The Party Won't Win Back Independents This Year Simply By Attacking Opponents

[babylonsister]

http://www.nationaljournal.com/njonline/ol_20100120_1862.php

Will Democrats Feel Voters' Pain?
The Party Won't Win Back Independents This Year Simply By Attacking Opponents

by Amy Walter

Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2010


After all the finger-pointing and hand-wringing are done over Martha Coakley's once improbable Senate loss in Massachusetts, Democrats have to stop scapegoating (bad candidates, bad polls, bad advice) and start to figure out how they can stop what is shaping up to be an electoral disaster this year.

Lots of Democrats blame their 54-seat loss in the House in 1994 on a lack of preparation and hubris. This year, they say, they're ready for the fight. With enough preparation and money, they can define the contours of their races before the political mood and their opponents do it for them. Coakley, for her part, didn't seem to take Republican Scott Brown or the mood of the electorate all that seriously. By the time she finally engaged him, it was too late.

Independent voters weren't expecting miracles from Obama. What they did expect, however, was that he'd live up to his promise to change the way things work in Washington.

Yet the "too little, too late" blame game doesn't tell the whole story. In the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial contests, for example, the Democratic candidates didn't wait until the last minute to launch attacks on their opponents, and they came up short too.

In the end, attacks only work if they are believable. This is especially true when voters are angry about "real things" like the economy, the deficit and health care. As such, for Democrats to go after Chris Christie's spotty driving record in New Jersey, or Bob McDonnell's graduate thesis in Virginia, or Brown's record on emergency contraception for rape victims not only seemed out of context, but also woefully out of touch with the issues that were really driving the vote.

snip//

This isn't to suggest that Democrats simply drop negative advertising and go for a purely positive approach in the 2010 midterms. That won't work. But they do need to do as much work in defining themselves as they do their opponents. This means finding a way to meet independent voters where they are now -- angry and frustrated and fed up with Washington.

Joining with them in this frustration while upholding the importance of a Democratic majority and a Democratic president is a tough balancing act. Good thing they have nine more months to figure out how to do it.

[Craftsman]

1. Jobs, jobs, jobs

It's teh economy stupid cuts both ways. If the unemployment stays about 8% November will be messy.

[hlthe2b]

2. Some apparently still believe we win by capitulating to the RW

How's that worked out for us, so far? From his statement today, Obama still seems to believe it has...:shrug:

[Hello_Kitty]

3. Well gosh, if Amy Walter from the National Journal says so...

You know, the best piece of advice I ever got was never take advice from someone who wants you to lose.

[Forkboy]

6. You think we should attack independants?

[TheKentuckian]

4. Yup, lesser of two evils might hold partisans but good luck selling that

to the general public.

[rhett o rick]

5. What went wrong? We need to know to be able to ensure it doesnt happen in Nov.

There is a lot of blame being spouted around, but we need to know what the failure was.