WASHINGTON �� Democrats are betting that with the help of a wave of TV and digital ads they can finally make the upcoming election about health care and taxes.
They just hope voters will tune out President Donald Trump long enough to listen.
Since Trump's election, Democratic Party leaders have said they would emphasize pocketbook issues, convinced that an economic focus was necessary to win in November's midterm elections. But Trump has made it difficult, using his bully pulpit and the all-consuming attention he commands in the media to compel Democrats to discuss anything but the economy, from kneeling NFL players to special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.
Now, however, Democrats say the election gives their candidates and allied groups a chance to force the conversation back to economic issues by paying for messages delivered directly to voters.
"What Democrats need to do, because Trump is all encompassing on cable news and earned media, is continue to talk about consequences of health care and the tax bill," said Patrick McHugh, executive director of the Democratic-aligned Super PAC Priorities USA. "And you're seeing that already."
McHugh, like nearly every Democratic strategist, said the party is planning to focus heavily in its ads on the Republicans' attempted repeal of the Affordable Care Act and their tax cuts, which Democrats argue are designed to unfairly help the rich.
"We need to get our message out on economic issues because we can't rely on the press to do so in this news environment," he said.
House Majority PAC, the Democratic super PAC, released an ad this week targeting Rep. David Young, R-Iowa, in Iowa, criticizing him for voting for tax cuts that benefit special interests at the expense of the middle class. That followed a wave of ads from the PAC in June and July, running in a dozen districts each, that focused on the tax and health care bills.
Democrats think an economic message best unites their liberal base and many of the white working-class voters who backed Trump in 2016. Impressions of Trump are already hardened, and trying to change how voters regard the president or how congressional Republicans treat him would be difficult even if it were backed by tens of millions of dollars in ad spending.
"The voters who are pay attention to the national back and forth will have heard more than enough about Michael Cohen or the Helsinki summit," said Jesse Ferguson, a Democratic strategist. "Our obligation is to make sure they hear about health care repeal and tax giveaways."
But to some party operatives, the belief that a spate of TV ads can meaningfully capture voters' attention is foolhardy.
"It is so naive after what we have seen the last three years to expect any share of voice to compete with President Trump," said Josh Holmes, a Republican strategist. "It just won't happen."
Holmes added that if Democrats want a discussion about the economy, the Republican Party and its candidates would welcome the debate. Republicans appear ready for it, with Trump tweeting regularly about what this week became the longest bull run in stock market history.
Democrats note that midterm elections are fundamentally different from presidential races, because the media will focus more on local races than on Trump, they argue.
But regardless, Democrats say they need to avoid Trump and focus on economic issues to reach the most voters, including their base. McHugh said many Democratic voters need to believe that their party can help them in tangible ways, citing the positive, education-focused message that Democrat Doug Jones of Alabama used to help pull off an upset in the special Senate election last year.
"Our goal is to talk to our base members who are not inclined to vote because of Trump," McHugh said. "It will be an affirmative reason why turning out to vote will lead to positive change in your community. For a lot of people trying to commit to vote for somebody to stop bad things from happening is simply not enough."
