My strategy for winning the next presidential election :

[kentuck]

Understand the difference between policies and principles. Controversial "policies" need to be put on the back burner during the heat of the campaign. We should speak of the principles our Party stands for without delving too deeply into the controversial details. As Carville has stated, we need a narrative of where we stand as a Party. It's the big picture.

Secondly, do not get overly concerned about whether our candidate is a "liberal" or a "moderate". There are advantages in each. For example, a "liberal" will usually turn out more of the base. However, a "moderate" will make the disenchanted of the other Party and the "mushy" middle feel more comfortable voting for the Democrat or not voting for the Republican which they do not really like.

Bill Clinton was portrayed by the Repubs as a "liberal' but he governed more as a "conservative" or moderate. Ideally, our candidate could realistically run as a "moderate" and govern as a "liberal". The trick to that is to get the Democatic base to accept a perceived "moderate" as the candidate.

Before we dismiss that off-hand, we should look at it a little more closely. One name that some have mentioned is Evan Bayh of Indiana. :puke: is the normal reaction. However, consider that he got a higher percentage of the vote in Indiana than George Bush? That is not insignificant? Why was he able to do that?

I am not suggesting we nominate Evan Bayh for president but we should look at all the options when choosing our candidate. All in all, I would rather have an Evan Bayh in the White House listening to the advice of Democrats than to have George Bush in the White House listening to the advice of the right wingers. However, we should look very closely at nominating someone from the Midwest or the South that cannot be portrayed as a "liberal". Although, we want him/her to be a liberal once they are in office.

Another part of our strategy would be to remind voters of the history of the Democratic Party. Many voters are not aware of our proud history. We should promote our history at every opportunity and be proud we are Democrats. We should run as positive a campaign as possible and promote it as a "positive" campaign. But we would not hesitate, as Kerry did with the Swift Boats, to counter attack if we thought the other Party crossed the line.

That would be my strategy for winning the White House, as I see it today.

[donsu]

1. the only way to win elections is to destroy the voting machines

until then we will never win.

[sangh0]

2. The ONLY way! The ONLY way!

Maybe someday, we can fit some discussion in between the bouts of hysteria.

[kentuck]

3. If that's the case, there's is no need to discuss anything else...

Forget strategy.

we can Destroy the Unreliable machines! The new DU!

[donsu]

5. well, OK, keep your blinders on

it's your choice

[jarab]

6. What DUers - in particular - don't like to hear ...

is that the same tactics used in the last two elections were not new and innovative. They were advanced techniques of what WE did to THEM for forty years (Chicago, e.g.).
There have always been crooked elections, and WE were generally in charge of the procedures by virtue of our grasp on the local and statehouses.
Many of our grandparents voted more often after their deaths than during their lives.
Crooked elections are nothing new, and we have prospered more - and more often - from their misuse than they have.
Hopefully we might find a solution for the abuse more quickly than they did - like, in less than forty years.
One who imagines that any federal election is or has ever been totally above-board as far as the integrity of the final count ..... is in serious need of a reality check.
...O...

[sangh0]

4. I have a hunch

that once we are aware of the principles we support and want to focus on, the narrative will almost write itself. As Lakoff wisely notes, we might want to focus on a narrative about a nurturing family model, and if we identify the values that reflect his model, and then relate them to the policies we support, I suspect the narrative will become pretty clear.

[The Zug]

7. NO

We should not be pretending to be moderates in order to placate the yahoos who will never vote for us.

We win the suburbs by pitting them against the rural areas.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1357175