Last week Jon Martin of Politico reported that Democrats had launched a concerted effort to paint Rush Limbaugh as the face and leader of the Republican Party. The plan, originally hatched by former Clinton operatives James Carville and Paul Begala, quickly expanded to include current White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and was "explicitly authorized" by Senior Advisor to the President David Axelrod, according to a report in Monday's New York Times.

Mr. Carville praised the Democrats' "Limbaugh strategy" as "great for us, great for him, great for the press," adding, "The only people he's not good for are the actual Republicans in Congress."

So far, the only thing we know for certain is that the strategy has indeed been great for El Rushbo. On Wednesday's program, Mr. Limbaugh announced that revenue for his nationally syndicated radio program in the first quarter of this year was up 13.5% versus the same time period a year ago. That's no small accomplishment given the current state of the economy.

Mr. Limbaugh also said that a recently completed Arbitron study showed that his total listenership was up 32%. This number is even more impressive, Mr. Limbaugh noted, when you consider it's a percentage increase over his already record-breaking national audience.

"Over the years," Mr. Limbaugh declared, "every effort to divide me from you, my audience, has only strengthened the bond."

For their part, Democrats feel the strategy is paying dividends as well. Mr. Carville's polling firm, Democracy Corps, released a new survey this week suggesting Mr. Limbaugh is exceedingly unpopular among all but the most conservative voters and that his image "weighs down heavily on an already weakened Republican Party."

According to the poll, conducted between March 4 and March 8, Mr. Limbaugh is viewed unfavorably by 53% of voters, with 45% of those viewing him "very" unfavorably. Fifty-seven percent of voters say Mr. Limbaugh does not share their values, and 52% say "Republican leaders should denounce Rush Limbaugh's destructive attacks on President Obama."

I would not hold my breath waiting for that to happen. Congressional Republicans are betting that by the time voters go to the polls next November, they'll be more concerned with what President Obama and the Democrats have done (or failed to do) than with what Rush Limbaugh has done or said. In the meantime, however, with Mr. Limbaugh's audience growing and Mr. Carville's polls suggesting the talk show host continues to be viewed unfavorably by a majority of Americans, don't expect Operation Rushbo to conclude anytime soon.