Who's More Damaging To GOP Candidates-- Trump, Ryan, McConnell Or Moore?

The other day, in talking about the immense value to Randy Bryce the Bernie Sanders endorsement was. I mentioned in passing how toxic most political endorsements are. No Democrats want endorsements from party leaders like Pelosi, Hoyer, Crowley or Wasserman Schultz. And in Republicanville, who would want an endorsement from, for example, Paul Ryan? He's like an anchor around the necks of Republican incumbents and candidates. I used as an example rubber stamp Ryan worshipper in Houston, John Culberson. Ryan's disapproval rating among voters in TX-07 are so high, they are helping to tank Culberson. And that's pretty typical nationally. And Mitch McConnell's favorables are even worse. As Kevin Robillard reported for Politico Saturday, Republicans are doing whatever it takes to distance themselves from the Senate Majority Leader.

Normal people detest him for what's he's doing and Trump supporters detest him for not doing more of it faster. "Nobody," wrote Robillard, "wants to be on Team McConnell. Heading into the 2018 elections, only one Republican Senate candidate nationwide has pledged unequivocally to back Mitch McConnell as majority leader. Most Republicans facing competitive primaries are hemming and hawing, admiring McConnell’s political savvy and fundraising apparatus-- but also looking warily at his sinking approval ratings both with Republicans and the broader electorate. Even in some of the red and purple states represented by Democratic senators where McConnell is hoping to pad his majority-- places like Missouri, Michigan and Wisconsin-- the leading candidates are dodging questions about McConnell's leadership or threatening to oppose him if the GOP Congress doesn't deliver on the party's legislative priorities in the coming months." Much like Pelosi does, McConnell has given GOP candidates permission to crap on him if it helps them win. Corey Stewart (VA), Sandy Pensler (MI), Roy Moore (AL), Danny Tarkanian (NV), Kelli Ward (AZ), Kevin Nicholson (WI) and Leah Vukmir (WI)-- all long shots who are unlikely to ever get a chance vote for or against McConnell-- have all been publicly attacking him.

McConnell’s political allies insist they’ve seen all this before, and they are ready to fight it. Past insurgent Republican campaigns have run television ads bashing McConnell, only to lose in GOP primaries anyway. Candidates distancing themselves from party leaders in Washington, they argue, is now standard practice and smart politics.

Bannon and his allies instead see evidence of McConnell’s ineffectiveness and unpopularity.

“Why are Republicans candidates tweeting out selfies with Steve Bannon, while at the same time doing everything they can to publicly distance themselves from McConnell?” Andy Surabian, a top aide to Bannon, asked rhetorically. “Because they know that McConnell is an albatross, not only in GOP primaries, but more importantly in general elections.”

The electorate hates Congress but McConnell is considerably more unpopular than Schumer, Ryan or Pelosi. Roy Moore is banking on him being unpopular enough to base much of his campaign on attacking McConnell. If he wins (again) it will be a bad omen for McConnell's ability to remain as GOP Senate leader. Moore is actually popular with Republicans-- and not just in Alabama. He has come to personify their sense of grievance and their feelings of martyrdom. The general election voters-- which include Democrats and, more importantly, independents, absolutely hates Moore and sees him for exactly what he is. And Republican candidates are being asked to take a stand on him in races everywhere. In primary races they can't be too harsh but if they're not, general election voters will associate them with a sociopathic child molester.

As Alex Seitz-Wald reported for NBC News, "Democrats are hard at work pressing the issue, dusting off the 2012 playbook they used to make former GOP Senate candidate Todd Akin toxic to candidates across the country."

"There has to be clarity by all candidates about the issue of sexual harassment and specifically about the candidacy of Roy Moore," Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the Senate's second-ranking Democrat, told NBC News.

After scoring an unexpected suburbs-fueled landslide in Virginia's election this month, Democratic officials and party strategists think Moore will be especially radioactive with suburban women.

The Democratic opposition research group American Bridge launched digital ads Wednesday attacking GOP Senate candidates about Moore in Arizona and Ohio, and was already running one in Nevada.



"Not only is the Roy Moore scandal hurting Republicans of all stripes, especially those who have been silent on Moore, but it's also exacerbating the GOP civil war between the establishment and the Bannon wing of the party," said American Bridge spokesperson Allison Teixeira Sulier.

"The GOP owns Moore, his scandals and his backwards beliefs," Sulier added. "And in the same way that Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock dragged their party down, Moore will, too."

A few months after Akin made headlines for talking about "legitimate rape" in Missouri, Indiana Senate candidate Mourdock handed more ammunition to Democrats when he defended his strict pro-life stance by saying pregnancy resulting in rape is "something that God intended to happen."

Democrats used Aiken and Mourdock in races in other states to portray other Republican candidates as extreme.

In Michigan, where Democrats are defending Sen. Debbie Stabenow's seat, Democratic Party Chair Brandon Dillon slammed both of the GOP candidates in the race for failing to "show the bare minimum of decency and leadership" by speaking out strongly against Moore.

Concern about collateral damage helps explain why one of the most forceful voices against Moore among Senate Republicans has been the chairman of their campaign arm, Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado, who vowed the Senate should expel Moore if he wins.

...Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), who has represented the state for 30 years, said on Wednesday that he's preparing to vote for a write-in candidate over Moore in the Dec. 12 election.

Asked by NBC News if Moore is damaging the GOP brand nationally, Shelby didn’t hesitate: "Absolutely. Absolutely. I think that's on everybody's mind.