May 30, 2006 08:00 AM UTC

Defense vs. Offense

•  
• by: Colorado Pols

We were pondering this idea as far back as last July, and it looks like it may become a reality in Colorado. The Rocky Mountain News has an interesting article about how Republicans may be forced to play more defense than offense in 2006 because of President’s Bush’s plummeting approval ratings and general disapproval with congressional incumbents:

With President Bush’s approval ratings stuck in a ditch, national Republicans are starting to get scared about clinging to their majority in the House. They’re playing defense, not offense, and that means putting most of their money into fortifying the districts they already hold.

Even [Scott] Tipton, who’s trying to unseat first-term Democratic Rep. John Salazar, said he knows he can’t bank on getting the same multimillion-dollar infusion that the National Republican Congressional Committee provided Republican Greg Walcher in 2004.

“We assess campaigns and we try to push our guys over the finish line,” NRCC spokesman Jonathan Collegio says. But Collegio points out again and again, “The NRCC is an incumbent-retention committee, and it’s the highest priority to protect incumbent Republicans.”

Does that mean Tipton is on his own? The NRCC won’t discuss its specific strategies, but for now at least, that’s the way analysts like Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report interpret it.

“I really do think Democrats get to play almost exclusively on offense, and Republicans are playing almost exclusively on defense,” Walter said. “It means few Democratic incumbents are going to find themselves targeted.”

In any other year, Tipton would be the kind of candidate who might get more backing from the people who control the Republican purse strings.