What would be the best target for 2006?

[Ken Burch]

Trying to take back the House, or trying to make gains in the Senate?

Is it realistic to expect major gains in either chamber, or do we need to look at some other approach?

[eg101]

1. the party itself would improve if a lot of races were lost

no pain, no gain....

[Ken Burch]

4. Say WHAT?

were we improved by 2002 and 2004?

[eg101]

5. yes

but change does not come right away. Perhaps these elections set the stage. Perhaps they made some people face some hard facts.

[shraby]

2. We're dead in the water until the voting

machines are changed completely.

[demodonkey]

3. Agree! Repair the voting process! eom

[ErinGoBraghLess]

6. Best Bet

1. I think we need more empathy for middle america voters. No, I don't mean Bush-lite. I mean down-home real people who can convey their honest (as opposed to feigned) understanding of working class people. Pardon me, but I am a little tired of these super-rich politicians pretending to know what it's like to raise kids and pay taxes and work hard. The biggest mystery to me is how Bush ges high praise as "just one of us folk" when he is so distant from us, so rich, so upper-class. Maybe it's the jeans or the "ranch" he works so hard on. (sarcasm). Aren't there plain old people running for office anymore, or is it all a game for ritchie rich folks?

2. Distance ourselves from Michael Moore, Michael Nedow folks.

3. Remind people how government can assist them as opposed to taking care of them. No one wants to be belittled.

4. Find more black politicians who are educated and articulate.

5. Counter the Right's propaganda.

[Ken Burch]

8. On the reaching out to Middle America thing.

We need to listen more to people like Jim Hightower. We need to listen more to singers like Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson.

We need to talk openly about class. Clinton made the Dems the Party of the CEO's and that damn near killed us.

The rich will never really help us, so we need to tell them to go away.

And enough of Biden's Senate campaign strategy of recruting centrist millionaires as candidates. They all lost, and they wouldn't have been worth a damn if they'd won.

[Zebulon]

10. On reaching out to middle America

Clinton made the Dems the Party of the CEO's and that damn near killed us.

The rich will never really help us, so we need to tell them to go away.

Agreed. The interest the rich and large corporations have in influencing the Democrat party is to ensure that, no matter who wins elections, their interests are paramount. We need to get back to our roots of being the party of the average American: working class, middle class, and main street.

[renaissanceguy]

16. Exactly.

I have a BIG problem with rich people saying what is best for the middle and working class, when their policies do not benefit working and middle class people. We can speak for ourselves, and our leaders should reflect that.

http://www.cafepress.com/liberalissues.15475094

[DaedelusNemo]

19. Willie Nelson for President!

God, that'd be great. He'd win in a landslide.

:P

Really, he would.

[MontecitoDem]

7. We need to work on winning Governors seats!

I think we need to be building the democratic party in each and every state. That means local and statewide candidates, and huge volunteer efforts by dems in every community.

[Zebulon]

11. Re: We need to work on winning Governors seats!

Another good point. History indicates that successful candidates for president are most likely to come from the ranks of the governors. The more executives we have at the statehouse level, the more likely we will find successful candidates for national office.

[MontecitoDem]

13. We have Schwarzenegger here - so that's why Govs are on my mind!

The hardest part is, we may not be able to beat him even with his destruction of public school education and other social programs, his incredible arrogance, treatment of women, etc.

We are probably going to spend buckets of cash on this race. But, whatever happens statewide, we are going to beat his ass here in my precinct and county!

[DaedelusNemo]

20. Not only that, extra opportunities to spread message - at grassroots/nt

[flaminbats]

9. we have nothing to lose..

We should fight for control of the House and Senate, and to win every open Governorship. Most of the Republican Senators running in 2006 do not come from the south, providing Democrats with a rare opportunity!

the following are Senate seats we can win in 2006..

Bill Frist (R-Tenn), retiring

Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), one of the most vulnerable incumbents

Rick Santorium (R-Penn), can a neocon who is even more fanatical than Bush win re-election in a blue state?

Mike DeWine (R-Ohio), blindly marches in Bush's footsteps

John Ensign (R-Nevada), moves further to the right even as Nevada is becoming more liberal

John Kyl (R-Arizona), an old Goldwater clone running in a rapidly changing Arizona

Jim Talent (R-Mo), an Ashcroft clone running in the American heartland

Conrad Burns (R-Montana), a state which Democrats are gaining ground http://www.helenair.com/articles/2004/11/12/opinions/a04111204_03.txt

George Allen (R-Virginia), a race Mark Warner can easily win

Trent Lott (R-Mississippi), no longer the Republican leader and now entangled in a mess corruption and scandals

Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), Chris Bell or Charlie Stenholm would be excellent candidates..winning here could cripple Bush politically

Craig Thomas (R-Wym), the Vice President's state..another golden opportunity to win public support for our mandate

Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), time for a candidate who can throw Mormon values back in Orrin's face

Dick Lugar (R-Indiana), anything is possible..;)

After two more years of war, pushing for Social Security cuts, and corruption in the White House..beating these incumbents will seem easier than winning open seats. Picking up six of these seats would give us a majority, only five if Chaffee switched parties. But this can only happen if all our Senators are re-elected.

[Ken Burch]

12. Any suggestions for a Democratic "Mormon Values" candidate for Utah?

If he loses, Hatch can be Ashcroft's opening act on the Singing Republican circuit.

[flaminbats]

14. I thought Hatch was Ashcroft's opening act..

the best advice I can give would be to use the Carter campaign of 1976 as a model. Make morality and character central themes of the campaign, attack Hatch for his immoral support for a dishonest President and his "who gives a damn attitude" toward raising children. A President should set a high moral standard for Americans to follow by example.

[renaissanceguy]

17. While we should articulate morals

to a certain extent, we cannot make them an issue of character and religious values. What we should do, is make points like "It's a moral issue to make sure every child has an education." "It's a moral issue to respect our neighbors." "It's a moral issue to help the poor."

http://www.cafepress.com/liberalissues.14741193
http://www.cafepress.com/liberalissues.15475094

[autorank]

23. Now, I like you and your list.

I agree with everything here being realistic except Hatch and Lugar. I was amazed as I read it and realized that these are all winnable. Now, here's some good news for you, Chafee is up and he's trailing named opponents by about 20%. Doesn't that just make you want to gorge your face at Ratners!

This list was/is inspiring!

[renaissanceguy]

15. First we need to reform the party, bottom-up

in the next year. We need to make sure it's the people--not the media, not corporatists--who have control of the Party. And then we need to pick good candidates who will stand their ground and champion OUR values.

Once we do that, I think we can win back seats in BOTH chambers.

http://www.cafepress.com/liberalissues.15841622
http://www.cafepress.com/liberalissues.15475094

[DaedelusNemo]

21. Waaaahhhh....? Democrats supporting liberal ideals? BRILLIANT! /nt

[Moloch]

18. I've always had a special disliking for

Rick "Man on Dog" Santorum.

[H2O Man]

22. We need to start

on the local level. We need to start today, and work towards 2006. If we are talking about building a house, we need to start with the foundation. It's the "underground" work. It's hard. People driving by don't even see it. But it's the most important part of building a strong house. And there is no way to start by building the roof.

[B Calm]

24. We need to reconnect with the working man and preach

how the GOP is for cheap labor..