AP analysis: Could GOP be playing into Democrats' hands?

Being simply the "party of no" against President Barack Obama has worked well for Republicans all year, and they're poised for big election gains. But now, after internal GOP debate and relentless White House goading, Republicans eager to show voters that they're ready to govern and that they stand for something have rolled out a policy agenda of their own. And, perhaps, played right into the Democrats' hands.

House GOP leader John Boehner cast the "Pledge to America" as "a new governing agenda, built by listening to the American people, that offers a new way forward." But he also acknowledged that it lacked specifics on important subjects like Social Security and Medicaid.

Facing a stiff political headwind, Democrats are grasping for any strategy they can find to minimize an expected shellacking on Nov. 2. And the GOP's campaign manifesto gives the president's party a potentially valuable tool as it tries cast the midterm elections as a choice that voters must make between two economic visions rather than a referendum on Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress as Republicans want.

With the 21-page GOP document, Democrats now have something to point to as they seek to bolster their claim that Republicans offer nothing more than the same policies of the past.

FULL AP STORY FOLLOWS BELOW