Without taking her eye off the ball, Hillary Clinton (D-NY) should immediately start campaigning against gridlock. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) should nationalize the race for Congress on this issue. Same for Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
The American people hate gridlock. They hate that Congress does not do anything. And, worse, they hate that they get fat paychecks to achieve that nothing.
Senator John McCain (R-AZ) just handed the Democrats the issue of gridlock on a silver platter. He pledged that no nominees of President Clinton would be approved for the Supreme Court. None. Zero.
And, this pledge has a name: Merrick Garland, President Obama's nominee to replace the late Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court. Republicans had already shown their hand. McCain just reinforced it.
While on matters of policy--budget, spending, taxes, environment, and so forth--each side can accuse the other of being the roadblock, that is not true of presidential nominees. The President nominates, the Senate is supposed to act. Republicans have pledged not to act, and they are showing that they mean it.
It takes no work to vote "no". Merrick Garland has not even had a hearing.
And, if Republicans are pledging their base that they will say "no" to everything a President Hillary Clinton proposes, then they are telling voters that they will collect $174,000 per year of taxpayers' money for the privilege to do absolutely nothing.
Talk about welfare queens!
Of course, it takes work to forge compromises to fix peoples' problems. If, on the other hand, they say they will work with President Clinton, challenge them to name the issue. Are they going to work with President Clinton to fix the problems in the Affordable Care Act? Because, it ain't goin' away, that option is off the table.
They will not say that. The Heritage Foundation has already stated that any Republican member who works to fix Obamacare will be a marked man or woman.
Same is true on all the major issues--raising the minimum wage; paycheck equity for women; major public works projects funded by increasing taxes on the wealthy. Republicans are in lock-step on all of these: "no", "no", "no", "no"---and, by the way, while I am voting all this noes, please hand me $174,000 for doing nothing.
One other suggestion. In states where Hillary is running ahead, such as New Hampshire, signs with Clinton, Kaine, and Hassan, with one name under the other, and ads to "Get on the Clinton, Kaine, Hassan" team are very effective. They penetrate the subliminal when people go to vote.
They might as well use the same strategy in other contested races such as Iowa, Nevada, Florida. And, now, of course, Arizona, to put McCain out to pasture. If the national campaign is against gridlock, let the Republicans in these states where Hillary is doing well have to explain to their base that they will work with her, or extol the virtues of gridlock.
It forces them into a horrible choice. And, they deserve every anxious moment of it.