MAJOR MOVE, BUT IT MUST BE WELL EXECUTED – AT 7:55 A.M. ET:  Republicans are about to roll out their new version of a "contract with America."  The roll-out itself must be a work of political art.  From The Politico:

House Republicans have chosen a hardware store in a Northern Virginia exurb for the much-hyped unveiling of their governing agenda, ending months of behind-the-scenes planning and wrangling over exactly what the GOP should stand for in a volatile political year.

The rollout is the byproduct of a program called America Speaking Out, an online grass-roots effort Republicans used to build an election-year agenda. Republicans are holding the policy and government reform agenda very closely and declined to reveal what is in the document...

...Some specifics have leaked out, however. Republicans are likely to propose a measure that would give the public and members of Congress three days to read a bill before it heads to the floor. And another provision would require all bills to come with a certification of constitutional authority. Much of the document, though, will center on job creation and other measures to heal the economy. House leadership sources also have signaled that national security will be a big part of the plan.

COMMENT:  Republican planners must now, right now, be planning for a major sales pitch, and also for the expected Dem counterattack. 

The Republicans behind this document are smart.  They're not hacks, nor are they blind ideologists.  I'll make an educated guess that the document will be well done, but that the Dems will misrepresent it from the first second.  The Republicans must be ready with TV ads telling Americans what's in this new agenda, why it's good, and why it isn't extreme.  They must blunt any Dem attack even before it's launched.

It's all in the execution, as they say in Hollywood.  And for once, Hollywood is right.

September 21, 2010