NRA's political clout ain't what it used to be

By GottaLaff

Change I can believe in:

With 2nd Amendment rights expanded and Democrats reluctant to tackle the issue, gun control isn't the GOP weapon it used to be. The rifle group, in essence, is a victim of its own success.

Actually, I'd like to gloat, but I can't, exactly. The Democrats removed gun control from the agenda, gun laws were weakened, and the National Rifle Association has been successful. But there is a silver lining:

Eight years after a national debate over gun control helped keep Democrat Al Gore out of the White House, the National Rifle Assn. and its Republican allies are launching a new campaign to defeat Barack Obama.

But this time, the issue that GOP strategists once relied on to provide crucial votes in close elections has lost much of its political punch.

The NRA may have become a victim of its own success.

Congress hasn't passed major legislation to restrict gun use in 14 years. Democrats -- scarred by past NRA campaigns -- almost never talk about the issue anymore.

And Americans now show little interest in gun control. Just half want tougher rules for gun sales, compared with nearly two-thirds in 2000.

"The issue has been essentially removed from the political agenda," said Robert Spitzer, a political scientist at the State University of New York in Cortland who has written extensively about the politics of gun control. [...]

Two years ago, GOP candidates backed by the NRA lost in a number of swing states, including Virginia, Missouri and Wisconsin, that could play pivotal roles this fall.

There, finally, is the up side. The NRA is losing swing states.

NRA-backed U.S. Senate candidates in Pennsylvania, Montana, Missouri, Minnesota and Virginia all lost in 2006, even though the gun group spent more than $1 million on their races, according to federal election data collected by the Center for Responsive Politics.

In Wisconsin, another key swing state, the group spent nearly $700,000 to unseat the Democratic governor, who had twice vetoed legislation allowing state residents to carry concealed weapons. Gov. James E. Doyle cruised to reelection by 8 percentage points, and the leading champion of the pro-gun legislation in the state Senate lost his seat.

Even in the West, where guns have loomed mythically large on the political landscape, there are signs that the issue may be losing its potency.

A far cry from this:

[I]f Republican nominee George W. Bush wins in November, "we'll have . . . a president where we work out of their office."

Time to pack up the ol' NRA boxes and clear out, buckaroos.