Tide of rage running against the Democrats

'America is at a tipping point. A lot of people say a breaking point.' Photo / Supplied

Haight St in San Francisco knows how to cling to lost causes. It stands at the centre of the famous Haight-Ashbury district, the heart of the 1960s flower power movement. It is still lined with hippie shops selling bongs and tie-dye skirts.

So it is no surprise in this most liberal corner of one of the most liberal cities in America to still find enthusiastic fans of Nancy Pelosi, the powerful Speaker of the House of Representatives whose congressional seat covers San Francisco.

"She is very strong. I think we have needed strong Democrats like her. I am proud of her," said Annie Coulter, a local costume designer.

But such pro-Pelosi sentiments are harder and harder to find these days, especially outside her fanatically liberal hometown. Across America, as the fiercely contested mid-term elections at the beginning of next month draw near, Democrats are on the run from a resurgent and freshly powerful Republican Party.

Many experts expect the Republicans, powered by a flow of energy from the Tea Party movement, to wrest control of the House which Pelosi heads. A few think they may even win the Senate too.

Republicans have put Pelosi front and centre of their campaign, trying to turn her into a rallying cry and a hate figure. Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee, is on a "Fire Pelosi Bus" touring from coast to coast. She has been portrayed as extreme, out-of-touch and elitist; an uncaring liberal ogre forcing unwanted legislation down the throats of ordinary Americans.

"She is the featured devil this year," said Republican pollster and political consultant Adam Probolsky. Pelosi's home district voted 85 per cent for Barack Obama in 2008 and she romped home in her last election with 72 per cent of the vote.

But if the Democrats lose the House she will be ousted as Speaker, after being hailed only four years ago as the most powerful woman in American politics. If that happens, it will be a spectacularly swift fall.

"Her career will be over," said Jack Pitney, a politics professor at Claremont McKenna College in Los Angeles.

Even Pelosi's Republican opponent in San Francisco is enjoying some of the benefits of her troubles. With a note of wonder in his voice, John Dennis says people on the streets of the notoriously anti-Republican city have been pleased to see him.

Outside San Francisco, signs of the rising Republican tide are even clearer to see. They were on full display in San Jose last week at a rally and pep talk with the Tea Party darling and former vice-presidential candidate, Sarah Palin. She was greeted with a deafening standing ovation from several thousand people right in the heart of California, a state that has been solidly Democratic since 1992.

Obama, she said, was embarked on a plan to fundamentally change their country. He was a threat to both freedom and capitalism. America was now governed by a "leftist elite" pursuing a "liberal agenda", she said.

"America is at a tipping point. A lot of people say a breaking point."

Many in the crowd became agitated. "Let's throw the bums out!" shouted one man. Palin responded: "Amen, brother! You betchya!"

It was a perfect encapsulation of the anger and rage that is coursing through much of the electorate in California and America as a whole.

It's an emotion the Republicans appear far better at channelling than their Democratic counterparts.

Democratic strategists have bemoaned a lack of enthusiasm from the core activists that were so impressive in getting Obama elected just two years ago. At the same time the party has been riven by splits.

The reason for the disarray, just two years after the historic victory of 2008, is simple: the economy.

It looks grim and there are few signs it will get better any time soon. Certainly not before the election.

"There is very little that the Democrats can do to change the basic trajectory," said Pitney.

Dennis agreed. "My gut feeling is that Republicans are going to do very well," he said. "Maybe even extraordinarily well." Observer