In The Absence Of A Clear Message...

...misinformation fills the vacuum.

Republicans lead by 51% to 41% among registered voters in Gallup weekly tracking of 2010 congressional voting preferences. The 10-percentage-point lead is the GOP's largest so far this year and is its largest in Gallup's history of tracking the midterm generic ballot for Congress.

These results are based on aggregated data from registered voters surveyed Aug. 23-29 as part of Gallup Daily tracking. This marks the fifth week in a row in which Republicans have held an advantage over Democrats -- one that has ranged between 3 and 10 points.

The Republican leads of 6, 7, and 10 points this month are all higher than any previous midterm Republican advantage in Gallup's history of tracking the generic ballot, which dates to 1942. Prior to this year, the highest such gap was five points, measured in June 2002 and July 1994. Elections in both of these years resulted in significant Republican gains in House seats.

The stark reality is if voting patterns hold true to these numbers, the House is lost to the Democrats and the Senate is all but gone.  The Dems were up six points just six weeks ago...and then the bottom fell out.  Booman at least has an idea or two.

Rather than looking helpless, the administration should just start making the argument that we have a choice between prolonged high unemployment or another big stimulus package. Make the election a referendum on that choice. 

While he's right, this is the argument that should have been made, oh, six to nine months ago.  Given what I expect to happen economically for the rest of the year, there's really not anything Obama can say that won't be met by voters with an avalanche of complete indifference.

Americans are tired, depressed, and for the most part they're looking elsewhere for a message of hope.  In the absence of a clear message from the Democrats, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin and John Boehner have filled the void over the last month.

We see where that has gotten the Democrats in this country:  up against a wall where Obama's critics believe he is the greatest threat to the country ever conceived and that he must be removed, and Obama's supporters really don't give a damn anymore.