Democrats Face Economic Facts: Updraft Unlikely

WASHINGTON—The string of bad news about housing, employment and economic growth has led Democrats to an inescapable conclusion: the economy is not likely to improve in time to help them in the fall elections.

Congressional Democrats and the White House will continue their attempts to enact policies they believe will boost the economy—and which are also aimed at persuading voters they are working to make things better. But some officials acknowledge it is too late for these initiatives to change the economic situation ahead of the Nov. 2 elections.

"We begin early voting in about 33 days. It would be hugely unrealistic to anticipate some kind of monumental economic turnaround between now and when people start casting our votes," said Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, who faces a tough re-election race. "I'm having to deal with the reality of what is. You can't wish it away. What is, is."

Democrats won big in 2008, partly because they were able to blame Republicans for economic woes. And while the economic situation remained dire when President Barack Obama took office in January 2009, most Democrats assumed that the economy would rebound by the time they stood for office this year.

A series of disappointing economic reports has made clear that won't be the case. The most recent one came Friday, when the government reported that the economy grew at a much slower pace in the second quarter than previously estimated. The gross domestic product, a broad measure of economic output, grew at a 1.6% annual rate, down from an initial estimate of 2.4%, and slower than 3.7% in the first quarter.

Republicans say the Democratic agenda is to blame for the bad economic news.

For more on this story from the Wall Street Journal click here