DNC chairman urges GOP to help rebuild economy

Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine said his party will go all-out to ensure the mid-term congressional elections help continue the country's economic recovery against what he said was "near-united Republican opposition." At a May 19 luncheon, he said Democrats would welcome "good ideas" from Republicans on how to restore the nation's economic health.

His remarks came in the wake of key votes in three states the day before -- Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Arkansas.

“Now it's true that Sen. Arlen Specter fell short in yesterday's Pennsylvania primary," he said. "But while the Senate will be losing a talented public servant, (Congressman) Joe Sestak has also been a supporter of the president's agenda and has showed that he will be a strong campaigner.

"More telling is yesterday's special congressional election in Pennsylvania," he said, refering to the battle for retiring Democratic Rep. John Murtha's seat.

"That victory is just the latest in a string of special election wins stretching back to the contest for New York's 23rd Congressional District, and it demonstrates that Democrats can compete and win in conservative districts," he said.

Republican presidential nominee John McCain won the district handily in 2008. Kaine said yesterday's win (by Mark Critz) was "a major blow to Republicans, who all but guaranteed a win in this race soon after the seat became vacant."

Kaine said the vote in Kentucky was "equally stunning. In that race, Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader and the most powerful politician in the state, saw his hand-picked candidate, Trey Grayson, defeated soundly by the tea party-backed candidate, Rand Paul -- a crushing blow to national Republicans and Sen. McConnell -- and additional evidence that there is a corrosive and divisive civil war occurring on the Republican side."

He said McCain, who is running for re-election in Arizona, "has had to reverse course on life-long political positions in order to fend off a primary challenge from the tea party."

In Arkansas, Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln was forced by Lt. Gov. Bill Halter into a June 8 runoff for the re-nomination she'd hoped to win in the primary.

Kaine, former governor of Virginia and mayor of Richmond, said the DNC "is gearing up for an unprecedented midterm (election) effort. We will again be reaching out to Americans from all walks of life — to the people who powered this movement from the beginning. And in particular to the millions of voters who cast their first vote in 2008 — voters who could make a critical difference again this year."

He hailed what he said was the Obama's administration's effort to get "Americans to join him in making history -- in rebuilding our economy, tackling the health care crisis, expanding educational opportunities, promoting national security by ending our foreign energy dependence, re-establishing America's global leadership and making sure these efforts resulted in lifting up middle-class families."

The nation was "in a ditch" when Obama became president, Kaine said.

"We've had to build a ladder to get out of it." He said the economy was in "free-fall, losing jobs at a rate of 750,000 a month, the stock market was plunging, along with the retirement dreams of millions of Americans, and the future was uncertain. The $237 billion surplus President Clinton left was squandered, and now the nation faced a $1.3 trillion deficit...Today, Americans are still paying the price for those misguided policies, as we continue to dig out from that lost decade of lagging wages and near-zero job growth."

But he said he expects "some things will change" before the election in November.

"I expect the economy will improve. I expect employers will continue to add jobs. And I expect Americans will view the Democratic Party — the party that took action to jump-start recovery — more positively as a result. In fact, we've already seen some significant poll movement suggesting a desire for a Democratic Congress that is working to solve problems rather than a Republican Congress committed solely to opposing the president at every turn."

In answer to a question whether charges the administration is socialist hurts the Democratic Party, Kaine said that "socialism, for most thinking Americans, doesn't hurt. Throwing labels around might get headlines, but it is not the people's concern." He noted Obama appointed former Sen. Alan Sympson, R-Wy., to chair the commission on deficits.

He said more jobs are being created in 2010 than in "all the Bush years." But he appealed for help from the Republicans to rebuild the economy.