From the NYTimes comes word that corporations are quietly upping their financial support for Democrats as the midterm elections get nearer.
Corporate America is already thinking beyond Election Day, increasing its share of last-minute donations to Democratic candidates and quietly devising strategies for how to work with Democrats if they win control of Congress.Can't blame the corporations for wanting to cover their bets; in an America where corporate leaders acknowledge no responsibility except to the short-term benefit of their shareholders, it's the smart play. And as long as corporations finance our elections, there's really not much else in the way of options.
The shift in political giving, for the first 18 days of October, has not been this pronounced in the final stages of a campaign since 1994, when Republicans swept control of the House for the first time in four decades.
Though Democratic control of either chamber of Congress is far from certain, the prospect of a power shift is leading interest groups to begin rethinking well-established relationships, with business lobbyists going as far as finding potential Democratic allies in the freshman class — even if they are still trying to defeat them on the campaign trail — and preparing to extend an olive branch the morning after the election.
Lobbyists, some of whom had fallen out of the habit of attending Democratic events, are even talking about making their way to the Sonnenalp Resort in Vail, Colo., where Representative Nancy Pelosi of California is holding a Speaker’s Club ski getaway on Jan. 3. It is an annual affair, but the gathering’s title could be especially apt for Ms. Pelosi, the House minority leader, who will be on hand to accept $15,000 checks, and could, if everything breaks her way, become the first woman to be House speaker.
The bad news: Assuming that the upcoming elections return at least a toehold on power to the Democrats, this just hastens the day when it will be the Dems' turn again to be hounded out of office for corruption.
The good news: The Dems are less prone to (or adept at) lock-step solidarity and slightly more suspicious of corporate power, so it will take them longer to get to that point again than it did the Republicans the most recent time around.
Update: Sirotablog took the fundamental point of my smartass observation and went a whole lot farther with it.
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