Media bias can help GOP

And they didn’t even see it coming.

That could be the head-thumping postscript of the 2010 midterm elections. With the media fawning over President Obama and failing to appropriately cover several key Democrat problems, scandals and missteps, a false sense of security for the Democrats is growing.

{mosads}The media, snugly tucked into the Democrats’ back pocket, paint a deceivingly rosy picture of the job Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) are doing. The shopworn “conventional wisdom” that the GOP has marginalized itself into near-oblivion is being pedaled daily by cocksure reporters and (other) Democratic operatives.

But the emerging true storyline is increasingly becoming diametrically opposed to this myopic view. Last rites for the GOP may be premature.

A recent Gallup poll shows Americans overwhelmingly disagree with Obama on closing Guantanamo. Rasmussen reports Republicans and Democrats tied on the generic congressional ballot. Americans have a more favorable opinion of former Vice President Cheney than Pelosi and trust Republicans over Democrats on economic issues. And Reid is down nationally, and in serious trouble in his home state of Nevada.

Usually, it takes a few solid election-cycle wins before a party adopts the attitude of the invincible. But with full cooperation and complicity of the media, Obama and his leftward-lurching Democratic Party are feeling their oats. How else can presiding over the largest level of unemployment in 25 years be spun into “saving” jobs rather than creating the 3 million jobs promised in return for blind allegiance to the stimulus spending spree? The press should be apoplectic at the suggestion, and insulted, that the president would even hint at such a self-serving slice of ignorance. Instead, they lap it up, eager for their next helping of DNC talking points.

Voters will catch on soon enough.

Overconfidence results in underperformance at the voting booth. Repressed voter turnout is the obvious result, but that only accounts for the effect overconfidence has on reliable Democratic voters who make up the base of the party. The cockiness on the left can also turn off middle-of-the-road voters, giving them pause before pulling the lever for Democrats to rubberstamp the Obama/Pelosi/Reid far-left agenda. We’ve already heard rumblings of voter distaste for establishment politicians with the stunning defeat of Democratic moneyman and former DNC chief Terry McAuliffe in the Virginia Democratic gubernatorial primary race. In New Jersey, GOPer Chris Christie leads Democratic incumbent Gov. Jon Corzine by double digits as the state’s economy sinks. Could this be the early stages of a GOP trend? Will the media even report it? Will they feel a tingle up their leg for the GOP?

While Democrats and the media assail the GOP for not coalescing around one individual to lead the party, Republicans gain strength all across the country from a chorus of thousands of newly minted activists laying the foundation for a vigorous 2010 contest, and a spirited primary in 2012. Last November’s enthusiasm gap is narrowing every day.

Cheri Jacobus, president of Capitol Strategies PR, has managed congressional campaigns, worked on Capitol Hill and is an adjunct professor at George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management.  She appears on CNN, MSNBC and FOX News as a GOP strategist.