At a lunch for Democratic donors, Rep. Steve Israel played a scene from the film '300.' Dems insist House in reach

It would be hard to find a pundit who thinks Democrats will win the House in November. But party leaders must keep hope alive, lest donors and outside spending groups invest their money elsewhere.

So like a good defense lawyer with an unsympathetic client, top Democrats are pressing their case — even as the fall’s main intrigue has shifted to the hard-fought battles for the White House and Senate.


The effort has turned some of the party’s most senior party officials into motivational coaches.

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At the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., New York Rep. Steve Israel, the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, held forth at a lunch briefing before 400 or so of the party’s top donors. As supporters munched on sandwiches, Israel, who has written a book about military history, flicked off the lights and played a scene from the 2006 action flick “300”, which recounts the Battle of Thermopylae.

In the clip, Leonidas, the leader of the badly outnumbered Spartan army, is confronted by a cocky Persian who informs him, “Our arrows will block out the sun.” Turning to the Persian officer, a defiant Leonidas fires back: “Then we shall have our battle in the shade!”

The lesson, Israel implored those in attendance: Just because you’re the underdog doesn’t mean you shouldn’t put up a fight.

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For House Democrats, the task ahead is daunting: convincing supporters to keep their head in the game when they’re decided underdogs. With 25 seats separating Democrats from the majority, analysts predict the party will fall well short of the gains it will need to wrest the speaker’s gavel from Rep. John Boehner.

In part, the problem is math: Even if Democrats were to win 25 Republican-held seats, it’s likely they would need to seize 10 to 15 more to make up for anticipated Democratic losses — a tall order in an election in which neither party has been able to claim momentum. There’s also the matter of history: The last time a party occupying the White House netted more than 15 House seats in a presidential election year was nearly five decades ago.

All the while, Democrats realize they must convince donors to pony up at a time when they also are under pressure to contribute to the party’s efforts to keep the White House and Senate — goals that appear far more achievable than winning the House.

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With those challenges in mind, Democrats are targeting their message to donors by seeking out pressure points, dredging up perennial attack lines and rolling out favorable internal polling.

Over the past several months, Democrats have publicly released a flood of encouraging survey results — a deliberate effort to keep their supporters motivated, party strategists say. Since the end of July, the DCCC and House Majority PAC have released nearly 20 polls they’ve conducted in individual races — about twice the number the National Republican Congressional Committee and the lead House GOP super PAC, the Congressional Leadership Fund, have put out.

“It’s important for us to begin organizing support for these candidates and to demonstrate to people that these races are moving,” Robby Mook, the DCCC’s executive director, said in an interview.

Republicans are deeply skeptical of Democratic claims that the House is within reach and dismiss their foes’ polling as tantamount to spin.

“We’re just not in the business of generating data that’s not grounded in reality,” said Brock McCleary, the NRCC polling director. “Democrats are desperately pushing out more polls to try and change a narrative that cannot be changed.”

Democrats are also employing the proven campaign tactic of fear.

Toward the end of his presentation in Charlotte, Israel clicked on a PowerPoint slide that bore one word in red, bold-faced capitalized letters: THREAT. Clicking to the next slide, Israel popped up an image of a marionette-wielding Karl Rove.

Democratic outside groups, meanwhile, are using emotional appeals to motivate donors. Last week, House Majority PAC, a prominent super PAC supporting congressional Democrats, wrote to supporters that Republicans held their convention in Tampa to advance a “war on women.”

Despite being in the minority, House Democrats have outraised Republicans. Through July, the DCCC had taken in $115 million to the National Republican Congressional Committee’s $109 million.

But Democrats say they fear an oncoming gush of cash from a collection of well-heeled Republican outside groups funded by deep-pocketed donors like Sheldon Adelson, the Las Vegas casino mogul. That prospect, they say, makes the final cash dash all the more critical.

“The one thing that has kept me up at night and will continue to keep me up at night for the next 56 days is super PAC money,” Israel told reporters in a briefing last week. “No question about it.”

While Democrats may privately admit that seizing the majority is a tall order, they‘re telling supporters otherwise. During his presentation in Charlotte — titled, “The Road from Here … 60 Day Strategy to Win 25 Seats” — Israel ran through slides showing polling statistics, incumbent Republicans who he argued are weak, and a handful of races he said are moving the party’s way.

One slide showed a map of the country, with a scattering of more than 50 yellow dots, each representing a race that Democrats had put in play. Another pictured three “ethically challenged” Republicans the party is targeting — Florida Reps. Vern Buchanan and David Rivera and New York Rep. Michael Grimm — under mock “wanted” posters.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is also playing a big part in the Democratic offensive, denying any suggestion the cause is lost.

“We have the message, we have the messengers, we have the money, we have the mobilization. We have a very excellent chance to take back the House,” she told a skeptical Candy Crowley on CNN’s “State of the Union” program Sunday.

On Friday, Pelosi sent a letter to donors assuring them that Democrats “are within range of replacing the Tea Party Congress with a Democratic House for President Obama.”

Then, she asked: “Will you donate $3 or more today …?”