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“A lot of Republicans want to nationalize this race around one issue and one personality: Barack Obama.  They’re using it in their primary campaigns.  Republicans are competing to show who can be the tougher messenger and throw more elbows against Barack Obama.” (MSNBC)

The 2010 mid-term elections are ten months away, but Republicans and Democrats are wasting no time, already coming out swinging.  Power is up for grabs—Republicans stand to recoup deep losses in battleground states and districts, leaving Democrats to play defense.

With both parties playing to win, we take a look at perspectives from MSNBC, Politico, Talking Points Memo, Fox News and The Huffington Post.

First up – Politico talked to the former GOP Governor chairman, Phil Musser, who says Republican hopefuls are attacking Mr. Obama for a reason.

“…Any opportunity to get noticed on national TV and bash Obama is golden. It provides free exposure when money is tight, helps them raise national money…and most importantly, forces their local press to cover them.”

On the other side of the aisle—early signs suggest Democrats will focus on a familiar figure, President Bush … and blame Republicans for the country’s economic problems.

“Democrats think the economy will actually work to their advantage - if there is an uptick, they can say they stepped in to save it from a deeper dive and say Republicans voted ‘No’ on every piece of legislation that helped to turn it around.” (Talking Points Memo)

Some expect the failed Christmas Day bombing attempt to play a big role in shaping future debate.

A FOX News anchor and Democratic pundit, Michael Brown, disagreed over whether the national security blame game will benefit either party.

“Some would say this incident on this flight to Detroit really falls into the Republicans’ hands.  It happened while the president happened to be on vacation far, far away.  He didn’t return from that vacation.  Perhaps, there was an image issue there."

“When you start making other attacks, I think that’s the old problem that I think the American people have is how does that keep them safe?  Whether it’s policy debates, which are fair game, or the other side, which is for political gain…I don’t think the American people care about that part of it.”

And in a role reversal, The Huffington Post reports Democrats plan to the turn the tables on Republicans in 2010, calling them soft on security.  

“The 2010 appropriations bill contained Transportation Security Administration funding for explosives detection systems and other security measures -- it was opposed by House Minority Leader John Boehner [and other Republicans].”

On MSNBC, political writer Charlie Cook says despite early wrangling, don’t expect a seismic shift for either political party in 2010.

“When you go back and look at the Republicans taking over Congress in 1994, their brand was in good shape, they had good, high favorable ratings.  You look at when Democrats took over Congress in 2006.  The Democratic Party had high favorable ratings.  Right now, the Republican favorable ratings are worse than Democrats, so that could put a ceiling on how much Democrats can lose and how much Republicans can win in this election.”

So do you think either party is on track to win big in November?  Are you swayed by their messages?

Writer: Chance Seales

Producer: Nathan Giannini