The Dem Plan for the election -look for it in August according to Newsweek

[Pirate Smile]

The Democrats' Disciplinarian
Emanuel's approach is giving Democrats the feeling they might not blow it this time. That's what worries him now: overconfidence.

By Jonathan Alter
Newsweek

-snip-
Emanuel, the former Clinton White House enforcer who is only in his second term in the House, is not a great spokesman for the party. All that coiled energy can make TV viewers nervous. But he thrives as an inside player, in touch with old-style operatives and the party's Internet vanguard. As chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, "Rahmbo" is essentially managing 40 House races from a war room a few blocks from the Capitol, helping with candidate recruitment, fund-raising and "rapid response." One minute he's ordering a colleague to plant an editorial trashing a Republican front runner in his hometown paper ("Write this down!"); the next, he's telling one of his hand-picked candidates that the guy's stump speech lacks passion ("If you think that's inspiring, get out now"). Emanuel pulls it all off with a mixture of profanity and horse sense that gives Democrats the feeling they might not blow it this time.

And that's what worries him: overconfidence. He knows that despite President Bush's unpopularity, the odds still favor continued GOP control. "Voters used to choose their representatives; now representatives choose their voters," he says, neatly summarizing how incumbents in both parties have persuaded state legislatures to redraw maps to all but end competitive elections. Gerrymandering has meant that the Democrats have little margin for error to win the 15 they need. "It's like picking a lock," Emanuel says.

-snip-
Everyone agrees that the Democrats have to establish a positive agenda to win. Emanuel will weigh in with one in August in a book tentatively titled "The Plan: Big Ideas for America," coauthored with Bruce Reed, who ran domestic policy for Clinton. Emanuel reminds Democrats who are impatient for details that the "Contract With America" that helped bring the GOP to power in the House wasn't launched until mid-September of 1994.

The strategy for getting swing-district voters to fire their incumbents is already taking shape. Just as Harry Truman ran against the "Do-Nothing Congress," Democrats will run against the "Rubber-Stamp Congress," which pimped for K Street, took a dive on its critical oversight duties (particularly on Iraq) and helped the president bankrupt the country by shoveling money toward the rich. Emanuel won't say yet which votes supporting Bush he plans to wrap around the necks of incumbents. But look for gut-punch ads that highlight the incumbents' 90-plus percent backing for Bush on issues like cuts in college loans and veterans benefits, privatizing Social Security, selling out to Big Pharma on prescription drugs and halting stem-cell research. Republicans are now scurrying away from Bush, but it may be too late. They can't take those roll-call votes back.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11903423/site/newsweek/

[mod mom]

1. Seeing the foul playing GOP has stolen several of the last elections, and

knowing a turnover to the Dems will enable them investigations through subpoena power, why the confidence? Perhaps they should read the GAO Report on Electronci Voting Machines and review Conyers "What Went Wrong In Ohio", neither which were addressed. So do they really believe the GOP, with possible jail time looming over their heads will decide to play fair?

[Benhurst]

3. Another plebiscite, another surprising Republican victory.

There's an old saying, "Fool me once ... ."

Unfortunately, the Democratic Party's version of it is even more garbled than that of our mentally-challenged pResident, something along the lines of "Fool me once, keep doing it again and again, 'cause we'll never catch on."

[Tiggeroshii]

19. Indeed

Also, we gotta be calling our legislatures 24/7 about this. Don't let those staffers rest without hearing something to the extent of "no faith in our elections anymore." EVERY lawmaker needs to be considering this, and every state needs to consider it. Democrats don't like it cause we're the losers all the time and you can't verify we lost. Republicans wouldn't like it causse they could lose primaries without knowing they really lost. This really is something in the best interest of everybody, they just need to KNOW. I say people call their lawmakers and READ the damn GAO report to them!

[BootinUp]

2. Oy, maybe they shouldn't leak the whole plan. n/t

[msgadget]

5. ...

:applause: THANK YOU! Why do former Clinton folk portray the party as in need of leading instead of as leaders?

[msgadget]

4. Good article, glad to finally understand the logic but

he misunderestimates the democrats' ability to walk and chew gum at the same time. Surely they can pile it on, kick 'em while they're down, exert unrelenting pressure as the republicans did during Clinton's term. The landscape will be different in 7 months and in 2 more years but those roll call votes won't have suddenly flipped in an opposite direction. Confidence is a leadership trait, passivity not so much.

[natrat]

6. one party in this country

[Pirate Smile]

7. Hardly. Gore or Kerry would do the same as Bush? Bullsh@#.

A Democratic Congress would be pushing the same policies and lack of oversight? No way.

[natrat]

11. obviously a grey area

take a lookee at our illustrious reps' voting records and get back to me on that--it's not preety

[MH1]

13. Oh, bullshit.

Shouldn't you be hanging out at "3rd party underground"?

If you just must persist. Tell me why you think Kerry and Gore would continue to destroy the environment like Bush & the repukes have. (LCV has already looked at their voting records. There's a pretty clear difference. DESPITE the LIES that certain Bush-enabling sites like Counterpunch like to tell.)

Okay, after that let's talk minimum wage. WHO is trying to raise the minimum wage? Who is stopping them?

Who created S-CHIP? Microloan? Who has proposed and is still proposing sensible solutions for improving access to healthcare?

Do you really think 9/11 would have even happened if Gore had taken office? Do you really think that if it did, he would have invaded a totally unrelated country?

In short, get real.

[AX10]

8. KICK and recomended

[Pirate Smile]

9. kick

[PBass]

10. The Democrats should be laying out their platform now...

in my opinion, as a political amateur and armchair quarterback.

Waiting until the Fall is too late, I think. Voters are already looking around for alternatives to Bush and the Republican-dominated Congress. Waiting to roll out the platform, very close to the November election, makes it seem that the party platform is nothing more than a campaign gimmick or campaign tool...

It's not a campaign tool, it's what we believe in as Democrats... what we've believed all along.

My 2 cents.

[madfloridian]

12. And when does Hillary lay out the DLC's American Dream Initiative.

Whew...this is a relief. Now people can quit demanding that Dean present the plan. They don't have to put post after post about where's the plan.

He doesn't have to now. Rahm is doing it. And Bruce Reed, a co-chair of the DLC. Looks like we are set for an agenda. Did the congressional minority leaders get to weigh in on it? Reid and Pelosi?

[msatty99]

14. E.N.O.U.G.H. !!!!

see companion thread

[Pirate Smile]

15. kick

[cally]

16. While the Reps repeat that Dems don't have a plan

for five more months, the Dems hold off releasing a plan. Are they just nuts? You can't repeat the Reps playbook while they hammer you on your lack of a plan. The Dems have to come up with a plan now. I fear this will be like what happened to Kerry. The strategists will try to wait it out while the Reps succeed at creating a mindset in the voters mind. I hate the Dem strategists. :argh:

[madfloridian]

17. The GOP has no plan, so they are waiting for ours.

They want to either use our plan or pick it apart.

[Pirate Smile]

18. I agree - "They want to either use our plan or pick it apart."

I understand why they are waiting until closer to the election to put out their plan.
I think it is the right way to go because why put one out when you have no way of enacting it. The point is to elect Democrats to Congress so we can enact it.

I certainly hope all the different groups are working with Dean and the DNC re the plan Democrats will run on in 2006.

All Democrats want this to be a nationalized election. This time it is the Republicans who want to make it local. There is no way in hell that is going to happen.


:hi:

Good luck today and I hope whoever wins the Illinois Dem Primary (Cegelis or Duckworth) wins in November.