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eridani

(51,907 posts)
Mon Sep 15, 2014, 03:01 AM Sep 2014

Memo To Democrats: Change Campaign Strategy Or Keep Losing

http://www.nationalmemo.com/memo-democrats-change-campaign-strategy-keep-losing/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=NM_Master_List&utm_campaign=Daily+Newsletter+-+Sept+13+2014&utm_content=A

Democrats can win control of the House of Representatives, governorships and many other offices in November if they do just one thing: Stop playing politics the way the Koch brothers and other right-wing billionaires do.

A surefire way to make sure Republicans stay in power is to continue pouring most campaign money into costly television commercials that sway few voters. But the path to victory is simple: Put all that money into registering voters and, especially, getting them to the polls on Election Day. Polls don’t count. Votes do.

For less than the cost of airing a major market television ad just one time, scores of voters can be driven to the polls on Election Day. All it takes are telephones, organizing, and cars with tanks full of gas. It could also be a good one-day jobs program for people long out of work.

You can make this happen. You can exercise power. You can change the direction our nation is heading in. All you need are time, focus, and determination. And you need to tell politicians asking for your donations that you’ll give not one penny for TV ads, but all you can afford in cash and time for getting out the vote.

Of course you could just keep donating to politicians who lavish money on campaign professionals, who prosper buying television airtime even when their candidate-clients fail to win despite poll after poll showing that Republicans are out of touch with what Americans want.

When 73 percent of Republicans support increasing Social Security benefits even as party leaders work to cut them, it shows that our Election Day results are out of alignment with popular attitudes
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Memo To Democrats: Change Campaign Strategy Or Keep Losing (Original Post) eridani Sep 2014 OP
Interesting thoughts, but has the writer... TreasonousBastard Sep 2014 #1
The people won't vote for a party that doesn't support the people Scootaloo Sep 2014 #2
+1. n/t Laelth Sep 2014 #3
Exactly. Should read, "Memo to Democrats: Change Governing Strategy or Keep Losing" nt Maven Sep 2014 #5
I see Party flacks constantly on about "GOTV". What is the big issue we're voting for? Romulox Sep 2014 #4

TreasonousBastard

(43,049 posts)
1. Interesting thoughts, but has the writer...
Mon Sep 15, 2014, 04:00 AM
Sep 2014

actually organized the number of volunteers necessary to register and get out the vote? TV campaigns are for the larger offices, and we're seeing Congressional and Governor ads-- campaigns that take a hell of a lot of work before the street level campaigning. State Assembly, town assessor... these are every bit as important to us as the big guys, but just try to get out troops.

Out here we've been doing this, or trying to do this, for years now, and it's damn difficult to keep it up. Paying people to knock on doors
and make calls is an option in some cases, but election day is often a mix of races and getting campaigns to work together isn't always easy. With the exception of a few elderly or handicapped, driving people to the polls has been a spectacular disappointment.

The commercials are certainly annoying, but as long as one side has attack ads, the other side pretty much has to answer them or leave that nasty taste in the mouth. An unfortunate fact is that the more noise there is, the more the message tends to seep in. Everyone says they hate the ads, but they fall for a well-crafted message anyway.

FWIW, I was just on such a bandwagon for a primary for a local candidate for state office and it was both exciting and exhausting. Local candidates don't have any money for much of anything, much less TV or paid drivers but we managed to pull out a win. I think we pulled out a win-- all the absentee ballots haven't been counted yet.



 

Scootaloo

(25,699 posts)
2. The people won't vote for a party that doesn't support the people
Mon Sep 15, 2014, 04:19 AM
Sep 2014

Know why dems do poorly in midterms? because barely a single one of our democrats in congress or the senate give a shit about their constituents. They make a show of arguing with Republicans, but they take the same lobby bucks, they glad-hand the same big businesses, they sign the same neoliberal and borderline fascist legislation, they authorize the same wars, and then they come back to ask for more money and votes.

Democrats turn out for presidential elections because of an eternal hope that since our representatives and senators refuse to have our back, maybe the executive will do something. That is, we're probably insane, doing hte same thing over and over again and hoping for new results.

Here's a campaign strategy for the Democrats - support the people you want votes from. Not just rhetorical support for the five months of campaign season, but actual, tangible support. Build the poor and impoverished up. Stand up for the workers. ditch the Kissinger-style foreign policy for fuck's sake. yes, it's tough, you'll have to fight the republicans every step, and it might cost you those big greasy checks from the lobbies you love so much.But know what, governing properly is hard.

Support the people and the people will support you, Democrats. Abandon them and you will be abandoned.

Romulox

(25,960 posts)
4. I see Party flacks constantly on about "GOTV". What is the big issue we're voting for?
Mon Sep 15, 2014, 08:11 AM
Sep 2014

Bombing Syria (finally!)? More domestic surveillance? Maybe some other private, for profit products we want to be forced to buy?

What's the big issue we're telling people about to drive them to the polls?

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