Top Dem. strategists downplay GOP success in pre-midterm polling during Iowa Sen. Harkin event

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Dem. strategists downplay GOP edge in recent polls

INDIANOLA, Iowa — Two top Democratic strategists said Sunday that President Barack Obama has the nation moving in the right direction, downplaying polls that suggest Republicans have an edge heading into November’s midterm election.

White House adviser David Axelrod and David Plouffe, Obama’s 2008 campaign manager, headlined Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin’s 33rd annual steak fry, one of the most prominent Democratic events each year. It drew hundreds of party activists to a county fairgrounds.

“For the last 20 months the Republican Party has made a choice to sit on the sidelines and give us the entire responsibility and root for failure, because they though that was a prescription for a successful election,” Axelrod said Sunday. “I think they’ll be disabused of that.”

Some polls have predicted the GOP will take control of one or both chambers of Congress after November’s election, a result that could cause severe headaches for Obama as he begins preparing for his own re-election effort in 2012.

“I know what the conventional wisdom is today,” Axelrod said. “We’ve made a good living betting against the conventional wisdom.”

Plouffe warned against premature predictions of Democratic setbacks and said he’s comfortable the party will fare well when more voters begin tuning in as the election grows near.

“I think it’s going to be a choice between two people in districts and states and we can win that argument effectively,” Plouffe said. “Right now Republicans are coming out in big numbers. We need to get Democrats excited.”

Axelrod said Democrats increasingly will make the case that Obama intervened to head off what could have been a disastrous economic depression and voters will respond.

“The last thing we need to do is go back to where we were before the disaster,” said Axelrod. “We’re moving this country in the right direction.”

Axelrod conceded there are some vulnerable Democrats in Congress, but argued that’s likely because of the success the party has enjoyed over the last couple of elections.

“The history of that is very clear,” Axelrod said. “We won 55 seats in the last two elections. Of course we are more vulnerable than they are.”

Iowa Republican Party chairman Matt Strawn expressed confidence Sunday in GOP success come November and said he wasn’t surprised Democrats had Axelrod and Plouffe come to the state to rally what he described as a “very dispirited Democrat base.” He blamed lagging enthusiasm on “rising unemployment, rising taxes and historic debt.”

“There is incredible anxiety among all Iowa voters,” Strawn said.

Plouffe argued that the party out of power always enjoys an enthusiasm edge.

“I think Republicans are kind of at their high-water mark,” Plouffe said. “If we can get the Democratic vote total up a little bit, we are going to win a lot of these close elections.”

Axelrod said it’s natural for Obama to face heat after winning the presidency because he’s had to tackle issues he inherited.

“There’s a big difference between governing and running for president,” said Axelrod. “We have, in many ways, been dealing with a triage situation since we’ve been here.”