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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JohnM who wrote (107043)	3/31/2005 11:11:57 PM
From: Nadine Carroll	Respond to of 793807

At the presidential level, the one you are talking about, we are still, basically, a 50/50 nation. A few votes one way or the other would have given the last election to Kerry, even though he campaigned badly. So a Dem can get elected president with a slight tweaking of the candidate. I'm hearing this from a lot of Democrats. I think they are kidding themselves. We're not a 50/50 nation, according to the last 2 elections. More like 52/48 for the Republicans, and every 10 years the Sunbelt states that favor the Republicans wind up with more electoral votes. Sure, the Democrats could win again with another big-charisma candidate. But the odds do not favor it. At that level, whatever the voters read as the Dems position on security issues won't keep them from electing a president. At that level, also taking one issue and thinking elections are about that one, is a mistake I don't think the elections are only about that one issue - I think they are about that one issue, and other important issues besides, none of which are being addressed by the Democrats in any kind of coherent message. To address structural issues without addressing ideology is like reoganizing a company before you have decided what business you're in. Bradley sounds a lot like Dukakis to me: "It's not about ideology, it's about competence." That's a dangerous route for any politician to take. Policitions elected as competent technocrats tend to get fired as soon as things go south. But if a politician has sold the voters on his vision: goals, principles, and policies, he stands a better chance of getting the voters to stay with him through the rough patches.