Posted on 11/07/2010 2:11:26 PM PST by Senator Goldwater
RICHMOND - After two straight years of crushing electoral defeats, Virginia Democrats know they need to do something to start winning again - they're just not sure what.
Some party leaders and activists say Democrats should keep the focus on the same policies, but also must do a better job of communicating.
"I think the problem is the message is not getting out,'' said C. Richard Cranwell, the outgoing chairman of the Democratic Party of Virginia. "We've got to overcome the disconnect."
Others say Democrats need to concentrate more on policies that Republicans have been advocating: creating jobs and cutting spending.
"If you talk about issues, the rest will take care of itself,'' state Sen. A. Donald McEachin (D-Richmond) said.
But all of them insist that Democrats will return to prominence in a state where for decades, political power has tilted back and forth between the two major parties. The Democrats just need to figure out how to get voters enthusiastic enough to go to the polls on Election Day and, more importantly, to vote for their candidates.
"Back in 2008, people were wrong to write the obituary of the Republican Party,'' House Minority Leader Ward L. Armstrong (D-Henry) said. "And they're wrong to write the obituary of the Democratic Party now."
Last week, Republicans toppled three members of Congress and nearly defeated a fourth, leaving Democrats with just three of the state's 11 House seats.
Tuesday's election came a year after Republicans swept all three statewide races - governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general - and picked up six seats in the House of Delegates. Virginia Democrats' only remaining base of power is the state Senate, and all of those seats are up for grabs in November 2011.
But the party's problems in Virginia are larger than electoral losses.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Unlike the Post, which went all in against O'Donnell last year and did pages and pages worth of puff pieces in 2008 about how Virginia was the new vanguard of purple suburbia sweeping the nation.
Ken Cuccinelli for POTUS.
My favorite part of the piece.
Webb is easily among the most endangered Senators in 2012.
George Allen, call your office and watch heads explode down at the Post.
Did they not imagine that Kaine was as bad a governor as he was DNC Chairman?
I certainly did and was warning people about this guy way back when he was first running for Governor.
As much as some of you people hate RNC Chairman Steele, he did, at least, preside over an elective WIN that is possibly the greatest in the history of the nation.
I've been telling you Chairman Steele had the touch ~ in equal measure to the degree Chairman Kaine doesn't.
Yeah..., we are all too stupid to understand that the Dims are just "taking care of us"!!!
Uh....I believe the problem is the message is getting out.
“Virginia Democrats know they need to do something to start winning again - they’re just not sure what”.
...leave would be a great choice! Go to NY or Cal. They don’t, nor will they ever get it.
That's right, keep thinking your message isn't getting out. Keep working to get the message out, it's worked so well in the recent past.
The disconnect isn't with the message getting out, it's the message!
The voters have heard your message and have rejected it you idiots.
Democrats in every part of VA, with the exception of Maryland South (AKA Fairfax, etc), know they have to adapt to the political reality here... that being this state has had a flirtation with Dems in power, and doesn’t much like it. I’m very happy to see the Old Dominion has re-emerged from the wilderness.
[chuckle]
You keep on doing what you're doing, Dems, and so will we. While you're fooling around inside your radio sets, we'll take the rest of the country away from you.
Dems don't want to admit it, but there's nothing wrong with their delivery system. The people fully understood the message and rejected it.
“This is not _blankHarry Byrd’s Democratic Party; it is the people’s Democratic Party.”
LOL! What’s with the editors at the RTD?
Is that “blank” in there by mistake or in place of a swear word? And why isn’t the “P” in “people’s” capitalized?
Webb got what he was really after ~ a much higher High 3 for retirement purposes.
Their illusion that its a “communication” problem makes it a bit easier for us. That means they’ll continue to attempt the same failed policies and continue being rejected... at least here in VA. Wish that were the case further up along the Eastern Seaboard.
It was so much fun voting against Boucher! I thought he would win(as always), but there was some hope.
I even had to apologize to my wife. A week before the election, she said that Boucher was going to lose, and I told her she was full of sh1t. I had always considered Boucher to be our ‘permanent’ Congressman. What’s funny is after his loss, Boucher and all of the pundits blamed “outside money” for his loss, when Boucher’s opponent was outspent 2/1.
I wonder if he's getting the message. We'll see what direction his votes take. First up: "Don't ask, don't tell."
Why not move back to the Peoples' Republic of Maryland, from whence you came.
Our junior senator and military hero, James Webb, was not just missing in action during the so-called ‘healthcare debate’, he was absent without leave. Truly the missing man in the largest most profound social policy change in modern times. He is a skunk who has done nothing positive for Virginia or the Nation during his congressional service. Many of us here will do everything in our power to defeat him should he choose to run for re-election in ‘12. Hopefully George Allen or Ken Cuccinnelli will choose to run against him.
Weren’t we all worried two years ago about Virginia turning completely and irreversibly blue?
Terry McCullough was a bigger disaster for the DNC chairmanship (and unsuccessful Gov Candidate).
Under his (lack of) leadership the ‘Rats didn’t win anything, yet they kept him because he was a fundraiser and one of Clinton’s cronies.
I knew as soon as the elections were over that the Democrats would *immediately* blame “stupid voters”, “not getting the message out”, or Democrat personalities, individuals, for the overwhelming public rejection of their radical *agenda*.
The one thing they will NEVER, EVER DO, is to question their platform, ideas, or philosophy, in even the smallest way. The only people with a comparable mindset are cultists.
But we can’t let them get away with this. We must pound down and reinforce the idea in the public mind that “the people REJECT the radical agenda”.
This was done before, and to this day, this is why so few liberals are willing to label themselves as “liberal”. Because back in the days of Reagan, being called a “liberal” meant that you were a loser. And even to a lesser extent, this is why the MSM rarely if ever identifies Democrats as Democrats.
They are afraid that if they are identified, people will (deservedly) laugh at them and ignore them.
So it’s vital that the public reject the “radical agenda”. Whenever a Democrat talks health care, everybody should be reminded that they *mean* “socialized medicine”, no matter how much they lie about it and say it isn’t.
And whenever a Democrat talks about “fiscal responsibility”, everyone should instantly know that, no matter what they say, they crave higher taxes, big government and profligate spending. And they have no alternative to that.
But it goes on and on. Do not let them weasel out of their agenda, pretending that “the people” want that nonsense and villainy. Do not let them evade the rigidity of their doctrines, their use of gradualism in those ends, and their willingness to be duplicitous about it all.
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