July 29, 2006 — As he campaigned for Republicans running for Congress in West Virginia, President George W. Bush confidently predicted that his party will retain control of Congress — but with his approval ratings mired in the 30s, gas prices topping $3, war spreading in the Middle East and Iraq in turmoil, some in the GOP are nervous. "Realistic Republicans know the storm is coming," said Nathan Gonzales, editor of the Rothenberg Political Report. "The question is: How big is it going to be, and can they brace themselves enough to keep the majorities in the House and Senate?"
But even with the weakness of President Bush and his Republican allies on Capitol Hill, Democrats still face problems of perception among voters that could prevent them from taking advantage of the golden opportunity this year's elections afford. For instance, an ABC News poll taken last month found that 71 percent of Americans do not think the Democrats have a clear plan on what to do about Iraq.
Democratic leaders, however, say that they would bring an end to the U.S. presence in the war-torn nation.
"The first thing I think we would do is have a real strategy for how to get out of Iraq," said Howard Dean, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee and former presidential candidate, on ABC News' "Good Morning America Weekend Edition." "We don't need a president who says they're going to leave this to the next president. That's not leadership. It's the kind of thing that got us in there in the first place with no plan."
Although Dean said Democrats would do a better job with Iraq, the public now favors Republicans over Democrats in handling terrorism by seven percentage points, according to the ABC poll.
"We have an uphill climb," Dean said. "When you have the presidency, you can say almost anything and get on the news immediately. That's hard to do in a minority party. Today, for example, we are going to contact two million voters in a single day in every state of the country, they'll get a unified message on their door."
Dean said Democrats are going to ask each person they contact to contact 100 people — one a day until the elections.
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