What Dean needs to do in the general election to appeal to swing voters

[RobertFrancisK]

He doesn't need to alter his positions at all, just slightly chane his rhetoric. What I think he should say is : "The establishment doesn' want me running. The media and even the heirarchy of my own party are scared off me. But I'm not running to be the president of the Democratic National Committee or to be a media-favorite; I'm running to be the president of the people of the United States of America, and I'm fighting to empower you."
This would be inline with his philosophy, but he'll need to get away from his rhetoric about being a real democrat once the general election rolls around, and I think that message would really resonate with people.

[UnapologeticLiberal]

1. That's a good point

I am worried about what will happen if Dean gets the nomination - I am a little afraid some of his supporters will get alienated when he changes his emphasis...but yours is a really good suggestion that I think would appeal to people outside the party while holding onto the base. Distaste for Washington and Congress and life inside the Beltway seems to be bipartisan, and if he campaigns against establishment Washington he will appeal to both Democrats who feel sold out by the Democrats in Congress as well as the libertarian leaning types and those who just don't care about politics because they figure the people in Washington are so far removed from reality that ordinary people don't really matter and therefore there is no point in voting. So I think yours is a very good suggestion and I would recommend posting it on the blog...the campaign people definitely read the blog comments, because they occasionally pull something from them and post them as entries to the blog.

[blm]

2. Don't worry...Dean's good at not acting like a Democrat.

He has 11 years of aligning with the GOP under his belt.

What you haven't figured out is that Dean was new to acting like he was from the "Democratic wing of the Democratic party" to get support from REAL Democrats. He did a good acting job, too, because a whole lot of people sure believed he was liberal.

[gully]

6. zzzzzzzzzz

:puke:

[waggawagga]

3. Show, Don't Tell

If I were Dean once I got the nomination I'd start naming people I'd include in my cabinet. That's never been done before but Dean is an unknown quantity and that would be one way to show people that he'd run a moderate (enough) administration. I don't think Dean should temper his liberalism at all. The public is ready for a campaign where a Democrat doesn't run from his beliefs (something the Dems have been doing since the 1980s). I think Dean's biggest problem is one which hasn't yet been mentioned much: there isn't much about his campaign which excites blacks, hispanics, etc. Even now he should be reaching out to find people who will campaign with him (obvious example, Rep. Harold Ford, but really try to recruit a new generation of leadership).

[RobertFrancisK]

4. Is Dean fluent in Spanish?

It said he spoke a little in Time, and if he is, he should challenge Bush to a debate in Spanish in Dade County or a place with a high Hispanic population. I agree that he needs to branch out quite a bit and excite the black electorate instead of just relying on them to vote for him.

[w4rma]

5. I disagree about that strategy of naming cabinet members

That makes Dean a bigger target as any of those cabinet nominees could have a scandal waiting in their background or might say something off message during the campaign.

Increasing your size as a target is always bad.

I think there are much better ways to attract more hispanics and african-americans to the Democratic Party. I'm positive that hispanics and african-americans and women would be well represented in a President Dean cabinet.

[gully]

7. Great message N/T

[CMT]

8. Dean is already appealing to swing or Independent voters

He leads among them according to polls in New Hampshire and Iowa. I think the deficit and what it means for the future will be a key issue in next years elections. The deficit will be probably $500 billion next year and Dean has a strong record as a budget balancer without sacrificing valuable programs. He makes this issue work like no other candidate "The Republicans can't be trusted with our money"--this moderate fiscal policy along with his liberal stance on most social issues bodes well with appealing to Independents who are often described as being "fiscally conservative but socially liberal".

[tedoll78]

9. We're going to have to pay it back eventually.

Do we want to pay it off with tons of interest, or less interest?

If tax revenue is the taxpayers' money, this deficit is also the taxpayers' debt.