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Home Front: Politix
Noemie Emery: Democrats' new agenda: Losing in 2012
2010-11-11
A week past the midterms, the good news gets better, so far as the GOP is concerned.

" President B.O. (so far) doesn't get it. His presser was gruesome. He is being called isolated, inept and incompetent. Staffers are dishing, backers are kvetching, and even the glossies have turned...

" Speaker of the House Nancy San Fran Nan Pelosi, D-Calif., is back! Pelosi, who led her caucus into calamitous losses, is not going quietly, but wants the chance to repeat the experience...

" Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is back, too! Republicans get to keep him, with his charm, charisma, and leaderly qualities ... and keep intact the leadership team that just did so well in the midterm election.

" The Tea Party worked out, on balance, and at least in contrast to what might have been. It did not, as predicted, embarrass its allies. ... True, it coughed up a couple of clunkers, but these were mercifully vetoed by voters before they could became large-scale, ongoing embarrassments.

" The Democrats still have control of the Senate, but by six seats instead of 19 or 20, which is where their problems begin. ... In 2012, 13 Democrats, from the wave election of 2006 and purple states that went red just a week ago, will be up for election and they will be very afraid.
Posted by:Fred

#7  Guess who won just about every race that was within 1% on election night? The Pubs have never been good at this and that's why they lose all the close ones.



Yes, I do agree we've never stuffed the ballto box as well as they do.

Of course, I find it morally repugnant they go into group homes and load them on the buses.
Posted by: anonymous2u   2010-11-11 17:47  

#6  SW:

1. Wisconsin, until the election, was pretty darn blue. Didn't happen everywhere, but it does happen.

2. Again from Wisconsin, Johnson was not a tested candidate. In Nevada Angle was -- she had run and won several campaigns before running for Senate.

3. Buck had a very professional campaign. I know, because I've met many of them. Solid people who in some cases have run Republican campaigns for decades. The NRC and NRSC -- the "professionals" -- are getting and deserve a great deal of blame for not doing better in Senate races. Things like completely neglecting the 72 hour GOTV ground game made a difference.

4. "Electable", moderate, establishment candidates like Fiorina also lost.

5. "Electable", moderate, establishment candidates like Dan Coats are already talking about helping out the Dems (in Coats' case, by "reforming" the filibuster). Guess what a Mike Castle would be doing right now. We don't need that kind of help, thank you very much.
Posted by: Iblis   2010-11-11 15:47  

#5  Good points Steve, but often obscured by the Tea Party failures in the big races are a LOT of successes in the lower tiers - your minor leagues - from which future big leaguers should develop.
Posted by: Glenmore   2010-11-11 12:22  

#4  I hope the Tea Party activists got the messages:

1) you can't convert a state from Blue to Red in one swell foop. Delaware wasn't going to go for O'Donnell. NEVER. Castle was a RINO, but I'd rather have him 50% of the time than Coons 2% of the time.

Moral: states progress from Blue to Purple to Red to Maroon. Put up the right candidate for the right situation. You can go maroon in Utah, but you can't go deep red in Delaware. Or, apparently, in Nevada.

2) Untested candidates can be a disaster. Joe Miller was untested. Sharron Angle was untested. Ken Buck was untested. Meg Whitman was untested. Put them in the spotlight and they fell apart. Marco Rubio, in contrast, had been thoroughly tested and vetted. He was ready to step up and it showed.

Moral: a Senate race is not the time to trot out a rookie. Go with a candidate who has put in the requisite time in the minor leagues and can step up to the big show.

3) Organization matters. Professional organization matters more in a nail-biter election. The tea party brought new energy and volunteers. The Democrats brought tested poll and election workers. Guess who won just about every race that was within 1% on election night? The Pubs have never been good at this and that's why they lose all the close ones.

Moral: there is no substitute for having experienced pros in charge for the GOTV, poll-watching and election night surveillance. If the Tea Party wants to make lasting change, get good at this, because the regular Pubs sure won't.
Posted by: Steve White   2010-11-11 11:52  

#3  It's going to take awhile to clean up the mess born and bred in Washington.
Posted by: JohnQC   2010-11-11 09:49  

#2  Procopius, the Repubs could benefit from the same advice - the Tea Party candidates just advanced in the primaries because the sanctioned candidates failed to communicate their message etc.
Posted by: Glenmore   2010-11-11 08:50  

#1  If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.
- Sun Tzu

Donks should just keep repeating that it was just the failure to communicate, not the policies through to 2012 and that the Tea Party movement was just an astroturf product of RNC.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2010-11-11 08:03  

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