The MSM has its marching orders.

(The Hill) — Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) is pinning Democrats’ hopes for keeping their Senate majority on a strategy that would tie the GOP to the Tea Party, which has dropped in popularity.

Schumer, who as chairman of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee has responsibility for the Senate Democrats’ messaging strategy, unveiled his 2012 campaign plans at a Wednesday breakfast hosted by Third Way, a Democratic think tank.

Schumer believes the Tea Party, which lost support after forcing a July showdown over the debt limit, could be the GOP’s Achilles’ heel next year.

“By linking the GOP to its extreme Tea Party fringe, Democrats can bolster the prospects or the president’s jobs ideas, or at least make clear who is responsible for the stalling of the recovery,” Schumer wrote in a memo to “interested parties.”

Schumer argues Democrats can make this link by “branding the school of thought that resists against any job-creation measures as ‘Tea Party economics.’ ”

He says, “The opponents of the president’s jobs proposals should be invoked as ‘Tea Party Republicans.

“If their obstruction continues, it will risk a ‘Tea Party recession,’” he added.