The Democratic war machines are starting to fire up, but instead of gasoline, they’ve kind of been running on dryer lint this time around.

Three observations.

First, it appears that Clay Aiken is considering a run for Congress as a Democrat. When either party is running cutesy candidates, it’s generally a sign that the party knows it can’t win that race and just wants a bit of media attention. Of course, as Mandarin points out to us this morning, sometimes the gag candidate can win. For example, he cited Al Franken. The Czar would submit Barack Obama started out in life as a gag candidate against Illinois Senator Jack Ryan—until of course Ryan was forced out and Obama eventually went on to be re-elected President for God’s sake. However, there are probably less Claymates than there were voters for Ashley Judd when she considered a run against Mitch McConnell. “Look, we’re not going to win anyway, so what the hell?”

Second, a lot of Democratic candidates are saying they will be pleased to run on the success of Obamacare. The Czar will bet you that when the election starts up in earnest, this will not be the case. Expect there to be very few serious claims from candidates about their Obamacare bona fides. Yeah, there will be some—but most will be struggling to change the subject.

Third, that new subject already appears to be in play. 2014: “Democrats want higher minimum wages to correct income inequality! Republicans want you all to take pay cuts!” Polls are already showing this strategy is not only nuts, it’s certain to backfire. The vast majority of Americans do not want higher minimum wages, and almost as many understand that a higher minimum wage will be disastrous to employment in this country. If you don’t believe the polls, you can always look back to history: the Democrats have tried to run on some form of “income inequality” a few times in the past, and have lost every time. If you are a Democrat candidate and are planning to change the topic from Obamacare to higher minimum wages, you should be advised it is an equally losing strategy.

But then again, if you’re a Democratic candidate in 2014, you’re probably not able to read this many paragraphs in a row.

The Czar has trepidation in predicting a dramatic rout for Democrats in 2014—but there have been few if any real signs against one.

The Czar of Muscovy

Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.