By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers
The drop in crowds of angry Americans at town halls from their heyday last summer and fall has prompted some Democrats to suggest that the anti-incumbent intensity is starting settle down.
But Republicans are offering a different spin: Americans have had it with disinterested lawmakers and will show that anger at the polls in November. "People have moved from anger to resolve," says Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the House GOP candidate recruiter who is also in charge of the Republican's new Contract with America campaign called America Speaking Out. Democrats today countered that with www.gopcontractwithamerica.com.
McCarthy, of California, reasons that angry voters felt that they were being ignored by their congressmen and senators, especially when it came to their demands to junk healthcare reform, so now they don't find it useful to attend town halls. "Let the Democrats believe that they've bottomed out," says McCarthy, also referring to Democratic claims that support for their House members is on the upswing.
McCarthy believes that the GOP still benefits in the voter intensity gap, but that the party must work hard to get independents and their own faithful out to vote. He said that the reason the party lost in the recent special Pennsylvania election to replace the late Democratic Rep. John Murtha was because the party failed to explain to independent voters that the election wasn't a primary and that they could vote.
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