Follow actual principles, "centrists"

Given the fact that the Republicans are already going after supposedly "centrist" or "moderate" Democrats, painting them as wild-eyed liberals hell-bent on destroying America, perhaps their penchant for ass-covering and concern for election prospects need a new perspective. The idea that they'll win over "moderates" by supporting a Republican filibuster on healthcare reform is insane. The people who want them to support a GOP filibuster are the same people who will vote Republican anyway. I think that all of the "Blue Dogs" and the center-right Dems in the Senate should do a simple thing: support reform behind-the-scenes by voting for cloture and progressing a bill through the legislative process, and turn around and attack opponents from the left side of the debate.

Attacking Republicans from the right, or, insanely, attacking Dems from the right, will not net these Democrats a single vote. And liberals like me don't want to support candidates who act and sound more like Republicans than Democrats.

Steve Benen lays out what I think is a much smarter strategy for vulnerable Congressional incumbents:

Matt Yglesias raises a good point: "A lot of members of congress spent 1993 and '94 spiking the Clinton legislative agenda and then went down to defeat in November 1994 anyway. Wouldn't it make more sense to turn the 111th Congress into a substantive success, hope you can persuade the voters that these are good ideas, and if you fail at least manage to have gone down fighting accomplishing something important?"

If I were a campaign strategist for Blanche Lincoln, I'd go a little further -- I'd encourage her to become the biggest champion of bold, progressive health care reform in the Senate. I'd urge Lincoln to show some major leadership, get out way in front, and position herself as a Kennedy-like guardian of those suffering under the status quo.

Look, Lincoln isn't going to out-conservative the Republican candidates in Arkansas. No matter how she votes on reform, the entire Attack Machine is going after her as some kind of radical leftist. It doesn't matter if it doesn't make sense, and it certainly doesn't matter if she votes with Republicans on the big issues of the day for the next year.

So why not go big? Why not announce that too many Arkansas families are being screwed right now by a dysfunctional health care system and Blanche Lincoln has decided to do something about it? Why not run ads saying, "I don't care what the insurance companies and their candidates say: I'm fighting for the families who can't afford their premiums, the workers who can't get coverage, the Arkansans with pre-existing conditions, the small businesses that can't afford insurance for the employees...."?

In other words, show some confidence. Voters can recognize fear, so stop being defensive. Arkansas has a high percentage of low-income families, struggling to get by, who are terrified of their health care situation. They're not going to vote Democratic on cultural and/or social issues, but they're open to the Democratic message on economic policy -- looking out for working families' interests. A candidate who positions herself as a populist people's champion has a better shot than an apologetic Democrat who hopes Republicans won't mind her party affiliation.

When Republicans accuse her of supporting an overhaul of a broken system, Lincoln might want to try saying, "You're damn right I do. Why don't you?"

Exactly.