Reality-Based Election Analysis

TechCentralStation.com ^ | 11/10/04 | Arnold Kling

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

"We ran a good campaign against a bad president, and we still got beat." -- Bruce Reed, president of the Democratic Leadership Council

If the Democrats ran a good campaign, then I suggest that their definition of a campaign could be borrowed from The Devil's Dictionary . With apologies to Ambrose Bierce, I would say that definition is this:

Presidential Campaign (n) - A process, starting about eighteen months prior to the election, by which the Democratic Party manages to alienate enough voters to hand victory to the other party.

Reed and others suggest that the key to turning around the Democrats' fortunes is in learning to communicate with the Religious Right. But before the Democrats rush off to learn how to speak in tongues, let me offer another perspective on what might have gone wrong.

Below is a table of choices in various categories. One choice alienates more voters than others, particularly voters near the center.

Category

Alienates More Voters

Policy Group: MoveOn.org

Celebrity: Michael Moore

Economic Spokesman: Paul Krugman

VP Candidate: John Edwards

Advocacy for Church-State Separation: People for the American Way

Media and Copyright: Public Knowledge

Alienates Fewer Voters

Policy Group: New America Foundation

Celebrity: Jesse Ventura

Economic Spokesman: Martin Baily

VP Candidate: Joseph Lieberman

Advocacy for Church-State Separation: American Civil Liberties Union

Media and Copyright: Public Knowledge

This year, the Democratic Party cozied up to all of the individuals and groups on the left of the list. They lost my vote, despite the fact that I voted for Gore, Clinton, and even Dukakis. My guess is that none of the choices that the Democrats made in the chart helped them in 2004.

Bruce Reed and many other Democrats want to blame their loss on an inability to communicate with religious conservatives. To me, that seems as silly as Republicans berating themselves over not being able to communicate with Berkeley professors. I don't think that trying to fool the other party's base into voting for you represents a reality-based election strategy. A more modest goal would be to avoid waving red meat in front of them.

I hope that between now and 2008 the Democrats spend time thinking about the issue of voter alienation and the choices that they made in the chart. In my view, the main story of 2004 is how the Democrats could not tell the difference between the center-left and the loony left, and as a result they threw away their chances for victory.

[machman]

Actually a good article. The problem is, they have to move so far to the left to get the nomination, they have a hard time coming back to the middle. And the people who work in the primaries, etc. are also way left, so they end up setting the tone on into the convention. It all started back in 72.....

[wouldntbprudent]

And more on alientating voters: how about excusing Islamafascism all the while decrying decent religious people in America?

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1275830/posts

[SlightOfTongue]

I hope that between now and 2008 the Democrats spend time thinking about the issue of voter alienation and the choices that they made in the chart.

And I truly hope that their party withers on the vine and is replaced with a new party (Reformed, Constitutional, Libertarian or whatever) that has some kind of vision for moving America forward instead of only concern for their own political status and reacquirement of power.

In my view, the main story of 2004 is how the Democrats could not tell the difference between the center-left and the loony left, and as a result they threw away their chances for victory.

Not only that, but most liberals and many Democrat party members and voters that I've come across over the years wouldn't know a good president or candidate for POTUS if they tripped over one!

These idiots have become so accustomed to voting for having a bad president in the past, I think they feel out of place when a good one comes along. AMEN

Freegards. SOT

[sr4402]

The 'American Civil Liberties Union' alienates less than 'People for the American Way'?? What? I can't think of a group like the ACLU that irritates American's like the ACLU. They trash the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States of America, they fight against the boy scouts, they tear down the Ten Commandments from our court rooms, and Nativity scenes from our towns. They helped remove the cross from the City of Angels - Los Angeles.

One thing is common here, this writer is fixed on a radical separation of Church and State. That is taking God out of our culture totally.

Is this what democrats have come to?