Greg Sargent writes:
[T]he best way for Dems to nationalize the elections right now is for Congress to hold a vote on whether to extend the middle class tax cuts. If Dems did this, it would reinforce the national strategy that Dems already have in place: Making the case that a vote for the GOP is a vote to return to the Bush policies that ran the economy into the ground.
Actually, rather than “hold a vote on whether to extend the middle class tax cuts,” Democrats should hold a vote on Obama’s middle class tax cuts. If the goal is to really draw contrast with Republicans is not to even include a hint of a frame that implies the middle class tax cuts were ever something they cared to support.
The other side of the coin is that after the free-standing vote on Obama’s middle class tax cuts package, let there be a vote on the large tax cut for the rich that the Republicans want starting 1/1/11. The contrast will be clear: Democrats support tax cuts for the middle class and oppose them for the rich, while Republicans oppose them for the middle class and support them for the rich.
Hold Fast 
Last week I suggested doing it in the form of two bills. First a vote just on extending the tax cut for the rich, then the one for those earning below $250,000. The Republicans can’t cry that they weren’t allowed to vote on tax cuts “for every American,” and if they want to vote against the 2nd bill after the 1st one fails, let ’em.
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Yeah, I think that’s the recipe that will work, especially in that order. The biggest mistake (besides not having any vote) would be having them rolled into one bill. This is all about contrast.
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