Dems seeking to divide GOP

February 16, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — Even as President Barack Obama denounces Washington’s campaign-obsessed culture, the Democratic Party machinery is planning to exploit divisions among Republicans for partisan advantage, a stance that seems at odds with the president’s bipartisan message.

Obama used his State of the Union speech last month to call for an end to the “perpetual campaign” while saying Americans were tired of “a Washington where every day is election day.” He vowed to meet monthly with Republican leaders to help dissolve partisan tensions.

But one day before Obama’s address, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee put out a memo advising candidates on how to create rifts within the GOP. The memo recommended that candidates “trap” the opposition into taking positions on policies that caused the recession. And it suggests Democrats force opponents to commit themselves on polarizing issues: whether Obama is “a U.S. citizen” (he was born in Hawaii, though some remain unconvinced) and “a socialist.”

“If your opponent has taken a moderate position in the past, you should be sure to make sure their primary opponent or conservative activists know it,” the memo said. “This will cause them to take heat from their primary opponents and could likely provoke a flip flop ...”

Potential Republican presidential opponents are also in the Democrats’ cross hairs. Recently, the Democratic National Committee circulated an e-mail targeting 2008 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Romney has not announced whether he’ll run in the next presidential election, which is nearly three years off. The e-mail sought to cast Romney as “flip-flopping” based on positions he takes in a new book due out in March.