Saturday, February 20, 2010

VIDEO National Journal: Charlie Cook Interview

NJ: But the Tea Party movement only represents a small part of the voting population, right?

Cook: It's hard to nail down exactly what percentage they are, but I don't think they constitute a majority of conservatives, a majority of Republicans or a majority of independents. But the thing is, they did break through.... I think opposition might have come to a slower boil had it not been for the Tea Party movement that moved it right up to the front pages and some of the lead stories on the evening newscast.






NJ: Are there areas where you might see a Republican nominee who is too far to the right?

Cook: Where you have Republican incumbents who may have voted for TARP, you're going to have some potential probleme spots. Part of it is, we're reaching here a little bit. Because, yes, the Republican Party, they've got some huge brand problems, where their brand got badly damaged during the eight years of President Bush and the six years the Republicans had the majority in Congress.... But if I had a choice of the Republican Party's problems right now or the Democratic Party's problems, I think you could triple the Republican Party's problems and I'd still rather have their problems than the problems facing Democrats.
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