The Democratic Strategist, a new magazine about just what its title implies, made its debut this week. I’ve read about half the articles, and while I agree with only some of the ideas, it encouraged me to see this kind of “idea” publication launched.
The first article should interest the attendees of the recent Va. bloggers convention. Jerome Armstrong, co-author of Crashing the Gate, was the speaker Saturday evening at the conference. He was not awe inspiring. He seemed out of sync, a little disorganized and somewhat inarticulate. I then listened to his interview on WINA-AM in Charlottesville and then read his article in the Strategist. He acquits himself quite well.
In his article, he endorses what is essentially the “Howard Dean strategy,” building organizations nationwide to compete in all 50 states. Armstrong calls it the “mapchanger strategy,” and he cites fellow blogger Chris Bowers from MyDD for succinctly laying out the rationale.
Abandoning a district also has repercussions for future elections. Failing to challenge your opponent’s message in an area is damaging to your message in that area in the future. Failing to provide a choice to those willing to support you–and there are always tens of thousands willing to support you in any congressional district–sends a message that you do not represent or care about those people. Even worse, failing to challenge an incumbent sends a message that you are afraid of your own beliefs and that you are not working to make this country a better Democracy.
Running a candidate in each of these districts would also have helped to identify Democratic activists in each of these districts. Identifying, encouraging, and assisting potential Dem activists throughout the entire country would help to strengthen the Party, both now and in future elections cycles. These are the people who can help to bring the Democratic message to every corner of the country.
I made the same argument to some Virginia Democratic leaders a couple of months ago. We need to compete in all state House and Senate districts. Such a strategy requires more than field organization, however. Armstrong, to his credit, recognizes that and the other challenges facing Democrats.
Yes, the Democratic Party has a problem with branding. Yet if we can rebuild the party across the country, at this very local level, the message and branding problems will be much easier to address. They are certainly not going to be solved within DC. In fact, in many ways, the debate over strategy and tactics versus ideas and principles is a false one. The election strategies that a party puts into practice reflect its values. A national party cannot, through a slogan, say they are putting people first, and then in the next election blow off half the people of the nation.
The same applies in the Commonwealth. I think Armstrong may be too complacent about message and branding problems, however. They won’t solve themselves simply by building a strong field presence.
I won’t argue what’s most important. Organization, good candidates, money, authenticity, principles, communications — they’re all part of the necessary mix.
George Lakoff, at a panel at the YearlyKos conference (link is currently down), argues that talking about values and principles is key. He points to the Reagan campaigns. You believed him; he spoke convincingly.
While I believe that Democrats needn’t reinvent government to regain a majority in either Congress or the Virginia General Assembly, their values and principles must be substantive and clearly articulated. And substance, whether it be a principle, value or policy, must be constructed over time. We can’t wait until the 2007 election season to make the case.
I’ve argued that Virginia Democrats should have begun immediately after the regular session in March with the groundwork necessary to ensure recapturing the Senate in ’07 and the House by ’09. Even then, the time frame is short for November ’07. It takes time and scores of speeches, op-eds, letters to the editor, town hall meetings, editorial board meetings, interviews with bloggers, etc., to get the word to voters that Virginia Democrats have a better way. Right now, the strategy seems to be step aside and let the Republican fratricide do the work for us. You can never abdicate your responsibility to the other guy perpetuating mistakes. As Kenneth Baer and Andrei Cherny point out in another Strategist article, Republicans did not gain power via direct mail and robo calls.
They were arrived at through years of vigorous debate and discussion by people who passionately held some core beliefs – and debated them with each other and the politicians seeking their support. They were unafraid to think big and unafraid to anger those who disagreed with them – including many voters.
I wouldn’t recommend angering voters. To the contrary, one way to win moderate Republicans and independents is to acknowledge some of their concerns re moral issues and taxes.
If you want to convert Republican voters, you need to get them comfortable with your views, values and ideas. That is a much easier process when it is done gradually over time, letting the ideas percolate, and gaining feedback to learn how best to frame them for the election season.
Will Marshall’s Strategist article offers some compelling thoughts. More about them later.
By the way, if you’re looking for thought provocation, check out the agenda for the annual meeting of the New Democratic Network (NDN). It’s this Thursday and Friday in Washington. Speaking will be Hillary Clinton, Rahm Emanuel, Tom Vilsack, Mark Warner, Ruy Teixeira, Joe Trippi, Markos Moulitsas and others. Should be fun and a great bonding experience for me: One of my daughters is going with me.