Maybe if we don't do anything the voters will just forget we're even here!

Atrios today,

Democratic members of Congress have an irrational fear of the imagined "attack ad" which makes them frightened of actually supporting legislation for fear Republicans will make it sound bad. Who knows, maybe in normal times that fear is rational. But if unemployment is this high a year from now - and I think it likely will be (happy to be wrong!) absent additional help - all incumbents in swing districts will have a lot to fear.

It's not just Democrats in Congress that this affects. This gets right to the heart of my criticism of Governor Ritter's re-election strategy as well. My concern is that national economic news will still be grim next year and that the governor will be caught up in a wave of anti-incumbent sentiment. The governor's team seems to have decided that their best strategy is to play things safe and conservative and hope they can sneak by next year. I'd prefer a more aggressive posture as I think that more accurately reflects the dire straits that incumbents across the nation will be in next year.

Ritter seems to be concerned about what a GOP mailer on taxes and revenues will do to his chances. I'm saying that a GOP mailer on taxes and revenue is coming anyway and the way to beat back the growing swell is to actually do something pro-active for a change.