A friend sent this.
Suggestions, both rhetorical and grammatical are encouraged.
Experience has shown us several truths over time and as members of the Democratic Party we should start thinking about the future, from 2006, 2008 and beyond.
1. Governors get elected not Senators. The executive position of a governorship just is far more translatable to an electable candidate than a Senatorial one. Its not “fair” but its how it is. Every Senator has way too much of a distortable record. There are exceptions that can be made, presumably if being Senator wasn’t your last job before running for President, but in the most case any sitting Senator who has future plans of being president should either plan on running for Governor or hope to be chosen as VP.
2. Only Southern Governors need apply. Right now in this moment of time this a truism must face. Northerners will accept Southerners, but not vice-versa. This is extremely limiting to our presidential pool, but it happens to be true. Southern voters ultimately have a hard time finding a northern candidate likable. The South is the area the Democratic Party needs to focus on for the future. Ergo, only a candidate from the South will give us our best chance. So no talk of “Hillary ‘08." Look around the South, these should be our candidates in four years.
3. Likeability is electability. Charisma trumps better ideas. If your candidate has a better likeability score, voters will trust him to do the right thing even if they disagree with his ideas. Think Ronald Reagan. Sunny charm got most voters past what they didn’t like about his views. Likeability gets us over humps like religious faith and social issues. We did not err badly when “electable” became the motto during the Democratic primaries, the problem was we badly misjudged what “electable” meant. Even Democrats admitted John Kerry’s charisma, while not as absent as Dick Cheney’s was no where need the level of George W. Bush’s. We don’t need to nominate empty-headed morons, but we do need to judge everyone on the Clinton-Reagan scale of likeability, charisma and charm.
4. Message strategy, message strategy, message strategy. Don’t assume better ideas win. James Carville had it right with the simple slogan, “It’s the (blank), stupid!” What everyone liked about Bush was his simple message. It doesn’t matter that we thought it was simplistic, the fact what it was clear enough to get through the clutter. "The Most Liberal Senator in Congress" "Flip-flopper" "Vote for me or we all die." Voters may reject simple messages but at least they understand them first.
5. The DNC needs to work on getting candidates of all levels elected in the South. This is a long-term strategy that will take more than one or even two election cycles. I’m not saying we should abandon the North. But the majority of our work should go into getting candidates elected to state legislatures, School Boards, as District Attorneys and dog-catchers. There needs to be a concerted effort build a “farm team” in the South. In addition to building up our farm pool this will help build our base in the South.
6. Build party identity amongst youth between elections. Our presidential campaigns are candidate-centered. But if we want to build a long-term base we need to do more to cultivate the Democratic Party than nominating the most charismatic guy every four years. Youths must learn to associate the Democratic party using far more partisan methods of attracting them to vote than MTV’s nonpartisan “Rock the Vote” concerts (every four years). Pumping a few thousand dollars into Campus Democrats organizations so they can buy buttons and get speakers four times a year, will not do it. We must learn to cultivate political speech not just in college campuses but in pre-voting youths and high school students. Online is probably the best way to do it amongst this age group. There are many issues youth are interested and active in that the Democratic party only broaches once in a great while. While abortion and sex education isn’t a bad area to engage youth voters in, there are other issues they are concerned about which are only talked about to give them lip service when we need them.
7. Build our own media forums. Although some of this is out of the official DNC’s hands, more effort should be made into creating and promoting progressive-media. Everyone has acknowledged what a benefit AM talk radio, and later Fox News has brought to the Republican party. We should consider our continued efforts at these goals. Also remember, neither Rush Limbaugh nor Fox News were overnight successes. Just because this media may not rival their Republican counterpoints by 2008 is not a reason to abandon the effort. Remember, audiences take time to build, especially with new products.
Notice what I am not saying. I’m not saying we need to change our ideas. I’m not saying we need to change the ideals of the Democratic party. We need better messengers and better ways of delivering out message, but we do not need to become neo-Republicans to win. Gen. Wesley Clark would probably have been the best candidate to win based on the Southern strategy. However, the fact the primary voters did not pick him is not to their fault. He jumped into the race late and stumbled out of the gate, perhaps because he was newer to elections. He now has some experience. If he wishes to run again I wouldn’t be surprised if he did much better with some planning.