Moderation policy and the 2012 election.

[TheWraith]

Do the admins have any general guidance or idea when we can expect the shift to election-time policy here with regard to supporting Democrats?

[EarlG]

1. Here you go

Winning elections is important -- therefore, advocating in favor of Republican nominees or in favor of third-party spoiler candidates that could split the vote and throw an election to our conservative opponents is never permitted on Democratic Underground. But that does not mean that DU members are required to always be completely supportive of Democrats. During the ups-and-downs of politics and policy-making, it is perfectly normal to have mixed feelings about the Democratic officials we worked hard to help elect. When we are not in the heat of election season, members are permitted to post strong criticism or disappointment with our Democratic elected officials, or to express ambivalence about voting for them. In Democratic primaries, members may support whomever they choose. But when general election season begins, DU members must support Democratic nominees (EXCEPT in rare cases where were a non-Democrat is most likely to defeat the conservative alternative, or where there is no possibility of splitting the liberal vote and inadvertently throwing the election to the conservative alternative). For presidential contests, election season begins when both major-party nominees become clear. For non-presidential contests, election season begins on Labor Day. Everyone here on DU needs to work together to elect more Democrats and fewer Republicans to all levels of American government. If you are bashing, trashing, undermining, or depressing turnout for our candidates during election season, we'll assume you are rooting for the other side.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/forums/rules_detailed.html

In practical terms for 2012, "when both major-party nominees become clear" means "at the point when the winner of the Republican primaries becomes obvious." This is because it is exceedingly unlikely that President Obama will face a serious primary challenger so he is most likely going to be the nominee of the Democratic Party, therefore the GOP contest is probably the only one we will need to take into account. We say "when the nominees become clear" because if the contest for the GOP nomination is decided in the first few months of 2012, we're not going to wait until late summer when the candidate is officially nominated at the Republican National Convention.

[TheWraith]

2. Excellent. I'm sure that the mods look forward to it...

...so that they can stop having to respond to my repeated slapping of the alert button over ongoing Democrat bashing.