Cowan says. "Even in this economic environment

DNC chairman Tim Kaine said, "The men in charge of Republican campaigns made it crystal clear what Republican candidates plan to do if elected—take us backward." The DNC followed up with a Web video entitled "Exact Same Agenda." The narrator quotes Sessions and adds: "The exact same agenda that cost 8 million Americans their jobs."

Behind this dustup is a growing realization among Democrats that there is still plenty of mileage in bashing Bush, even though he has been out of office for 18 months. Fifty-three percent of voters blame him for the sad state of today's economy, according to a new survey by Third Way, a self-described moderate think tank. And by 46 percent to 32 percent, Americans say Obama's economic ideas are better than Bush's. Among independents, a key swing vote in many races, the margin is 39 to 30 in Obama's favor. [See photos of the Obamas behind the scenes.]

Republicans say all this is unfair, that Obama needs to take responsibility for current conditions and not blame everything on his predecessor. But each party has a track record of pointing fingers at unpopular past presidents. The GOP did it for years with Democrat Jimmy Carter, who presided over hard times, and the Democrats did it for two generations with Republican Herbert Hoover, who was in office at the start of the Depression. Now the Democrats see an opening to frame the fall election as what one party strategist called "a choice between Obama and Bush, rather than a referendum on the [current] president's policies."

Of course, there are still positive signs for the GOP. Republicans hold a 3-point edge in the generic congressional ballot that offers a general choice between Democrats or Republicans, according to Third Way polling. And most voters believe in the private sector rather than government as the engine to best generate a recovery, which is considered a GOP article of faith. Perhaps most important, two thirds of Americans see congressional Republicans and their economic ideas as "new and completely separate from those of the former president," according to the analysis by Third Way.

But Jon Cowan, the think tank's president, says this might be a tentative conclusion, and that if Democrats can tether the GOP to Bush, they can maintain control of Congress. "The November elections could completely turn on whether voters believe that Republican ideas are new or a return to the Bush policies," Cowan says. "Even in this economic environment, Republicans cannot win if they are associated with the economic policies of the former president." And that's just what the Democrats are trying to do. Making the elections a contest between Obama and Bush may be the Democrats' only hope of hanging onto their majorities.

There's one other presidential factor christian louboutin sale MBT shoes Christian Louboutin shoes Christian Louboutin Shoes replica bags at work. It turns out that former President Bill Clinton, who left office in January 2001 with the country at peace and the budget in surplus, is more well-liked than either Obama or Bush. Sixty-one percent of Americans view him favorably, compared to 52 percent