That's Pride

"The night of the fight, you may feel a slight sting. That's pride [bleeping] with you. [Bleep] pride. Pride only hurts, it never helps." -Marsellus Wallace to Butch, Pulp Fiction, 1994.

We have already talked about how foolish Senator John Ensign and the National Republican Senatorial Committee looked when they announced they were pulling their resources from Louisiana, only to back-track two days later after a tirade by Senator David Vitter (possibly channeling Karl Rove, who recruited the GOP nominee for Senate in Louisiana this year).

Well, it looks like Ensign and the GOP Senate campaign arm have bettered themselves with their announcement that despite reports to the contrary, they are staying in Colorado to help elect former Rep. Bob Schaffer over current congressman Mark Udall. Unlike in Louisiana where the backtrack was clearly real and public, the NRSC here announced that the Atlantic's report that it was pulling out of Colorado was never accurate, and that resources would continue to flow into the state.

Can someone tell me who is minding the store at the NRSC? Once upon a time, the RNC and its two campaign arms were the best in the business, one big well-oiled machine that made mincemeat of the Democrats. Clearly, the Democrats mean business now with men like Rahm Emanuel and Chris Van Hollen in charge of things, but it seems like the GOP has gone in the complete opposite direction. This is a bad year, yes, but they seem absolutely rudderless at this point.

It is one thing to make public relations errors. In the heat of political battle, that happens to everyone, and while it reflects poorly on your overall operaiton, it is generally inevitable. A slip here, a mess-up there does not mean you are incompetent or without direction (sometimes). However, it is quite another thing when you repeated bad strategic decisions on a grand scale. And that is what is going on today. The decisions to remain in Louisiana and Colorado are foolish and stupid for the Republicans and a huge waste of resources.

If you check pollster.com, Bob Schaffer has had one single lead all year, and that was in a Rasmussen poll in February where he posted a two-point lead. Since then, Udall has basically been in the driver's seat the entire cycle. As pollster shows, there have been times where Schaffer has gotten close, but he has never totally closed the gap fully. With Obama posting a consistent lead in Colorado at this point, and the DSCC with a wide COH advantage, what makes John Ensign and his staff think that Colorado is now winnable? If anything, it is much less winnable now that it was several months ago. Colorado might not be Virginia or New Mexico, but it is just a step below those states in terms of a likelihood of flipping to the Democrats. Ensign should turn his attention fully to Minnesota, North Carolina, Mississippi, Georgia, Kentucky, Alaska, and maybe Oregon, though it too might be gone for good.

Really, I think that this is just foolish pride at this point. Ensign and the NRSC does not want to just give up Wayne Allard's seat with nary a whimper. They realize Mark Udall will be a solid liberal, and they are willing to drain their resources in a very uphill fight. As Marsellus Wallace said, "that's pride [bleeping] with you," and the GOP is falling for it.