The End of
“The Blue Dogs”
After
the 2010 midterm election, the Blue Dog Coalition suffered serious
losses, going from 54 to 25 members. These self-proclaimed “moderate”
Democrats paved the way for their
own extinction by consistently backing Nancy Pelosi’s big-government
agenda. With targeted ad blitzes and constant pressure, the NRCC
was
able to capitalize on the vulnerability associated with this weakened
coalition of politicians who would tell voters one
thing in their districts and vote the other way in Washington.
As the
Savannah Morning News put it, “like sharks smelling blood in the
water,” the NRCC spent the 2012 cycle pressuring many vulnerable
Democrats to retire and met success, including in these districts:
NC-11:
“Democratic U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler is the target of a TV ad
campaign that begins today, marking the beginning of Republican efforts
to pick up several seats in North Carolina in 2012. The National
Republican Congressional Committee began airing a three-week TV
campaign that portrays Shuler as fiscally irresponsible.”
(Mary Cornatzer & Rob Christensen, “GOP ads go after Shuler's U.S.
House seat,”
News & Observer, 3/21/2011)
CA-18:
“National Republican Congressional Committee
operatives, who posted a new anti-Cardoza television ad today, already
have indicated they plan to take the offensive against Central Valley
Democrats.”
(Michael Doyle, “Clovis native may run for Rep. Costa's seat,”
Fresno Bee, 9/15/2011)
Redistricting
Dominance
The
redistricting process effectively ended any pipe dream the Democrats
had of returning Nancy Pelosi to the Speaker’s chair. The nationwide
results of this process reflect
how House Republicans made a solid majority stronger and shrunk the
playing field for House Democrats for many election cycles to come.
Our
aggressive pursuit to solidify the Republican majority – led by NRCC
Redistricting Chairman Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA) – resulted in taking 18
Republican seats out of play
and making 17 endangered Republican seats safer. Additionally, we put
16 new Democrat seats in play. According to Stu Rothenberg, those
changes “benefitted Republicans dramatically,” devastating the House
Democrats’ path to the majority:
“But
Democrats' path back to the majority keeps getting steeper as
Republicans solidify previously precarious seats in states like
Pennsylvania,
New Jersey, and even Washington.” (David Wasserman, “January 2012
Redistricting Scorecard & Updates,”
Cook Political Report, 1/5/2012)
House
Republicans were able to make significant gains in North Carolina,
resulting in three GOP pick-ups with another race too close to call.
Thanks to these efforts, the “Drive to 25” math for House Democrats
never added up:
“[T]hanks
to redistricting and retirements, Democrats enter 2012 with far more
"liability" seats of their own than they had in 2006 and 2008 or
than Republicans had in 2010…”
(David Wasserman, “FEC Roundup: 25 Seats? Democrats Really Need 40,”
Cook Political Report, 2/9/2012)
Recruiting
Success
NRCC
Recruitment Chairman Steve Scalise’s (R-LA) diligent recruitment
efforts were able to position strong Republican candidates in the Young
Guns program to hold Democrats
accountable.
Thanks to its co-founders
Majority
Leader Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA), Majority Whip Rep. Kevin McCarthy
(R-CA) and Budget Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), the NRCC Young Guns
Program has been responsible for helping candidates develop strong and
winning campaigns.
In 2010 and 2012, the Young Gun Program has met enormous success in
keeping House Republicans on offense and in helping build a lasting
majority. In 2010, 62 of more than 92 Young Guns were elected to the
112th Congress. This cycle, the Young Guns
Program raised over $8.5 million.
Confronting
Mediscare.
Hitting
Back With ObamaCare.
National
Democrats put all their eggs into one basket – thinking they could
“Mediscare” their way to the House majority. In fact, 64 of the 123
House Democrats’ TV ads were
on Medicare. The rhetoric from Democrats has been that House
Republicans’ fiscal budget would put us in “deep jeopardy” and now the
“wind is at their backs.” Our message to Democrats who would rather
scare seniors than fix our broken economy has been, and
will continue to be: bring it on.
Steve Israel went so far as to name Paul Ryan a DCCC “Majority Maker”
in their premature celebration:
“Nearly three months after the Ryan
pick was made, it’s clear that these attacks never really took hold.”
(Alex Isenstadt, “Dems' drive to retake House falters,”
Politico, 11/4/2012)
But what they expected to be their best political ammo fell flat:
“Neither
Rep. Kathy Hochul's (D-NY 27) 2011 special election win nor Paul Ryan's
VP nomination foretold Medicare as the galvanizing issue that Dems
once hoped.”
(“House Race Hotline: Medicare,”
National Journal, 11/5/2012)
Any
opportunity we had to talk about ObamaCare, and the $700 billion in
Medicare cuts that paid for it, was an opportunity that we never passed
up. Democrats were unprepared
to defend ObamaCare’s egregious faults, despite three years of
constantly selling it to voters.
Special
Elections Are Special
When
Democrats won a special election in upstate New York, they proclaimed
it was solely due to the backlash against Paul Ryan’s budget. That
assertion couldn’t have been proven
more wrong last night with the sound defeat of Kathy Hochul in NY-27.
Not only did Hochul go down in defeat but the DCCC’s Mediscare
playbook went down with her. In addition, special election
winner
Congressman Mark Critz was defeated last night – proving
that special elections are called “special” for a reason. These
embarrassing defeats demonstrate that putting all your messaging eggs
in one basket based on a special election victory is a risky political
strategy.
Keeping
Our Promise to the American People
The
past two cycles have been a referendum on the Democrats’ failed
economic agenda. House Republicans have dedicated their efforts to
representing the needs and wants of the
American people, not a massive government-run system that benefits
Democrat special interests and Washington bureaucrats.
Under
the leadership of Chairman Pete Sessions, the NRCC was able to preserve
a fiscally responsible, pro-growth majority in the House of
Representatives that will continue
to work tirelessly to defend individual freedom and prosperity for all
Americans. Our Republican team will always be ready to fight for a
great America and against any threat to economic growth and job
creation.
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