As it comes down to Election 2006 crunch time, Republicans have two possible tactics. The Washington Post reports on one option this morning:

The NRCC is highlighting Democratic leaders who supported former representative Gerry E. Studds (Mass.), who was censured by the House in 1983 after admitting to sexual contact with a male page a decade earlier; Studds went on to serve in Congress until 1997. "It is important to contrast how Republican leadership is handling the situation with problems with one of its own, and how Democrats did," said former RNC chairman Ed Gillespie, a close White House ally.

I must admit, this strategy leaves me decidedly under whelmed. I just don’t see the message, “Their perverts of twenty years ago are worse than our perverts of twenty days ago” resonating particularly strongly with the electorate. Like I said a couple of days ago, the time has come for the Republican Party to move on from the Foley affair. If this election is in any way a referendum on that matter, Speaker Pelosi becomes a tragic inevitability.

Speaking of Speaker Pelosi, that leads us to the second possible strategy. Hugh points us to a Pelosi quote from three years ago where the would-be Speakerette insisted, “The United States does not need a multi-billion-dollar national missile defense against the possibility of a nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missile.” It’s possible that Pelosi has since changed her mind on the matter, but I doubt it. Changing her mind would require agreeing with Bush, and we all know that leading Democrats can’t bring themselves to agree with Bush on anything.

The Pelosi stand on missile defense, especially in light of this weekend’s antics on the Korean peninsula, show how the Democrats as a party just aren’t ready for primetime when it comes to national security issues. If the campaign is fought on that terrain, the Republicans actually have a chance.

Tell your favorite Republican strategist – it’s time to talk about matters of consequence.

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