Democratic Socialist assessment of the Election in November

[deutsey]

http://www.dsausa.org/dl/Winter_2005.pdf

Harold Meyerson, in Democratic Left at the link above, discusses the last election in "Turnouts, Turnoffs, and the National Election."

Meyerson is the Vice Chair of the Democratic Socialists of America and writes for the Washington Post, American Prospect, and LA Weekly.

The article is on page 4 in the pdf.

Some snippets:

"We may not have so much a mobilization problem as we have a persuasion problem, a shorthand for a program problem, a platform problem, a connection problem, a 'who the hell are you?' problem--which is at the root of Bush's victory and Kerry's defeat."

"In particular, working-class white women were where Kerry lost the most compared to 2000. Interestingly, 'homeland security' and 'terrorism,' not 'moral values,' were the top issues these voters cited again and again."

"There was an election-eve Greenberg poll in which 52 percent of respondents said the economy was in bad shape, and, asked who would better handle the economy and keep America prosperous, showed Kerry and Bush running even. That's death for a Democratic candidate."