From speaking style to baby-sitting, Democrats offer ideas on how to win

[ryban]

ORLANDO, Fla. - Lose the brainy Washington-speak. Expand the playing field to states President Bush captured. Baby-sit for moms who want to get involved in politics. Democratic activists, gathering for the first time after last month's election losses, offered plenty of ideas for how the party can get back to its winning ways.

Discouraged after two defeats in the presidential election and losses in high-profile Senate races, state party chairmen and other Democratic leaders who gathered here Friday largely agreed that they failed to reach the hearts and minds of Americans.

There was no shortage of advice on how to win them over.

Nancy Jane Woodside, vice chairwoman of the Utah Democratic Party, said Democrats have to change their habit of "laundry listing" the country's problems and come up with solutions that can be easily explained.

<snip>

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/apnews/stories/121004/D86T3QFG3.shtml

[sally343434]

1. Uh huh

And exactly how will any of this do any good as long as we have republican partisans counting votes?

You can tell this is just another lazy "journalist" when they throw in the canard, "Discouraged after two defeats in the presidential election..."

I guess "Nedra" couldn't let anything get in the way of tonight's cocktail party.

And here comes milquetoast Terry McAuliffe with, "But for a shift of 60,000 votes in the state of Ohio, John Kerry would be inaugurated on January 20."

That's right, Terry. Ever wonder how those votes "shifted?"

[movonne]

2. This is a bunch of shit...I do not have to change, this country has

to change..I want to be a liberal and speak and think like a liberal not a repub light...The way to win is get voting machine that counts the votes correctly and let people vote without being hassled.

[Califooyah Operative]

3. agree but disagree

I agree that we need to continue to puruse the voting machine and vote fraud issues, However, We do need some change withing the pary. Not our values, but how we get our message across. The party leadership needs change too. We need to invest money into think tanks, and grassroots candidates at all levels,the republicans have been at it for 30 years. I'ts not repub light to pay attention to what strategies work and use them against them.

[AP]

6. Exactly. The voting machines can't be an excuse to do nothing.

You can't count on the machines getting fixed, so you better plan on tailoring the message so that it gets more people.

[Califooyah Operative]

9. I agree... people on here should read Don't think of an elaphant! -lakoff

It's some goodness.

[w4rma]

4. I'm sick of these condensending headlines about Dems from the AP. (nt)

[Califooyah Operative]

5. yep its lazy, sloppy, irresponsible journalism.

[AP]

7. This is a great article. It's mostly quotes from Dems who've won races.

And Terry makes a great point at the end:

Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe, who is not seeking another term, said the party could have done a better job of reaching out to specific voters. Republicans were far more effective, he said.

While Kerry and the Democrats were trying to reach swing voters with broad messages about the economy, for example, Bush's team was reaching swing voters and traditional Democratic voters with more tailored messages.

Fliers distributed to black churchgoers said Kerry wanted to give gay couples the same rights as married couples. Mailings to middle-aged women argued that Bush would protect their families against terrorism. Older Hispanics heard about Kerry's opposition to a ban on late-term abortions, and male union members heard about Bush's support of gun rights.

These are techniques that the Democrats will use over the next four years, McAuliffe said, as they try to recapture voters who live in rural areas and the South as well as churchgoers.

"But for a shift of 60,000 votes in the state of Ohio, John Kerry would be inaugurated on January 20," he added.

[Califooyah Operative]

8. thats all great now that he's out of the position....

he didn't do a dam thing to help us while he was there (aside from money ofcourse). He's not trying to recover votes in ohio right now, yet hes talking about 60000 votes we didn't get. Those examples of tailored messages were divisive. The only thing in it that makes sense is that we need to reword and work on how we get our message across.

[AP]

10. Would you be happier if you never heard this?

I think it's good to know.

[Stinky The Clown]

11. Dumb and Dumber

WTF?

So Mr. Dem Brainiac comes up with such pearls of wisdom now that the repugs did it? If we rely only on this sort of strategy we'll get our clocks cleaned again. **They** already did this shit. So what do we do? We suggest **we** do it.

How about a fresh idea, asshole?

Not that it is an authority, but DU has come up with thousands of new ideas. Surely there are one or three or ten that just might work.

Ya think?

[AP]

12. What ideas do you think would work?

Target marketing sounds smart to me.

Just because the other side did it first doesn't mean Dems shouldn't do it all.

Of course, it'd be great to find something that is one step ahead of the Republicans...