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Democrats, NOT Republicans, Are the Party of Freedom Liberty
Democrats are the party of freedom and liberty http://www.huffingtonpost.com/george-lakoff/democratic-strategies-los_b_6113704.html On the Bonus Show: Joseph Smith had up to 40 wives,...
By: David Pakman Show
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Democrats, NOT Republicans, Are the Party of Freedom & Liberty - Video
Democrats Sink To A Sad Low In Eyes Of Americans
"According to a Gallup poll released today, the Democratic Party has hit its lowest favorability rating in the past three years 36% mainly driven by their awful performance in the recent...
By: The Young Turks
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Democrats Sink To A Sad Low In Eyes Of Americans - Video
updated 12:41 PM EST, Mon November 17, 2014
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Washington (CNN) -- Environmental activists are willing to bring their qualms with their traditional ally the Democrats right to their front door -- literally.
Opponents of the Keystone XL Pipeline plopped an inflatable "pipeline" on Sen. Mary Landrieu's front yard on Monday -- and the Louisiana senator likely isn't complaining.
Landrieu is trying to push the pipeline through the Senate as she faces an uphill climb to hold on to her seat in a December runoff against Republican Rep. Bill Cassidy. The pipeline could be a boon to Louisiana's Gulf oil-rich economy and passage of a bill authorizing the pipeline would be a high profile and new accomplishment that Landrieu could point to.
The visuals of more than 50 protesters picketing on Landrieu's front yard with "No KXL" signs could bolster Landrieu's status as a serious threat to opponents of the pipeline and positions her as a key player in the effort to bring more than a dozen Senate Democrats on board to support the bill and send it to President Barack Obama's desk. Activists even walked up to the front stoop of Landrieu's D.C. home and knocked on the door -- no answer.
But progressive activists at the protest said they weren't concerned about Landrieu's reelection prospects, acknowledging that both Landrieu and her opponent support Keystone XL.
"It's one vote in the Senate, and either way it's a yes vote on the Keystone pipeline," said Karthik Ganapathy, an organizer with the environmental organization 350.
Instead, Ganapathy and other activists said the protest was about more than Landrieu -- sending a message to national Democrats that they risk losing their base if they support policies like Keystone.
"We're not going to lie down and say, 'Oh but they're a Democrat,'" Ganapathy said. "The people that you're looking at here, these are the people that Hillary Clinton, the Democrats of 2016 and beyond are going to need to knock on doors and turnout the vote."
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Keystone protestors have message for Democrats
Democrats learned the value of outside money after getting crushed in 2010. In 2014, they learned that big money alone is not enough. With 2016 on the horizon, Democrats involved in outside groups are keen to avoid getting schooled again.
Interviews with about a dozen donors and operatives many of whom attended the annual winter meeting of the Democracy Alliance, a liberal club of wealthy donors, in Washington last week pointed to several weaknesses in the Democratic big money circuit, from poor messaging to a lack of diversity among consultants.
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As these outside organizations, which range from super PACs to environmental groups, start planning for the next election cycle, here are five steps Democrats interviewed said they must take:
Deliver a cohesive, national message probably on the economy
Democrats this cycle tried to bring up a host of issues in different races, often aiming to localize them in a bid to distance themselves from Obama. Or, as in the Colorado Senate race, they picked one narrow subject, womens reproductive rights, and relentlessly hammered it.
(Also on POLITICO: The GOP's numbers problem)
Even though Democrats touted their strategy throughout the cycle, in the end, none of the messages were powerful enough to break through to a broad enough audience.
This year was an election about everything, but also about nothing because there wasnt a cohesive message, said Anna Greenberg, a top Democratic pollster.
Outside groups (as well as campaigns) need to devise a national message to drive voters to the polls in 2016, and most likely it will need to focus on the economy, Democrats interviewed said. Some pointed to the pro-Obama super PAC Priorities USA Actions economic-focused ads as models the groups early advertising in 2012 is often credited with the presidents reelection.
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Democrats debate big-money strategy
Democrats are searching for explanations to their thorough defeat in the midterm elections. Aside from obvious considerations low turnout, sixth year election, etc. there are several arguments that the economy was a big reason Democrats lost so thoroughly. It was polled, once again, as themost importantissue concerning voters this election.
However, this stance presents a bit of a paradox. For one, the economy is not all that bad. In fact, its doing pretty well. The US isoutperformingother economies recovering from theglobal recession. The US has steadily added jobs each month for several years. Unemployment is below 6% for the first time since 2008. The stock market has been breaking records in recent months and performing well generally for the last few years. Gas prices are low. The housing market is recovering. Factory production and jobs are up. Corporations are enjoying record-breaking profits. Economic confidence is higher than it has been since 2008. Despite a slow recover, the economy isrelatively strong.
This normally bodes well for the incumbent presidents party in election years. That was obviously not the case on Nov. 4.
Some argue this disjuncture is because of income inequality. Many pollsters, political analysts, and reporters are arguing that, while the economy may beimproving,individualvotersare notreapingthebenefits. And therefore, they are not rewarding the incumbent party in the way that they normally would.
This is almost certainly not the case. The overwhelming majority ofresearch shows voters are much more likely to consider the national economy than their pocketbook. Individual economic circumstances may play a small role, but, for the most part, perceptions of national economic conditions overwhelm other economic considerations.
Similarly, inequality is not new. The income gap started growing in the early 1970s. Unless the US has reached some unseen tipping point, it is unclear why income inequality would matter in this election and not in others. For example, if inequality was to have affected voting decisions, the relationship between the economy and voting would have likely started todecouplein the 1990s, when inequality increasedsharplyunder President Clinton. However, that hasnt occurred.
Its more likely that Democrats failed to affect voters perceptions of the national economy. As Lynn Vavreckpoints out, voters perceptions of the economy matter more in midterm elections than in presidential years. And further, partisanship has an effect on perceptions of the economy. It acts as a lens through which perceptions of the state of the nations economy are filtered. Democrats ability to change Republicans perceptions of the economy was likely minimal.
However, it is also possible they failed to convince their own partisans that the economy was, in fact, performing well. Democrats attempts to localize their races and distance themselves from the president also put distance between them and a solid national economy. During the campaigns, we heard very little about steady growth, lower unemployment, or the other factors that could have played well for Democrats. Its entirely possible many did not believe these trends were good enough to campaign on. Its also likely that many states in which these races took place still had struggling economies, which, according to a new paper by Stephen Ansolabehere, Marc Meredith, and Erik Snowberg in the journal Economics & Politics(November 2014),can affect perceptions of the national economy. However, that wasnt the case in Iowa, Colorado, New Hampshire, South Dakota, and Virginia, all of which have unemployment below the national average. Its also possible that so many fundamentals pointed away from Democrats, it was never a messaging battle they could have won.
Regardless, the key takeaway is that income inequality was almost certainly not one of the structural issues that contributed to the Democrats defeat this Tuesday.
Joshua Huder publishes his Rule 22 blog at http://rule22.wordpress.com.
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Why Democrats lost the election: Income inequality did not affect the midterms