MEMO: The Road to Six

MEMORANDUM

FROM: Chairman Reince Priebus

TO: Republican National Committee Members

RE: The Road to Six

As we head into the final stretch of this election, I wanted to send along an update of where we stand—as a party and as a committee—in our effort to take back the U.S. Senate.

As you know, six is the key number in the battle for control of the Senate. Republicans have to flip six Democrat-held seats, and the good news is we have multiple paths to get to six.

But I want to emphasize that even as we hear growing predictions about a Republican “wave,” we have to remember this won’t be easy. To take back the Senate, we have to beat at least three incumbent senators. As others have rightly observed, that would be something of a historic upset. Not since the 1980 Reagan landslide have Republicans defeated more than two incumbent senators.

That’s why the RNC has made such a significant investment in supporting our candidates in 2014: $100 million. We began investing in the states earlier than in midterms past. As I noted at the Summer Meeting, for months, we’ve been quietly expanding the map. That’s partly why the party is now competitive in states that people did not expect us to be. As I’ve visited Victory 365 offices and Co-Chairman Day has gone door-knocking with volunteers and precinct teams, we’ve seen firsthand that these early investment are paying off.

We’ve helped our candidates get results by supplying them with better data and new tools to harness the power of that data. For the first time, we have built a data science team within the RNC to work alongside our strategy team. We have applied multiple new scores to all 190 million voters, allowing for greater efficiencies and effectiveness in our voter targeting. New walk applications allow volunteers to use and input data in real time, while applications like Beacon and Data Center allow campaigns to pull voter information, like voter scores, to have a fuller picture of a voter. Our Control Panel allows campaigns to see the data coming in in real time.

There’s still work to be done, and despite our significant investments and unprecedented efforts on the ground, if you add up all of the different groups that are out there, Republicans are likely to be outspent, especially on the airwaves. We already know that Democrat groups are expected to outspend Republicans dramatically on the airwaves in North Carolina, Iowa, Louisiana, Colorado, and Virginia through Election Day. On the one hand that’s not surprising: Democrats have a much more difficult time defending their records. But on the other hand, that means each and every one of us has to work that much harder.

In these final weeks, our focus will be reminding voters that the Democrat candidates’ agenda is no different from President Obama’s. At the top of that agenda is ObamaCare, which according to the most recent Kaiser poll, is viewed favorably by just 35% of voters. ObamaCare is as much of a liability for Democrat candidates as ever. Jobs and the economy remain voters’ number one priority; yet Democrats’ policies and Harry Reid’s dysfunctional Senate are standing in the way of job creation.

The president himself is a liability. A majority of the American people consider the Obama presidency to be a failure, according to the Washington Post. The president’s name may not be on the ballot, but Republicans will ensure that voters know that a vote for a Democrat is a vote for Obama. On the messaging front, that will be our focus in the RNC comms shop. Through our regular opposition research briefings, video ads, radio and television interviews, we will continue to take that message to voters until Election Day. We will complement the efforts of our state-based staff and our volunteers on the ground.

The Road to Six won’t be easy, and winning six seats will be a significant accomplishment. Republicans across the country have made great progress so far; we’re on the right track. If we all continue the hard work, we’ll be on solid ground on Election Day.

Thank you for your commitment to helping our party and bettering our country.

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View Full Press Release : http://www.gop.com/general/memo-the-road-to-six/