Losses Twin Spark Fears Of A Democratic

Howard Beach, NY rare Democratic Party lost a seat in Congress in Tuesday's village, accompanied by a rash in a special election defeat Nevada, marked the latest in a series of demoralizing setback that threatened to deepen the crisis parties trust and expressed concern about the political fortunes of President Barack Obama.

In New York, Republican Bob Turner crushing defeat of Democrat David Weprin in a contest that room - in the view of party leaders, at least - with an anemic urban machine, the unions and voters distracted unfair. In Nevada, a state of implications for re-election strategy of President, Democrats have suffered a loss galloping its roots in a weak showing Washoe County Reno, a key indicator.

Even before the polls closed, the recriminations - something short of panic, and much more than grunts - started. At a high level conference call on Tuesday afternoon the campaign, donors and Democratic strategists pity for the disappointment of Obama. A source described the atmosphere known as "horrible."

"People feel betrayed, disappointed, angry, disgusted, hopeless," the source said.

Less expensive but equally revealing were the comments of House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, who in a conversation with reporters Tuesday morning, said bluntly that Barack Obama takes some blame for the special election two defeats.

"I think every election is looking at the person in charge, but I think it's a general statement on the President alone? No," said Hoyer. "I do not think it will be interpreted as a statement to Obama? This is probably correct."

A senior Democratic Hill staff member was more direct in its attempt to explain the loss of New York: "The approval rate for the guy at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue craters."

Turner, consultant, Steve Goldberg, confirmed this assessment: "It 'was all Obama - even think about anything else."

President of the aggressive work plan is probably stuck open rebellion in his party - even if Bloomberg poll released Wednesday morning, 51 percent of Americans do not believe that will help reduce the unemployment rate. Senior party figures are on board - or at least resigned to - the leadership of the White House. And some Democratic insiders have tried to give a best face on their state of decline - before adding that they wanted to see Obama harder.

"To be honest - it is a difficult summer, the Democrats," said Jack Quinn, a lobbyist and former White House counsel to President Clinton. "But I do think that people are better."

Quinn said, however, that Barack Obama faces the Republican Party.

"Do not let the Parliament and say, 'We want a half loaf." They said, "we want the whole g --- the oven,'" he said. "It is time for the president to actually do some lines hard here. "

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), among the most senior House Democrats described the lines.

"The Republicans want us to lift the 20th century, the New Deal, Fair Deal, to return to the robber barons running the country, and to eviscerate environmental and other regulations to protect the health and safety," he Waxman said. "And to reduce costs in a way that would be very dangerous for people who are dependent on the government."

Others welcomed the idea of ​​a new Obama - even if the message does not seem to have made its way north of New York and western Nevada.

Rep. Eliot Engel, a New York Democrat who represents parts of the Bronx and suburban New York, said the "fighter of Barack Obama, the one we knew and loved and voted for in 2008, resurfaced last week. "

"I think and I hope Obama is going to look from now to the election," Engel said Thursday, before going to New York to help transform Weprin Democratic voters.

But the structural flaws of the party were in full-screen in the beautiful New York defeats - the first loss of the party a seat in Brooklyn or Queens Congress in a generation. The decision of the Queens Democratic Party to appoint Weprin, an Orthodox Jewish member of the Assembly of the State, who lives in another district, was driven by "the most blatant ethnic policy," said Mitchell Moss, a professor urbanism at the University of New York. It was a game old-school failed: Turner fought for Jewish voice on issues concerning Israel and same-sex marriage, and Orthodox leaders were well represented at the victory of his party in an Italian restaurant in Howard Beach .

A lot of movement in New York, however, powerful work, meanwhile, missed the race - distracted, demoralized, and other things to do. The work of working families, a giant in the city from other races, has chosen to put their resources on Tuesday in a bitter battle with the Brooklyn Democratic organization internal - leaving Weprin are based on the game machine rust.

It 'been a nightmare for the Democrats, which threatens to repeat itself at the national level, because of the large unions to move away from the traditional level of commitment. AFL-CIO leaders have talked about the focus on costs, as state-level races. SEIU giant has discussed replacing what was a real campaign for Obama in 2008, the campaign focuses more on the question of jobs.

And union leaders in Washington looked at a lot of frustration as a democrat, pro-union, blue collar district escaped.

"Obama has to reconnect with work, being in the trenches with us again," said an official of the work of the veteran. "There are members of me, a feeling of disconnection with him. He has to give us, who is a champion of labor, not only with the support of the work."

And therefore, the election of Obama's eyes a year, many Democratic leaders to adopt a passive stance unexpectedly. They are pinning their hopes on the chance that the Republican Party nominated a figure essentially the same rate.

Asked who he would like to see the Republicans suggested designate Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer Democrat: "Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry - they would all be good to run against."

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