HAVE THEY BEEN SPEAKING WITH DICK MORRIS? – AT 8:01 P.M. ET:  The Republicans plan a "go for broke" blitz in the last weeks of the campaign.  This parallels the advice given by Dick Morris, who believes that underconfidence, not overconfidence, is the GOP problem.  Morris figures that as many as 100 seats could be won by the GOP if its campaign machine goes all out.  The Politico reports:

House Republicans have drafted a go-for-broke blueprint for the final weeks of the midterm campaign that will bring them to $45 million in television ad spending, with spots reserved in 62 congressional districts across the nation.

POLITICO has learned that the National Republican Congressional Committee will take a bank loan of at least $6.5 million — but likely more — to expand its ad buys into seven additional districts beyond the 55 where the committee has already reserved time.

According to an NRCC source familiar with the effort, the newly added targets include five Democrats whose districts, until recently, were thought to be out of reach this year: Reps. Tim Walz of Minnesota, Sanford Bishop of Georgia, Phil Hare of Illinois, Zack Space of Ohio and John Salazar of Colorado.

Republican strategists say that the $45 million figure is far more than they expected the committee to have for the fall campaign and represents an effort to take full advantage of the Republican-friendly political environment by investing in as many potentially winnable Democratic districts as possible. The NRCC initially reserved $22 million across 41 districts in August before expanding to $35 million in 55 districts in September.

COMMENT:  Now we're talkin'.  The GOP is not generally known for imagination, and often needs a kick to pull things off with a Reaganesque flair.  But this ad buy is worth it.  Momentum is with the GOP, and they're got to exploit it, even if it means running up some debts.

October 6, 2010