GOOD GOING – AT 10:31 A.M. ET:  After the most careful analysis, I have detected signs of life in this year's Republican midterm campaign.  In fact, the party seems far better organized and focused than two years ago.  It is responding quickly to events.  In particular, it now realizes, as a result of the stunning emergence of ISIS, that national security has once more come to the fore.  From The Hill:

Republicans are hitting four House Democrats on national security in a series of new ads focused on the terrorist threat in the Middle East and border security.

The ads, from the National Republican Congressional Committee, targets Reps. Dan Maffei (D-N.Y.), Rick Nolan (D-Minn.), Ron Barber (D-Ariz.) and Democrat Staci Appel, running against Republican David Young for Rep. Tom Latham's (R-Iowa) seat.

The ad running against Maffei opens with shots of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) fighters training, as a narrator says Maffei “cut funding for troops fighting terrorists … backed constitutional rights for foreign terrorists” and “voted to bring them to America.” It also says he would “keep police from detaining illegal immigrants who have been suspected of crimes.”

“Dan Maffei, dangerously wrong for our security,” the ad says.

Another ad calls Nolan “dangerously liberal” and says he voted to cut funds “for the fight against Al Qaeda,” against funding the Department of Veterans Affairs and against work requirements for welfare recipients.

The ad running in Iowa’s 3rd District labels Young “tough on terrorists” and says Appel wants “passports for terrorists,” using clips from a candidate roundtable.

COMMENT:  Good, good.  Hit the Dems on national security, then hit them again.  There's is now the party of McGovern, Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama, and polls show that Americans, on national security at least, are turning against it.

September 20,  2014