Why red states are red

[Recursion]

I feel like there's something very important that anti-50-staters are forgetting. There's nothing existentially different about Georgia, Nebraska, Oklahoma, etc. that make them "red". The fact that red states voted for Bush reflects the fact that the GOP put time and effort into a 50-state-strategy starting back with Goldwater and continuing through Ralph Reed. They did the research, got the addresses and numbers, and developed a donation and activism machine that is frankly amazing (remember: we get more big contributions than they do. We out-fundraise them in every single category except under $100 donations. That's what gives them the money advantage: working-class people giving $20 because of direct mail requests). It's only in the past few years that Dean has started to do that kind of party-building. It's inaccurate to say that, for instance, Nebraska voted for Bush "because it's a red state". What's more accurate is to say that it is a red state because the GOP spent time, energy, and money building the party up there.

It's also about more than money. It's about involvement. Ralph Reed revolutionized the GOP and conservatism in general by putting so much focus on downticket races. Way, way, way downticket races: school boards, mayors, sheriffs, dogcatchers. Conservatives felt like they were being listened to, and organizers and activists saw that they could have a tangible effect on how their locality is governed. And, our party increased the perception that we are aloof and elitist by essentially saying for 2 decades that those races, those places, those people don't matter. In 1976 most evangelicals supported Carter. Reed realized he could get many of them to vote against gays and women rather than for the poor. There is absolutely no reason we can't win them back, but we haven't even been trying.

The GOP has a "ground game": a GOTV and GTM (get the money) machine that has kept them viable long after their ideologies have been abandoned by most of the country. Liberals may go "tut tut" and shake their heads, but the fact is that people will vote for the party that they feel is at least listening to their concerns, and until very recently that has not been us. And a significant part of the party (and even this board) seems to consider them not worthy of our attention. "Oh, it's just those Mississippi hayseeds; we'll never win their votes." Really? Mississippi has had only 2 Republican governors since 1876, and only from 1997-1999 did they have more Republican Representatives than Democratic Representatives in the House (they lost one seat after the 2000 census, but the redistricting plan for once backfired on the GOP and made Pickering eat a fellow Republican's support). I know about Mississippi's political scene in particular because I grew up there, but there is no reason, and I mean none, that their Presidential vote can't mirror their House vote: conservative but blue. But we don't even try. And I would be surprised if other states are significantly different.

If any state could be called existentially Republican, it's Kansas. This is a state that was created by and for Republicans to stop the spread of slavery from Missouri, and supporting the GOP has long been part of the state's identity. Who is their governor? Kathleen Sebelius, a female Democrat who beat her Republican opponent by 8 points (and, I hope, Obama's pick to be Vice President). What is their House breakdown? 2 Republicans (one a moderate who opposed NCLB and the surge) and 2 Democrats. If half of their Representatives are ours, and 1 of the other guys has opposed 2 of Shrub's biggest initiatives, where the hell do we get the idea that we can't win that state? We definitely don't win if we don't try.

Even if this is winter wheat (I don't think so, but it's possible), we absolutely have to sow it. We can't simply keep surrendering vast swathes of this country to the GOP just because they have a good track record there.

[anonymous171]

1. Good analysis.

I think also a lot of people call themselves "republican" or "conservative" because of certain dems. stances on Gun Control.

[Recursion]

2. I 100% agree with you on that

The AWB was an electoral disaster (I put most of the 1994 debacle on its shoulders), and HR 1022 will be even worse. Rural people see this as urban people punishing them because cities can't control their crime problems, and frankly they have a point (not that assault weapons are ever used in crimes, for that matter...)

Oddly enough, the only candidate I've heard stating that the 2nd amendment is an individual right is Con-law professor Obama, who has a very strong gun-control record. Go figure.

[BumRushDaShow]

3. K&R

I remember reading about the GOP machinery and even their early and efficient use of computers to compile voter lists for fund-raising and GOTV. They did this in state after state. It was widely reported for years how they were out-fund-raising, out-spending, and out-canvasing the Democrats and of course, many Dems either switched or gave up and sat home due to not seeing their own party come to the rescue. Once the GOP secured control of the media - most notably what became RW talk-radio, they were on their way.

It is LONG past time for the Dems to reverse this atrocity and the 50-state strategy has already proven its success based on the results of the 2006 election. I think the GOP has actually been astonished at the money that has suddenly poured into Dem coffers (not just from lobbyists and industry but from constiuents) and the Dem Party is actually poised to make some serious inroads given the weakness of the GOP right now.

[Dr.Phool]

4. Down here in Florida, we have Democratic Social Clubs.

You wonder why this state is so screwed up?

The DEC's have a monthly meeting. That's it. None of the committees meet. Nobody works their precincts. The county where I am has it's office in a cell phone. Meanwhile the repukes have 3 offices, and are continually canvassing. They've been preparing for November since January of 2006. These twits are still sitting around, twiddling their thumbs. The only people they can recruit to run for office, are repukes who switch their registration because their party was backing someone else.

In many counties you can't get DEC members to put out a couple of signs during campaigns. Very little money or support for candidates, and a lot of potential candidates don't even bother because they see the situation.

If anybody comes in with a work ethic and some ideas to make things work better, the knives come out.

[MelissaB]

5. K&R for a great thread.

:kick:

[2rth2pwr]

6. I agree, but I don't think Pastor Wright will help us there

The Superdelegates need to take this into account.