Would this have worked in the South?

[Tony_FLADEM]

1. A populist economic message

2. Biographical spots about Massachusetts, Vermont and Connecticut
describing the social scene in these states i.e. the lowest
divorce in MA.

3. A writing letter campaign from Kerry supporters in the north
asking southerns to vote for Kerry.

4. Not writing off the south and actually campaign in Mississippi.

[Celeborn Skywalker]

1. It might have helped some

It would have inched us closer to Bush** in the popular vote, but we still might not have won any southern states.

[Spiffarino]

2. 1 and 4 could work

...but 2 and 3 will definitely be counter-productive.

Southerners do not like advice, especially from the North. They believe everything is just fine here, thank you, and they don't appreciate Northerners telling them what to do, not even in a nice way. Believe me, plenty of people here are still smarting from the Civil War.

Populism, optimism and activism are winning strategies regardless of region. Doing anything that will pit North against South is a losing strategy for progressives; in fact, it will only help the Republicans further widen the divide between us.

[Celeborn Skywalker]

5. Great points! n/t

[quaoar]

3. Hmmm

1. Yes.
2. No.
3. No.
4. Maybe.

[eallen]

4. Nothing is going to help in the Bible belt....

The sad truth of the matter is that the religious right correctly understand their own priorities. They want abortion banned. They want God taught in the schools. They want gays marginalized. They want TV and radio censored. They want religion to control social services.

There is no marketing or message-tuning that will turn the religious right. Those of us who care about American liberty will have to do some combination of defeating their message head-on, of attracting those Christians who views are more liberal, and of planning and biding until the current religious revival runs its course.

[deminflorida]

6. Well when your campaign is too stupid to visit even the state

capitol of one of the three states you had to have (i.e. Florida)....

Then you deserve to lose. Not one visit by Kerry to the Northern Florida area, not one.... There's probably 1/4 of the state population here and good deal of Northern and Military Transplants and not one visit.

27 electoral votes, and we couldn't even fight for them.....

I think a certain amount of fraud took place myself, but to tell you the truth Kerry bares allot of responsibility for this loss as well. Piss Poor Campaign if you ask me.

Of course there's a few "Fruit-Cakes" out there in the Democratic Party who will never admit that. They'd rather blame the WHOLE loss on Conspiracy and Fraud.

This race should have never been close enough for any of those things to happen. But it wasn't....Kerry blew it big time...

Face it people, NO VISIT TO AT LEAST THE CAPITAL OF FLORIDA????

[kentuck]

7. Populism works better in the South than in some other places,

I believe. The people in the South are very passionate about their politics, perhaps moreso than other parts of the country. I think that is a point Democrats should keep in mind.

[eallen]

8. PS: How many replies do I have to make before I can post?

Does anyone know? I'm trying not to reply indiscriminately just so I can post. On the other hand, there is a question I want to ask.

[NoSheep]

10. email me at [e-mail] and I can ask your question for you.

sorry, just trying to help one of us.

[NoSheep]

9. As a southerner, I think those are very good ideas. There are many here

who just do not have the right information. They also don't have jobs, so a populist economic message is very important. All many hear are the "social" issues. People just too often need to be told what they should do. The Democrats weren't vocal enough down here perhaps. While Bush was in their faces night and day.
You have made some excellent suggestions.

[Historic NY]

11. I was disappointed with Kerry not going into Mississippi..........

that state is so screwed up with medical/health plans issues from Gov. Barbour, he might have made some siginificant inroads.They have a major crisis there and it should have been addressed. If you can't at least make a visit or two to some southern states what are the people supposed to think.

[ArkDem]

12. Hmmmmmmm.....

1. Yes
2. No
3. No
4. Yes

[Modem Butterfly]

13. Number 3 would NOT work

Southerners are very sensitive at being treated or perceived as stupid. They're even more sensitive about being told how to do things by "outsiders", so letters from Yankees would only increase the likelyhood of voting for W as a "fuck you" statement. A better idea would be to have southern Dems stand up and be counted. And I say that as a southern Dem.