He is co-author, with political strategist Steve Jarding, of a book on the topic, Foxes in the Henhouse: How the Republicans Stole the South and the Heartland, and What the Democrats Must Do to Run 'em Out.
In one, he expresses his opinion of "inside the beltway" wisdom: He told us that he suspected the Potomac River was the holiest in the world, since “you can take the dumbest sonofabitch and put him on the other side of that river and all of a sudden he becomes Good Will Hunting.”In 2006, Saunders was a senior advisor in the 2006 U.S. Senate campaign of Jim Webb in Virginia.
He is credited by Jim Webb himself for convincing Webb to run for Senate, as described in this article in Rolling Stone magazine: In February 2006, Webb called the Democratic political strategist Dave Saunders, and together they plotted to end the career of Senator George Allen, a handsome dunce in the model of George W. who stood to be re-elected by thirty-three points.
The Democrats planned to run Harris Miller, an anti-labor lobbyist dedicated to outsourcing IT jobs overseas.
Saunders, known as "Mudcat" throughout the state, has for years been working on rebuilding Democratic strength in the South through an alliance of African-Americans and the Southern white men he calls "Bubbas."