Is “These people could be in charge” the winning message for Democrats?

This promises to be a tough electoral year for Democrats, given the anti-incumbent mood that seems to be prevalent across the nation, and on a national level, Democrats have been searching for an effective argument to bolster their case that Republicans shouldn’t be allowed back in control of Congress. Democrats have used the terms “Bush Republicans” and “BP Republicans” to attack members of the GOP, but neither attack really seemed to gain any traction. Late last week, the DNC rolled out a new message to attack Republicans, and the DNC’s message isn’t very subtle: Republicans aren’t just wrong – they’re actually kind of crazy.

Last week Democrats unveiled a video, titled “These People Could be in Charge,” which highlights a variety of high-profile GOP candidates, all of whom appear to be, to varying degrees, stark raving mad.

The point isn’t subtle — voters are supposed to start connecting “Republican” and “crazy.” This is a party that doesn’t just want to turn back the clock to the Bush/Cheney era; this is a party that wants to scrap New Deal-era pillars of American society, repeal constitutional amendments, eliminate cabinet agencies, purge the GOP of moderates, etc.

That this effort is being launched the day before right-wing, anti-government zealots gather at the Lincoln Memorial is not, I suspect, a coincidence.

What’s more, the larger significance is very likely intended to push back against the very nature of the cycle. For months, the Republican plan has been to make the elections a referendum — if you don’t like the status quo, vote for the GOP. The Democrats’ task has been to present the midterms as a choice — you can choose to move forward with Dems, or you can go backwards with a radicalized Republican Party.

It’s a direct response to the best scenario Democrats could have hoped for. The GOP brand is still deeply unpopular, but presented with a key opportunity for massive gains, the party has nominated some real nutjobs. Voters who may have been inclined to vote Republican this year may think twice when they consider the weirdo whose name is on the ballot.

Here’s the video the DNC put out in conjunction with their new strategy:

As I noted earlier, there’s no denying 2010 is going to be a rough year for Democrats. With an economy that’s still struggling to recover from a nasty recession, folks are looking for someone to blame, and while there’s plenty of blame to be had by both parties, Democrats will bear the brunt of the frustration and anger that many across the nation are feeling (frustration and anger that no doubt have been fanned by Tea Party movement).

Given the difficult political climate Democrats are facing, their best bet might be the very strategy they’ve employed. Tying Republicans to the most far-right fringe elements of their party will only serve to remind the electorate just how far the Republican Party has veered away from the center in its journey to the far-right fringe of the political spectrum.