Things may be looking good today for the Democrats and Obama however....

[LynneSin]

we should run this campaign like we're 2 points behind and the election is next week.

It's March and voters have short attention span. We think this Birth Control/Rush Limbaugh saga will sink the GOP party but in a month they'll have the that rickity boat called the Republican Party patched up again and somehow convincing the ignorant they're on an unsinkable ship.

One thing I thought that really benefited the Democrats in 2008 was a long drawn out primary. First it kept both candidates in the limelight thru September. Hillary Clinton already had plenty of name recognition but it really helped to make Barack Obama a household name too. And that Democratic primary was fought in a way that just about every 'dirty' secret either candidate might have had was already aired before the primaries (aka Jeremiah Wright or the Weather Underground). By the time the Democratic Primaries were done the 'dirty' stories (and I use quotes since really they were pretty lame attempts to smear Obama) were well known and looked foolish when Palin or McCain tried to use them as campaign fodder. Now this year it seems it's the Republican turn to have the long drawn out primary and by the time their primary starts we'll have most of the dirt on all 4 of these men running for GOP ticket.

So let's not plan our inauguration parties just yet - we have alot of hard work ahead of us! I've used the comments "Campaign like we're 2 points behind" because we've all seen races too close to call. I know I have, I've spent extra time volunteering and knocking on doors because if I could just get a few more voters out there I figured we could win this thing.

I think we have a strong chance this fall but November is 8 months away and alot can happen until then.

[liberal N proud]

1. Exactly - Now is not the time to rest on our heels.

[NRaleighLiberal]

2. Yes indeedy. If we can harness the energy that the Rush mess has created

and apply it to all things pro-Dem, driving Dem election turnout, etc - and as you say, take nothing for granted....

the day after election day we can THEN sit back and relax a bit. But not until then.

[FSogol]

3. True: GOTV

[MineralMan]

4. I agree 100%

And, we should be starting to work on GOTV right now, by focusing on state and national legislative candidates and their campaigns.

[LynneSin]

6. I think I'm helping out in PA this year

Delaware will go solid blue.

But Pennsylvania will have some tight races and I'm particularly interested in the PA Attorney General race. Both candidates for the Dem Party (both good too) have vowed that they would investigate the governor to find out what he knew when in regards to the Jerry Sandusky case. Gov Tom Corbett was the Attorney General when he first got the case (2008) and yet when he ran for governor there wasn't a word anywhere about the issue. There is a growing belief that Corbett covered up the story to protect Penn State and he had received campaign donations from Sandusky's charity "Second Mile"

I do think there is a solid case there which would either lead to an impeachment or at least him being voted out in 2014. He's been the worst governor EVER for Pennsylvania and he's ruining it with this damn fracking!

[deutsey]

5. I agree, but we also need to prepare for a potential increase in violence

I hope I'm wrong, but there are already a lot of unstable people on the Right and the more they see "their side" getting its ass kicked in the polls, the more prone to lashing out some may become.

[WilliamPitt]

7. Yup.

[MarianJack]

8. You got that right, LynneSin!

Just ask "President" Dewey!

Remember this time in 1992 when poppy bush was such a shoe-in that many thought that President to be Clinton was going to come in 3rd?

PEACE!

[LynneSin]

9. The Gennifer Flowers bombshell was dropped way too early in the campaign

I think that came out early in 1992 so by the time the general election came around no one really cared about it.

But the Swiftboating that was done on John Kerry was perfectly timed. Had that came out during the primaries or even right after the convention, there would have been enough time to proved that these people were idiots. But late in the election the damage was done and there wasn't enough time to turn things around. I knew Kerry had to win strong if he wanted to overcome the cheating that was probably in place with the voting machines.

[MarianJack]

10. Good points all.

Hopefully the Obama campaign is keping it's powder dry for a little surprise for bain romney or whomever they put up.

PEACE!

[ieoeja]

11. "it really helped to make Barack Obama a household name"

I was massively disappointed when Obama chose not to compete in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee (I think). Even had he lost, he was doing a great job of selling the Democratic brand in Red states. I believe a presidential campaign should represent the party, not just the presidential candidate.

[LynneSin]

12. I'm from Delaware - no one campaigns here

And as much as we do try the 50 states campaign sometimes it does get to be too much and you have to cut your losses someplace.

[ieoeja]

15. I don't mind cutting costs where we are going to mostly sweep the election anyway.

But these Red states weren't all that Red before the Rightists obtained a monopoly on the discussion. That is the one thing I just can not forgive Bill. His success by running against the national Party was emulated by Democrats in less Liberal regions of the country pushing them ever further to the Right.

I grew up in Southern Indiana where "we can't elect a Liberal there." We did, in fact, elect Liberals not infrequently when I was growing up. However, it is now very true that we can not. Because all they hear from the both Democrats and Republicans is how evil Liberals are. And local Democrats abandoned liberal/progress when the odds were not hopeless. In doing so, they have now become hopeless.

The people in these regions are not going to wake up one day and magically realize every single person they are listening to is lying about liberals. We have to start telling them the truth. If that means short term losses, then take the damn short term losses. Because we are guaranteeing long term wins Conservatives otherwise.

[tblue37]

17. One reason for RW political success since 1980

is that they deliberately followed a long-term strategy, instead of throwing up their hands in despair every time they lost an election.

Dems/liberals do tend to give up and go home after each loss, and to relax and stop working on the electoral issues after every win. Dems are just not willing to work the long game the way Republicans and their rich and corporatist backers are.

[a kennedy]

13. I know, there is a whole lotta time left before the elections......

[hifiguy]

14. O should run a campaign like Truman did in '48

against a "do-nothing' Congress. Pound the living bejesus out of the Repukes on that issue (among others) from June 1 on through the election. It worked out pretty well for Harry.

[tblue37]

16. The electronic vote-stealing machines, as well as the voter ID laws

and other tactics to suppress the Democratic vote, are so effective that if the Dems win by anything less than a huge landslide, the Republicans will take the election.

I am quite certain that Obama had a much larger mandate in 2008 than we ever heard about, and I also am quite certain that many seats in both houses of Congress that went to the Republicans were actually Dem wins, but just not by a large enough margin to prevent the Republicans from stealing the election.

We need to win huge—and not just the presidency, but also both houses of Congress.


On edit--And don't forget the impact the Republican sugar daddies and the in-the-bag-for-the-Republicans corporate M$M will have!

[AlinPA]

18. Yes. Exactly. The GOP will have billions in SuperPAC money.