In postmortem on Kerry bid, Dems seek clues to new life

Dems seek clues to new life

Then they need a Dr. Frankenstein.

Perhaps then they'll go about putting together a great candidate.

First they'll send operatives out to scour Texas cemeteries for a recently executed murderer. Then they'll send Algore out to find an acceptable brain. There's where the problem arises.

I shouldn't give advice that would help them but I am confidnt they will never read, understand or follow it so here goes.

Forget gun-control, it has no positive effect on crime control and pisses off way to many voters. Drop the issue forever.

Forget abortion. If you haven't noticed, it is already legal and has been for 30 years. The most the Supreme Court could do is throw it back to the states and at least 30 of the states would keep it legal.

Get tough on defense. None of your cherished social programs will survive a nuclear attack

Recognize that Social Security is a tontine con-game and make moves to privatize as much of it as possible as soon as possible.

Good read. The Democrats used to have a national vote advantage as recently as 2000. The first sign things were changing was in 2002, despite having an edge in turnout, Democrats were beaten. In 2004, for the first time in history, Republicans have attained parity with Democrats in the national electorate. Again, the Democrats were beaten. Come 2006, the GOP should for the first time have an edge in voter turnout. The Democrats face the problem not so much of turning out their base, as in attracting Republican votes. Its an uphill fight and the bottom line is it will be harder to win in a majority conservative country. 51% is a good deal different that when its 50-50. We are no longer a divided country. There is a realignment election process going on and its not happening in one big step but incrementally over time. Its been unfolding since 1980 and we have yet to see the plateau of GOP support in the country. Its not a good time to be a Democrat and they barely held on Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. Blue Upper Midwest States are turning purple. Iowa has already turned Red. If the Democrats don't wake up and take note of the trend in front them, the chances are excellent they will be relegated to permanent minority party status for a generation. Now THAT's what I call good news for America.

"51% is a good deal different that when its 50-50. We are no longer a divided country. There is a realignment election process going on and its not happening in one big step but incrementally over time."

Yes, but it's even more than that.

This election was 51 to 48, the old 2000 election was 49 to 49, with Nader getting the other 2% back then.

Nader's support all went to the Dems, yet they *still* fared worse in 2004 (48%) than in 2000 (49%).

So even with all of the hard-left support, the Dems lost ground. Again.

If the Dems run to the Right to syphon off some Republicans, then they are going to lose that 2% back to Nader again (and making a shift of more than 2% is an enormous undertaking in national politics). If the Dems stay the same, then they'll fare no better than their loss this year, and if they run to the Left, even *more* Dems and Independents will switch to the Pubbie big tent.

This election not only repudiated the Left, but it also put the Dems in a box for 2006 and 2008.

The Old Media is going to have to try a different approach, too. Bashing Red Staters as "ignorant rubes" isn't going to win the Dems any new votes.

They have to reach out to us. They can't win just by carrying New England and California.

In constrast, we should be able to pick up Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. We stand to gain new Senators in 2006 and new states in 2008.

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