Congressman Chris Van Hollen, the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee tells The Brody File that Democrats will not lose their majority in the House of Representatives and contends that. "This is not going to be a 1994 wave all over again."
Watch his comments below and get the transcription below as well. Keep strolling down to watch him talk about some of the 2010 DCCC strategy.
Rep. Van Hollen will be on The Brody File show next week where you can watch the extended interview. Rep. Eric Cantor will also be on in a few weeks.
Rep. Van Hollen on prospects for Democratic victories in the 2010 midterm elections:
Rep. Chris Van Hollen: "This is going to be a tough Election year. Historically it always is, the first midterm for a new President historically is tough for the President’s party. That being said, this is not going to be a 1994 wave all over again. We understand that people are feeling anxious about the economy but we also think people are fair and they recognize that the President inherited a terrible economic situation, that there have been significant improvements over the last year and we’re going to keep working especially on the jobs front to try and make sure small businesses have the tools they need to put people back to work so is it a tough political environment? Understandably. But is this going to be a big wave like 1994? No."
Political pundits are predicting that Democrats could lose 30 seats in November 2010. If Democrats keep the losses in the single digits then let's face it. That's a victory of sorts. I ask Rep. Van Hollen about that below. By the way, in his answer notice some of the strategy techniques Democrats will use against Republicans in 2010.
Rep. Chris Van Hollen:“The pundits here in Washington including people who handicap these races year in and year out their numbers are in the 25-30 range and they’re talking about, some of them you know that the Democrats are going to lose the House. Well, we’re not going to lose the House. This is not 1994 all over again and one of the reasons is that while people are anxious are about the economy they do not see right now the Republicans as a viable alternative and even within the Republican primaries today you’re seeing a lot of churning understandably where you have a Tea Party candidate who is not going to take the national Republican Party’s candidate and say hey, that Washington chosen candidate is going to be our standard bearer. That’s not going to happen."
Rep. Chris Van Hollen:“Voters that are paying attention do see that while the Republican Party is trying to somehow capture this Tea Party movement their policies, especially their big pro-Wall Street policies and their position for example supporting the Supreme Court’s decision that allows big corporate money to flow creates problems and finally you see a number of these Republican members who said that the stimulus bill, the economic recover bill, wasn’t creating any jobs around the country and yet they’re showing up at ribbon cutting ceremonies and ground breaking ceremonies around the country to celebrate jobs that are being created in their districts and they’re writing to their department heads here in Washington saying please make sure you invest some of that money in my district because we need to create jobs in my district."
Brody: You can’t have it both ways?
Rep. Van Hollen: You can’t have it both ways:
When talking to Rep. Van Hollen, you can definitely see a preview of part of the Democrats midterm election strategy. Invoke past George W. Bush economic policies: Watch below:
Rep. Chris Van Hollen: “I think that the American people do not want to turn back the clock to the same Bush economic policies that got us into the mess to begin with. I mean what is the argument of a Republican candidate right now? Give me the keys to the car again so I can adopt the same policies that got us into this mess to begin with? And then they’ve walked away from the mess. They’ve not been part of the solution so we welcome a debate on the ideas because what we’ve discovered the more people learn about what the Republicans are proposing the more it is back to the Bush policies.”
More from Rep. Van Hollen below on distinguishing from attacking George W. Bush and his policies:
Rep. Chris Van Hollen: “This is not about blaming the Bush administration for the mess that we got into. Clearly the American people understand that we inherited a very difficult situation. This issue is not about the past. It’s about the future. It’s about what policies are Republican colleagues advocating and in that context it is very fair to point out that these members of Congress who supported the Bush agenda or candidates who supported the Bush agenda are simply offering more of the same old policy so it’s not so much about George Bush the individual but it is about the set of policies that helped get us into this mess and people saying that we should bring back those policies.”