The next seven months are going to be an extremely rough-and-tumble period in both the national and state political scenes.

President Obama and his followers will be using every possible tool to try to stop the bleeding from his lies relative to Obamacare, the Benghazi tragedy, the IRS targeting of conservative organizations, the unemployment situation and many other Obama policies and actions.

Democratic candidates who normally would be trying to campaign on the coattails of the Democratic president now are trying to figure out ways to distance themselves from the president.

Republican candidates have been presented a highly favorable climate in which to capitalize on the growing distrust of Obama, but GOP candidates have to offer better and more solid solutions to help correct many of today’s challenges and problems.

Unfortunately, the actions of the Obama administration cause a growing number of Americans to wonder whether they can trust the promises and pledges of our senior elected officials. It is clear Obama lied, time and time again, about his health care plan.

It also is clear he has changed various deadlines called for in his Obamacare package, which, if enforced, would have serious negative effects on Democratic candidates. He didn’t want anything that would cause a loss of Democratic support before the U.S. House, Senate and gubernatorial elections.

Millions of Americans would have faced financial penalties or lost their insurance if the original deadlines had been enforced.

Here in Kansas, Paul Davis of Lawrence and Jill Docking of Wichita, who are seeking the Democratic nomination for governor and lieutenant governor, try to distance themselves from Obama and his policies. They both were strong, active supporters of Obama in the 2008 and 2012 elections but claim they should not be judged as being apostles of Obama.

Likewise, throughout the country, Democratic candidates for the U.S. Congress find convenient ways to distance themselves from the president and not be present when he visits their states.

When campaigning for the 2008 presidential election, Obama pledged, if elected, to make “fundamental changes” in America.

He followed through and, today, a growing majority of Americans say they are worse off now than they were before Obama’s election.

However, this doesn’t stop Obama as he, with the assistance of Attorney General Eric Holder and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, use numerous methods to stonewall efforts by GOP lawmakers to get answers to serious national questions, as well as being able to have House-initiated actions introduced for Senate debate.

Politics is a rough game. To the winner belong the spoils.

Obama and his crew know the president’s ability to continue to make “fundamental changes” depends on Democrats keeping control of the Senate and either whittling down the GOP majority or, better yet, taking control of the House. If this were to come about, Obama would not have to revert to executive actions to get his way.

The stakes are high, both for Obama and the country.

Democratic candidates favored by Obama will have access to the vast, unmatched and brilliant database on more than 200 million Americans which helped steam-roll Obama’s victories over John McCain and Mitt Romney.

This treasure chest of demographic information and directions on how to raise money, get out voters and, most of all, develop the messages and campaign promises that will resonate with voters and get them to the voting booths is invaluable.

The GOP has nothing to compare with the Democrats’ “Project Ivy,” which is the complete, tested and highly successful guide on how to win elections. One senior Democratic National Committee member said, “They (the GOP) haven’t been able to reverse-engineer what we did three years ago, let alone what we’ll do this year.”

As noted above, the next seven months will be critical for both Democrats and Republicans. Based on past national election efforts, Democrats –who see nothing wrong with greater national debt and a steady move to a “nanny state” environment — will use a lot of “we” and “they” trying to divide the country and figure out ways to offer more fiscal assistance and aid to more Americans.

GOP leaders will call for cuts in government spending, less government involvement in the lives of Americans, a country meriting more support and prestige among nations and leaders around the world and true honesty and transparency in government affairs. Free enterprise will be a central theme of their campaigns.

In Kansas, Democratic leaders will want access to Project Ivy, and they will try to distance themselves from Obama even though Davis and Docking have been strong, enthusiastic backers of the president.

An incumbent must run on his record, and there are many who have been and will be critical of Gov. Brownback’s actions and policies. Many Republicans wish he had had a better first term in office. However, Brownback has faced challenges similar to what many GOP governors around the country inherited, and the results of his tax initiatives have yet to be determined. He must meet a balanced budget, which is not required of the federal government, and he has tried to distribute limited state funding to those with the greatest needs. There’s no way to please everyone. It is natural most state-aided or state-supported agencies want greater fiscal support, but the strength of the state’s economy determines the availability and level of funding.

As noted above, the 2014 and 2016 elections are critical for this country, and the stakes are high, extremely high.

The best insurance for this country to move forward is for an informed citizenry to be able to separate promises from facts.