The Washington Post reports that David Plouffe, former campaign manager and chief strategist for President Obama’s election campaign, will be advising the White House on its course of action in the 2010 Midterm election cycle. The Democrats face a tough election year, but Plouffe is careful to point out that the Republicans don’t have very much going for them either. When asked how Democrats can minimize their losses, Plouffe had a one-word answer: “Republicans.”

Plouffe has been assigned to apply his approach to races throughout the country which are seen as competitive. His focus will be on drawing a distinction between the Republican and Democratic candidates, something which he agues should have been done much earlier in the Massachusetts Senate Special Election in January which saw Scott Brown (R) defeat Martha Coakley (D) in a political “shot heard round-the-world.”

“Politics is a comparative exercise,” Plouffe, who managed Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, told the Fix in his first extended interview since he took on a broadened political role for the White House in advance of the midterm elections. “This isn’t just a referendum on Democrats or our party. It’s a choice.”

That choice was made explicit far too late in last month’s special Senate election in Massachusetts between then-state Sen. Scott Brown (R) and state Attorney General Martha Coakley (D), Plouffe noted. “Everyone would agree that the definition of Brown should have happened a lot sooner and a lot more clearly,” he said.

The Democratic defeat, which meant the loss of a filibuster-proof 60-seat Senate majority, served as something of a wake-up call for the White House — making clear the need to step up its efforts (and ability) to effectively monitor what is expected to be a large playing field this fall.

Plouffe had remained an adviser to Obama after the campaign, although not in any formal capacity. Now his job will be to help ensure that the White House and the Democratic National Committee do everything possible to get Democrats elected this fall.

While the White House announcement about Plouffe drew lots of media attention, especially in light of the devastating loss in Massachusetts, he said his new role has been “completely overstated.” He said the “notion that any individual or the White House has become the czar of all campaigns is not grounded in reality.”

Regardless of strategy, Democrats everywhere are preparing for a tough election cycle. Americans will be sour to the Democratic message unless the economy makes significant improvements for those on “Main Street,” making the next couple of months crucial for the Democrats, and still very far out of their own control.

Photo (via Harvard Law)