I have to say something about the 06 Elections. ****Motivate the base*****

[Crazy Guggenheim]

Ok?! Do what ever it takes to get Democratic voters to the polls! I hate to say this but *do not worry about the swing voters*!! Please! Just get the Democratic voters to the polls. Campaign to them! Do not worry about the swing or the people who voted for Bush in 2004. Just get the Democratic voters to vote. Also on election day, if you have to pick them up and put them in your car DO IT!

Now I have said my piece! God damn it!

:popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:

[rockymountaindem]

1. While I'm all for GOTV efforts

and I think they are the most under-emphasized aspect of Democratic election strategy, I don't think we should write off swing voters. There are a lot of people who, over the past year, have become quite disaffected with Bush. After the '04 election, I could see why Bush could still have won despite his record, because I knew a lot of Bushies personally and their reasons for voting the way they did.

Today, I believe a lot of them are looking for an alternative, and I think the Democratic party would be well off, at least right now, in reaching out to moderates and independents who want to get off the Neocon crazy train. There are a lot of people who belived in Bush at one time or another looking for somewhere to go, and I think we could gain a lot of votes from amongst them.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

2. Dont forget the people who might be voting Third party. My point still

stands. Do not ignore the base!
:popcorn: :popcorn:

[rockymountaindem]

5. I don't take issue with that

The base is great. However, we shouldn't ignore the middle. As always, it is the goal of a mainstream political party to represent as many people as possible. Not an easy task.

Oh, BTW, I'm still on my vendetta against the popcorn smiley face. He's going down one of these days.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

9. No. The electon is a mere seven months away. We don't have time for that.

:popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:

[Warpy]

7. Reconnecting with the base will do more than chasing

the swing voter, something rather akin to chasing a unicorn or that pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. It seems we never quite catch them, no matter how much the DLC campaign handlers tell candidates to act like Repuglicans.

Personally, I think those right leaning swing voters and moderate GOPs will simply stay home. They'll never vote for libruls and all Democrats are libruls to them.

Reconnecting with the party base of hardworking folks who have taken a beating on wages, pensions, health insurance, and yes, taxes will do much more to get those numbers up than fifty campaign stops reassuring the mythical swing voter that the Democrats aren't really Communists, after all.

In other words, the party needs to take a page out of Brian Schweitzer's play book and forget all about Clinton's. Times have changed and the battered working class can no longer accept "business as usual" and "we're not quite as bad as they are" as an acceptable alternative. It's time to be who we were before the conservatives took over and dragged the party to the right. It's time to be Democrats.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

13. There are many people who feel alienated because of the economy, etc.

Good point!

:popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:

[longship]

10. GOTV

There's an unwritten rule about GOTV. It usually helps the incumbent party.
The thinking is that you'll also bring out swing voters which generally break
for the incumbent.

However, in 2006, ChimpCo has screwed up so many things and has such a wide
trail of documented lies, that I think GOTV has a good chance of being our
best shot. Nobody likes ChimpCo. The swing voters are likely going to swing
our way this time.

[Raksha]

32. Dammit, we've already GOT the swing voters!

You even admitted it yourself: "There are a lot of people who, over the past year, have become quite disaffected with Bush. After the '04 election, I could see why Bush could still have won despite his record, because I knew a lot of Bushies personally and their reasons for voting the way they did."

I'm not picking on you personally, but I am just SOOOO damn sick of the Democrats (some Democrats, anyway) always agonizing over whether we're "too liberal" and might alienate the swing voters. Bush has ALREADY handed us the traditional "conservative" issues like fiscal responsibility on a silver platter. Just what the hell are we worried about?

Anybody who tells us to mute our message for the sake of the swing voters is NOT our friend! I see that stuff on DU all the time, and I know the people telling us to water down our liberal message don't have our best interests at heart. Just like the base, the swing voters are practically begging the Democrats to give them what they know they won't get from the Repukes, namely integrity, backbone and LEADERSHIP!

[leftofthedial]

3. yep

mobilize the base and they will convert many swing voters

go after the swing voters and most of them will resent being pandered to; meanwhile you'll alienat part of your base

result? NO ONE will be excited or motivated.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

4. Thank you!! The base felt left out in 2004. If we do not get back we are

done!

"mobilize the base and they will convert many swing voters
go after the swing voters and most of them will resent being pandered to; meanwhile you'll alienat part of your base"

VERY WISE WORDS!!


:popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:

[wisteria]

6. A lot of those swing voters are Democrats. And you want us to do what

with them?

[Crazy Guggenheim]

8. Nothing. Just get the people who are going to vote for the Demos to the

polls.

:popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:

[SeattleGirl]

11. Good points, Crazy

:popcorn:

[Crazy Guggenheim]

12. Thank you SG! I've got to tell you that - at least in my area - the base

is so fed up that the Democrats are going to have a hard tome getting them back. AND they can throw an election. :scared: :yoiks: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:

[EFerrari]

14. And away we go!

:toast:

[donheld]

15. Maybe we need to find our own "wedge issues"

They beat us up over gay marriage. We need to find some issue like this to use on them.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

16. Good! That too!

:popcorn: :popcorn:

[rucky]

21. If we run on Universal Healthcare, there's no stopping us.

remove the cap on Social Security and rollback the Bush tax cuts for the 200K+ earners and you have it paid for. That's only a wedge issue between the people and the corrupt politicians.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

22. If there are candidates in your area that support UHC get that out

to the base.
:popcorn:

[rucky]

30. I'm circulating a petition to get a statewide initiative on the ballot.

in Ohio.

www.spanohio.org

Sherrod Brown supports it nationally, and has been running on it.

and you may need a doctor with all the popcorn you've been eating.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

33. Great. Have you signed up at DW yet? You can post it in the Ohio

Forum.

http://www.democraticwarrior.com/Forum/index.php?f=35

[sandnsea]

38. Contact these people

They put it on the ballot in Oregon a couple of years ago. It was voted down, but they were actually surprised it did as well as it did with no money behind it. Maybe they would have some tips, and hurdles to be avoided.

http://www.healthcareforalloregon.org/index.html

[rucky]

40. thanks!

I was actually living in Oregon at the time, but wasn't involved on the activist side.

[sandnsea]

41. And you moved to Ohio??

:freak: Why?

:)

[rucky]

42. family.

so my daughter can grow up with her 7 cousins.

sorta makes up for the udder flatness of it all.

[sandnsea]

43. Oh, well, family

I suppose alot of sacrifices can be made for family. And you do have those beautiful autumns.

I pretty much put living half way across the country from my family in the plus column. :rofl:

[AndyTiedye]

44. After What Happened Last Time, They Won't Touch It with a 10,000 Foot Pole

We were no match for the health care industry when we had the Presidency and Congress.
How could we possibly take them on in the far weaker condition the party is in today?

I could not blame Democrats one bit if they steered clear of this issue,
however badly the country needs it, given how badly it went for us last time.

Not only did we lose, but we ended up losing both houses of Congress for who knows how long,
and seeing the Clinton Presidency crippled just as it was getting started.

[rucky]

48. The only thing more ridiculous than that excuse...

is the fact that we still don't have universal healthcare.

[AndyTiedye]

51. Where Was Our "Base" When We Tried to Enact Universal Health Care in 1993

Of course we should have universal health care, but how do you avoid a repeat of 1994?

[Nutmegger]

17. Case and point

The right-wing caters to their base and they get out in droves. Dems need to start doing the same.

Now I'll join you. :popcorn::popcorn::popcorn::popcorn:

[NMMNG]

18. rAmen

I'm tired of the Dems dumping on members of their own party (gays, atheists/agnostics, feminists, etc) just to pander to the swing vote. They need to cater to their own, and their own will work for the good of the party and the vote.

[sandnsea]

19. We had great GOTV in 2004

So great that they overwhelmed the precincts. Getting out the vote was not the problem in 2004. We surpassed all targets for GOTV in 2004.

The Noise Machine is the problem, that convinces people that labels Democrats and intimidates people into NOT voting for us. It's very effective because most Democrats don't even get that that's the real problem yet. They still think we did something in 2004 that can be fought or fixed. Nope. Just fight the Noise Machine, that's all.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

20. Just get out the people who are going to vote Democrat. The problem

was Kerry did not go to his base. The local elections are are easier to do this.

[sandnsea]

23. We exceeded all goals

We did that. We got our entire base to vote D in 2004, even the Naderites. That WAS NOT the problem.

If you want the easy solution, it's to STOP the right wing noise and quit believing what THEY tell us about our party and candidates. That's the very very simple thing we need to do.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

24. True. But the candidates ALSO have to STOP playing to the middle.

This is where the primaries are important. If the "better" candidate does not win the primaries, then pressure has to be put on the other candidate to fight or else. Play some hardball. Tell the candidate that if they don't, then you will not campaign for then and the Democratic supporters will not vote for them! Yes the time also come to put these candidates on notice!

:popcorn:

[sandnsea]

27. Yeah, that'll win elections

Don't vote for the candidate and expect to win. :eyes:

Last night I was reading a post about the Cegelis - Duckworth campaign. Somebody said he wasn't going to do anything but vote for Duckworth, and would campaign for 2 other candidates instead. Funny thing, they lost too. In fact, I think almost every candidate that the netroots have gotten behind has lost. I think Kos is something like 0 for 20 now.

Wake up. You have to deal with ALL the people, like it or not.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

29. No. The Demos have to stop being afraid to field candidates that

get labeled "unelectable". Also, the DLC has had a bad record of choosing candidates. Moderate candidates have been loosing too.

[sandnsea]

36. Political pot shots

All of it. Right now there is a clip in GD or GDP of Al Gore and the poster wants to spread it around to help combat the stiff and boring image. The stiff and boring image that John Kerry's charisma was supposed to help with in 2000. The stiff and boring image that worked so well on Al Gore, that it was recycled for 2004. How fucking stupid are we.

"unelectable" is primary politics. I said alot of things about Howard Dean during the primaries, it doesn't mean I believed it all. And even if I did, it sure doesn't mean I'd repeat ANY of it to a potential voter, I rarely repeat any of it even on DU. But not the Dem bashers. They'll say any fucking thing to pile on and advance their own agenda, even if the majority of the country doesn't want to buy what they're selling.

And what kind of candidates have been winning? Schweitzer, Salazars, Kaine. Who won in Illinois yesterday? Not the darlings of the blogosphere.

It's going to take more than "the base" screaming "chickenhawk" to win in 2006.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

37. That election was close yesterday.

[sandnsea]

39. What about the rest I mentioned

And if you can't even win a primary with "the base", then how are you going to win a general with "the base".

I'm sorry, but we've got to face reality. "The base" has got to stop trashing Democrats and learn how to convince voters that Democrats deserve their votes. And if you can't find 3 reasons to vote for a Democrat, then you just need to stay home.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

45. Just get the base out to vote in the GE. As far as them stop trashing

Democrats, well when the Democrats listen then it will stop. It will come with the territory. Just get people who are going to vote Democrat to the polls.

:popcorn:

[Richard Steele]

25. NO! You crazy drunken liberal dreamer! That will never work! (R'd for GP)

Where's the flashy ad campaigns,
where's the bold, meaningless focus-group-approved sound bites?

Where's the swift-boating, fer Chrissakes?
You have an "idea", but you don't even mention the SwiftBoating?
It's 2006; it's not hardly a campaign without SwiftBoating!!!!

Getting people out of their houses to actually VOTE?
What is this, 1994? WHAT?

Yer MAD! MAD, I say!

Real people actually going out and VOTING? That will NEVER work!
:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

PS: nominated for the 'greatest' page.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

26. HAAAAA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! I'm mad! HA HA HA HA!

:popcorn:

[Richard Steele]

28. And, as I said earlier:

Put some damn pants on!
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Crazy Guggenheim]

31. Let the flames begin! I can have popcorn for everyone.

:popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:

[Richard Steele]

34. Give mine to the next guy!

I'm off to bed, CG!

Remind me, and I'll flame ya double tomorrow to even things out!

[Crazy Guggenheim]

35. Same here. Good night!

:popcorn:

[Justice]

46. Agreed. We need a separate 2006 Forum

I asked the Mods to consider creating one about a week ago.

[H2O Man]

47. Solidifying the base

is good. But those who you need to "do what ever it takes to get ... to the polls" are not the base. Those are by definition the "swing voters" that are actually very important to appeal to. The idea of a base, or foundation, is to build upon it. Let's look at a real life example.

My younger son is a student at a community college in upstate NY. He is in a dorm with three roommates. My son is part of the base. He is a democrat who will definitely vote. Another kid is a reublican, who will definitely vote. The other two lean towards being democrats, but are undecided, swing votes.

The young republican tells the other three they should enlist in the military after finishing college. My son plays Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" and Symbolman's "Rove's War." The two swing voters are definitely not going to enlist. They may or may not vote.

If my son concentrates only on the base, his dorm will split votes, with 1 democrat, 1 republican, and 2 non-voters. Common sense would indicate that he should take advantage of the opportunity to build upon the base, and make the voting in his dorm 3-1 for democrats. More, he should solidify the base, with other democrats on campus, and get as many of the swing voters to get to the voting booth.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

49. What I am trying to say is get the people to the polls who will vote

Democrat in the next election. If they don't "fell like going" motivate them some how with an important issue! Just get them there!

:popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:

[Clarkie1]

50. It's not an either/or proposition. We can do both, and do it well. n/t