True enough. But it’s much easier to attach bullshit solutions (build a wall, kill the poors) based on racism and xenophobia and general hate than to present real solutions that are often complex. The Dems that can sufficiently dumb down those seventy-point plans and create a coherent narrative can win. But it takes a bit of political alchemy to do so. It’s much easier to run as a Republican. They have no real solutions. So the aggressive bullshit flows naturally.
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They run on their constituents’ feelings and faith.
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Yes, crank up the hate and the Jesus. And, over the long term, demonize government and make sure people don’t think government can help them anyway, so why listen to the Dems? So, tribalism reigns. Easy peasy.
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Then if that works, that’s what the Dems should run on. When you get in, then you put in place your policies, which you can always retroactively justify as consistent with those feelings and faith… Obama won twice on a platform not greatly different from the ones Kerry and Gore lost on (yes, I know Gore didn’t really lose). It’s only a minority that votes on policy; most vote for who appeals to them, so why not be the more appealing one? Against Trump that shouldn’t have been that hard,.
In the last three weeks of the special election 3rd party groups ran negative ads against Jon Ossoff. When are Democrats going to learn that NEGATIVE AD’S WORK. Taking the high ground and always losing just doesn’t cut it anymore. Democrats need to have 3rd party groups run nasty ads against the Republicans, Yes the media and the GOP will cry foul just as they do all the time, but in the end Republicans still win. Liberal/Progressive Groups need to run negative ads and I mean really nasty ads, find out all the personal crap, or even fabricate sh*t just like Republicans do. If Democrats aren’t even going to try and be in the same ball park as Republicans, don’t even bother running.
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Considering that we won the popular vote by 3 million I think we did fine with appeal.
She won the primary and then she won the popular vote. That should tell you that we were appealing.
This Georgia election? Please - this is a deep red district. We shouldn’t have had a chance in hell and we actually did.
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What I’d like to hear from Democratic congressional candidates from here on out is: “If elected, I promise to do my best to undo every single one of Trump’s bad policies, re-instate the good ones he eliminated; rebuild the EPA to make it stronger, smarter and more effective in the 21st century; same for the Dept. of Education after Betsy DeVos has gutted all that was good and fair in the system …” or something to that effect. Yes, make this about Trump and his utter disregard for the rule of law, environmental reality, sheer lack of any empathy for the poor and disabled, etc. – but tied to how we envision rebuilding what he, Paul Ryan and Bitch McConnell have destroyed, what our policy proposals will be (but keeping it as short and sweet as possible since the majority don’t like “wonkiness”).
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Fine by me. I’m sick and tired of them doing it everytime – and being rewarded for it. Plus, we also need to continue to work hard at voter enrollment, helping folks obtain their state IDs, etc. (ID laws in some form are here to stay).
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Thank you! The fact of the matter is this is a district in Georgia. It is a Republican district. Georgia is NOT going purple soon; I think it can happen but it needs time.
Here’s a news flash: tying Handel to Rump wasn’t that effective because this is a Republican district. What the far Left doesn’t understand is that there were many Rethugs who thought that Rump is doing a great job and they want Handel to get to DC to help him fulfill his promises! They don’t see Rump as being incompetent and, generally speaking, they aren’t interested in hearing a strong economic message. Hell, many of the Rethugs in this district think TrumpCare is AOK.
We were outnumbered by more Rethugs than Dems.
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Yes.
In general there are more Democrats than Republicans, but the Congressional maps all over the country have been drawn to favor the GOP so there are plenty of districts that are solidly GOP and we can’t turn those people.
Yet we came close. That’s a miracle.
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If Handel were in a district that was trending Blue, that comment would have done her in, hands down.
As it stood, her GOP companions thought she was speaking truth to power.
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True, but R+20 districts in KS, MT, SC, and GA represent the American electorate?
Nope.
And in all four of those “safe” GOP seats, the Dem still outperformed.
Not to mention in 2016:
- HRC won the Popular Vote by 3 million.
- HRC increased BHO’s margin in 6 red states (KS+1.1, VA+1.5, GA+2.7, AZ+5.5, TX+6.8, UT+30).
- Dems netted 6 additional House seats.
- Dems netted 2 additional Senate seats.
- Dems picked up 4 state chambers (vs. 3 GOP pickups), including* deep*-red AK.
And here’s a huge but virtually ignored reality: 27 of 38 governor’s mansions up for grabs in 2018 are held by Republicans. That’s a whole lotta veto pens for crazy-red leges. (And Republicans can’t Gerrymander a statewide election.)
So Clinton lost the EC in 2016, and it really, really sucks. But anyone who thinks 2016 otherwise was a “disaster” needs to get some perspective. We’ll fine tune our message and Trump’ll continue to be a millstone around GOP necks. It’s all good.
The GOP conundrum is this: If they run from Trump, then they get primaried by someone even crazier (and more unelectable) than them; but if they embrace Trump, then they hug a giant flaming sack of dog-doo in the general.
Buck up, learn to tell your enemies from your allies, save the trolling for Republicans, contribute to individual campaigns until it hurts, volunteer, knock on doors, make telephone calls, drive people to the polls, run for local office if you can, and work like hell until 2018.
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I don’t know, I’ve never walked into a voting booth and voted for or against a candidate based on their party’s leadership, and I’d be willing to bet that’s overwhelmingly true for voters of all stripes.
I also think PP’s performance in the district last year isn’t really a great indicator of much. The GA-6 is a well off, well educated district. Give them a Republican who isn’t talking about grabbing coochies and they’ll vote for them over any Democrat, no matter how appealing.
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Totally on the money
“…run for local office if you can,…”
That’s exactly what Dems have been doing and we’ve actually won some seats on a very local level that have traditionally been Red. But no one seems to care about that.
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Dem mistake 1: overhyping GA-06 while almost totally neglecting SC-05.
Lessons: a) Compete everywhere. b) Most long-time republicans are not going to desert GOP reps over Trump, at least not until he’s had the opportunity to do further damage.
Mistake 2: Need stronger candidates: ($23 million to a 29-year-old who didn’t live in the district?)
Too easy to portray weak candidate as potential puppet for Pelosi, which was one of the GOP’s most effective messages
Lessons: a) Not easy in deep red areas to find strong candidates. Ossoff should have started at State legislature. b) Pelosi is easy target in traditional GOP areas, including well-educated ones, probably more of a turn-off than Trump, at least so far. How to counter this? Not going there
Mistake 3: (Probably) Emphasizing social issues, i.e. Handel/Planned Parenthood, in GA-06. Lots of GOP voters are single-issue anti-abortion. Ossoff’s attacks on Handel re: Planned Parenthood might have brought out a lot of them who might otherwise have stayed home.
Lesson: (Maybe) Social issues best left to one-on-one canvassers to use as appropriate as opposed to on TV.
How about this, the Democrats had better find some real passion in speaking along with a massive dose of reality. If they don’t, the fucking GOTP is not going to lose seats in 2018, the Democrats will.
Watching Shumer speak will put you to sleep. Pelosi the same.
There appears to be no sense of urgency by the Dems. Fewer than 6 months until the next election season starts, nothing from the Dem leadership.
What the Dems really need to do is repeat what the GOTP has been doing to them for the past decade. Send out a message of the day, every damn day, just like the GOTP did. Make the GOTP own their health care plan. Talk daily about GOTP death panels and do it with PASSION just like the GOTP did. Make the GOTP health care planTrumps. Hang it around his neck, call it TRUMPCARE several hundred times per day, just like the GOTP did with the ACA.
Do faster fact checking. The shithead at the EPA claimed that COAL got 50,000 jobs, LIE But not a single person screamed the truth from the rooftops.
If the Democrats do not start imitating the GOTP, they will drop the hammer on the Democratic Party for 8 years the DNC did nothing while the GOTP took 100 seats in congress, took over the Senate and every year keep taking more states.
If the Dems don’t fucking wake up, find something, like Trumpcare that they can scream about, they they are going to just keep being the LOSERS that they are today.
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If this district is as incredibly red as I’ve read, suggesting that Dems HAVE to win it or it shows a TOTAL MESSAGE FAIL is serving only one side’s narrative. I get that these special elections only happen in a few districts, but if it’s a super-red district, why put all your eggs in one basket? Trump himself acted like he was going to lose, and had a whole way of using that to create a win. Dems overstated expectations…why? You have only one way of spinning it positively if you create a narrative of win or die. I get that this is partly the media and the GOP’s game, but the mini-meltdown over this is unnecessary. A win would have been almost miraculous.
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Sometimes I love you even more when you get serious.
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Oh please, his “not living in the district” is just BS. Very few people care about that. He could have never moved from that area for one day and we’d still have the outcome we got.
Oh, I’m sorry, that’s right: people ONLY care about residency when you’re a Dem.
Case in point: Pat Roberts R- Kansas 2014.
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Sounds like you want to start one… 
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