Five Signs Your Campaign Is Toast

So many Democrats have blasted the Democratic Party, President Obama, and Nancy Pelosi recently that no one even bats an eye when it happens. It's one thing to distance yourself from unpopular totems--and it might even help you out. It's a little riskier to blast an organization whose main purpose is to give out cash to Democratic House candidates, but that's precisely what Steve Driehaus, a Cincinnati freshman, did. Most people--including the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee--expect him to lose his seat to Steve Chabot, the very man he unseated in 2008, so the DCCC cut funding for TV ads in his district as part of a triage intended to direct cash to salvageable candidates. Driehaus struck back with a video that showed that even if he didn't have a fighting chance, he still had some fight in him: "I've had the guts to stand up for you. When it comes to the tough votes on health care, changing our economy, turning things around, and standing up to Wall Street, I've taken those tough votes because it was the right thing to do for the American people. Now the DCCC is walking away," he said, and he asked donors to send a message to the DCCC. Some have, to the tune of $11,000--not inconsiderable, but probably not enough to save Driehaus.