GOP victory in November is NOT a "sure thing". Not at all...

[old mark]

I see a lot of the idea that the GOP has some sort of guarantee to win seats in the November elections because we won the last presidential.It is like gambling, the cards have NO MEMORY. Winning an election is:
1. Having decent candidates for your party, that is people who WANT TO WIN and who campaign to win, not stay home and wait for voters to come to them. I am hoping we lwerned about this from Massachusetts.
2. Having money to support our candidates. We have a lot more than the GOP does at this time, and we MUST use it well.
3. Getting voters to vote. This is the hard part for democrats - we must get our voters motivated get them out of the house to actually vote. We can not afford apathy or a notion that we have somehow already lost 10 months before the election.

It is up to us to get these things together, and it's getting a little late, but there is no reason we can not sweep the GOP into a corner this November, and do it again in 2012.

Does anyone here really want the GOP to have more control or OUR country? Why should we just hand it over to them?


mark

[TheCowsCameHome]

1. This certainly isn't going to help,

now that the SC has blown up the floodgates.

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2010/02/01/late_in_senate_race_financial_sector_donations_swelled_browns_coffers/

[scheming daemons]

2. It's simple human nature: Party out of power has more passion

...and goes to the polls in greater numbers.

With the exceptions of 1998 and 2002... every midterm election in the past 30 years had the party NOT in control of the white house gain seats.


Human nature.

When my guys are out of power, I'm more motivated to vote.

[DaveinJapan]

5. Or to put your pessimistic view into a different perspective, over 25% of the time

the party in power prevailed (in mid-terms over the last 30 years). }(

[dmallind]

3. Why? So the doomers can be "right" and see their naive dream scenario shot to hell..... again

The idea that losing seats in a center left party majority will make that party become ultra-left is the strange fantasy accepted as given truth by those on DU who wish to see Obama fail at all costs. It is these folks who are orgasming over the chance of significant GOP gains, which I too doubt will be all that significant. A few here and there sure, but no 1994 by any stretch.

It's the same idiocy that thought a Nader candidacy leading to a Bush win would make Kucinich a viable presidential candidate the next time around.

[zeemike]

4. And you are right it is not a sure thing.

We could create a movement among the left and the young to vote in mass in november for democrats.
But the real question is whether we will or not.

[iceman66]

6. One of the biggest problems we have, that almost no one talks about

is how much the DNC has dropped the ball since the 2008 election.

The party has no discernable national strategy, and is just not recruiting good candidates anymore.

Look at the recent elections in MA, NJ and VA - with better organization and better candidates we would have won at least two of those races.

Another example would be the open Senate seat in FL - a state Obama won in '08 and which was very competitive in past years. We are not fielding a serious candidate, and thus the expected Repug victory will be almost by default.

We would be in a much better position, in my opinion, if Howard Dean were still running the DNC and the 50 state strategy had not been abandoned.

[old mark]

7. I believe the votes in MA and NJ were due to our candidates.

Corzine (Former NJ Governor-Dem) was seen as an ineffective, indecisive generally bad governor and his campaign did littel to change his image, while the GOP ran as tha party of change.

The mess in MA, IMO was due to the Dem candidate literally refusing to campaign, for reasons known only to herself. She was a terrible candidate, and -again my understanding-not well liked in her job as Attorney General.

I don't know much about the race in VA, but, assuming a similar failure to run a meaningful campaign, these were not so much GOP wins ad Dem losses. And -another assumption-perhaps we are learning from our stupid mistakes.

I am just amazed at the number of Dems who are ready to give up completely---it's barely February, and maybe a little optimism won't hurt us.....


mark