I know
who Kentucky voters just
let be elected. I said it: "
Just let be elected." Either Democrats stayed home, or people voted based on grievances about partisan shit that has nothing to do with their actual needs. And I kind of thought they might. See when Allison Lundergan Grimes lost to Mitch McConnell, whose entire
raison d'etre in the Senate was obstruction, I started to get it. Dems don't run as Dems in Southern states because it freaks them out, and voters vote Red because the Republicans get the right sweet nothings spoken into their ears.
When people start losing their health-care access, maybe they might care
a little less whether Bevin had Kim Davis' back. But will they remember it come next election? Shit. That is one the KY Democratic Party has to sort out. You either deliver a message that this party does the shit for voters, or you stop being an effective party.
The polls were close. The difference is turnout and turnout is work. But people live with bad government without that work
2 comments:
“I started to get it. Dems don't run as Dems in Southern states because it freaks them out, and voters vote Red because the Republicans get the right sweet nothings spoken into their ears."
Vixen, if someone who was philosophically like James Webb ran, he or she probably would have won. It's not that Democrats don't run as Dems; it's that Southern Democrats are less liberal than their eastern seaboard peers. Democrats who win are not faking it. They are legitimately less liberal.
In the South you cannot make gun control, climate change, or transgender issues a part of your campaign and expect to win a lot of elections. I would think that Democrats would be more concerned about winning elections than trying to advance a far-leftist extreme.
Southern Democrats often are more like John Kennedy Democrats. The Left has had a really fine run, but you know as well as anyone that politics is a pendulum.
There's a lot to be said for traditional local politicking that I think the Democratic party also misses in state elections. They need to work at messaging that appeals to the voters, and that means listening to them more than talking at them. And they need to work out a "get out the vote" scheme that mobilizes those people. Then there's that crazy fetish we have for sticking with candidates who don't close. Jack Conway doesn't seem like a bad guy, but he's lost a couple before that could have been closer. Massachusetts has Martha Coakly. Here in PA, we have Admiral Joe Sestak--he's a smart man and likable, but? I can say what I want about the Tea Party wave, but it did recruit new blood to the GOP to run in elections.
Post a Comment