MORE BAD NEWS FOR THE DEMS – AT 8:18 P.M. ET:  From CBS News:

With the midterm elections less than a week away, a new CBS News/New York Times poll finds that Republicans continue to hold an advantage over Democrats in the generic House ballot. Forty-six percent of likely voters say they plan to vote Republican, while 40 percent say they will vote Democrat.

The advantage can be attributed in large part to independents, who are breaking hard for the GOP. Forty-seven percent of independent likely voters say they plan to vote Republican, while just 32 percent plan to vote Democrat. Seventeen percent haven't made up their minds.

More than four in five Democrats and Republicans, meanwhile, say they are sticking with their party.

COMMENT:  Now, what does that tell us?  It tells us that the key political objective of the Republican Party after the election is to hang onto those independents and build strength among them. 

American elections are won in the middle.  They aren't won on the fringes.  Neither the far right nor the far left understand that, or even care.  We have to understand it, and we have to care. 

October 27, 2010