2004 General Election: What did you learn?

[LettuceSea]

Painful as it was, we often learn more from our losses than our victories.

Thinking back to that horrendous November, what thoughts and lessons still stick with you today? What did you learn?

[ericson00]

1. Nice guys finish last. The high road leads off a cliff

[Mnemosyne]

2. They cheat with the machines. nt

[LonePirate]

3. Repubs showed what they really think of veterans and war heroes.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

4. Republicans know they can't win in fair fights.

So any and every sort of 'cheat' will be occur. Misleading emails or postcards or robocalls that tell Dem voters the wrong day to vote, that tell people to be sure to register to vote by a date that's too late. Odd vote counts in districts overseen by Republicans that always seem to favour the Republican candidates. Too few voting booths in minority polling areas. Polling places moved farther away or even removed entirely in Democratic-leaning areas. Ending early voting or cutting the hours of same. Various forms of voter roll purging. Vote tallies being 'routed' through private servers on their way to official ones.

[MisterP]

5. don't rely on the party's lawyers to get a recount

[MohRokTah]

6. If it's going to be close, put wedge issues that will draw your base on state ballots. eom

[LettuceSea]

7. Authenticity > arrogance

I was 17 at the time, devastated that Kerry lost. But what I took out of it was real people couldn't relate to Kerry, but they were able to relate to GW Bush.

What I also saw was we had gotten too arrogant as a party, and it cost us with the working class vote. Real people don't like the feeling of being spoken down to by the intellectual wing of the party, or have the nominee speak over their heads. They want a candidate who appears authentic, and who they can have a beer with. It's been that way in every.single.election since 1972---the more authentic candidate always wins.

The biggest lesson I learned is the working class vote is FAR more important than the intellectual vote. Our nominee needs to be able to connect with a guy busting his ass in a factory, or a single mom working two jobs, ABOVE ALL ELSE. The working class not only votes in higher numbers, but is also more willing to vote GOP if they feel they are being abandoned. The intellectual vote? They'll just stay at home if they're upset, and in much smaller numbers.

Whoever our nominee is, if they can't connect with real people, we don't have a chance in hell. I challenge all of us to show a little more humility and less arrogance when it comes to this election, especially when outside of these DU forums. While you may 'win' the intellectual debate, the lack of humility you display may be hurting our party's image in the eyes of the voters who matter the most.

[Maedhros]

8. I learned that the GOP could commit massive election fraud

and the Democrats would not put up a fight over it.

[brooklynite]

9. Kerry was a lousy candidate?

Can anyone think of a compelling campaign message he had?

[LettuceSea]

11. Your answer stands out from the rest

The only post that accepts responsibility.

[blm]

20. I can, but then I didn't let corpmedia fool me.

.

[Zorra]

10. ...

[hifiguy]

12. This, Never forget that bottom picture. Ever.

OR this one:



Or this one:



The people someone chooses to associate with is a prime indicator of what kind of person they really are.

[AtomicKitten]

16. I recall Hillary joining the GOP in pubically criticizing one of Kerry's alleged "gaffes."

She had no skin in the game other than damaging Kerry's candidacy so she could run in '08.

Can't find the video; maybe the JK group can help?

[SouthernProgressive]

13. That the party learned very little from 2000.

That taking the high road is simply stupid when it comes to a position of such power.
That the republicans loathe veterans.
That the republicans play for keeps while democrats played to keep honest.
That Kerry should have never picked Edwards. Huge Kerry and Edwards fan but that doesn't change the optics.
That Rove, Cheney and Bush understood what winning means, us not so much.

Like him or not, Rham understood all of this.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

14. Not to vote for candidates that cause injury to my nose.

[msongs]

15. that kerry conceded during the night while America slept nt

[blm]

21. untrue - he didn't concede till next morning once math proved insurmountable

thanks to DNC's weak, weak handling of party infrastructure in Ohio in the years prior.

[olddots]

17. I learned again that the game is rigged

but if I want it to be fairI may have to die for it .

[Armstead]

18. You've got to be a top notch candidate to beat an incumbent

Even if the incumbent is awful, as long as the economy is at least somewhat okay. And Bush had that post 9-11 kryptonite in his pocket.

Kerry is a good man, and in many ways a good politician. But he wasn't top notch. And he ran away from being a truly liberal truth-telling alternative. And he voted for that dumb war, in a weaselly way. And underestimated Rove's ability to use a candidate's strengths against them (Swift boaters.)