House GOPers Embracing Failed 2006, 2008, 2009 Tactic

Republicans tried to make the 2006 midterm elections about Nancy Pelosi, and lost spectacularly. They tried the tactic again in 2008 and got similar results. The specter of Speaker Pelosi didn't help the Republicans win special elections in traditionally GOP districts in New York in 2009, either. So of course House Republicans are trying again this year:

In a spate of new ads released over the weekend by the National Republican Congressional Committee, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has a starring role. The Hotline reports that in the 12 new ads the NRCC put out in highly competitive districts across the country, “Pelosi” is the second most-spoken word, giving her dubious credit for President Obama’s legislative agenda, citing the “Pelosi health care plan” and “Pelosi’s failed stimulus plan.”

It's been over four years since I wrote "Nancy Pelosi is no Newt Gingrich and the Republican strategy of tying Democratic congressional candidates in key races to her will not succeed" -- a sentiment I still agree with. This isn't to say that Pelosi is a highly popular public official, because she clearly is not. But she simply is not the type of galvanizing figure Gingrich was (the most recent polling finds Pelosi's disapproval rating is more than 10 points lower than Gingrich's worst numbers). And the Republicans have largely flopped in their efforts to turn Pelosi's unpopularity into electoral success for their candidates. But if the GOP wants to spend its money on this approach, I'm not going to stop them.