Sam Stein On 'Ed Show': Democrats Can Defeat Michele Bachmann

Sam Stein and Republican strategist Karen Hanretty appeared in the "Rapid Fire" segment on Monday's "Ed Show."

Host Ed Schultz opened the segment with Harry Reid's new line of attack against his tea partier opponent, Sharron Angle. Schultz expressed optimism that Reid's improving poll numbers -- and an attack ad drawn from charges against Angle that emerged during Nevada's Republican primary for Senate -- mean the Senate majority leader will be more "aggressive."

"Yeah, he's got to run a really negative campaign, he's got to paint her as extreme, and he's got to do it right out of the box, because his numbers do have a limit to how high they can go, he's got to pull hers down, and that's the path to reelection," Stein said.

Schultz moved on to David Axelrod's suspicions of South Carolina Senate upstart Alvin Greene, about whose success Stein expressed puzzlement, and later, Democrats targeting Michele Bachmann's seat in November's midterm elections. Hanretty cited Bachmann's 2008 fundraising as evidence that her seat is safe, but Stein pointed out that her opponent raised lots of money, too, and said he thinks Democratic challenger Tarryl Clark could indeed unseat Bachmann come fall.

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