This is just my opinion...

[hfojvt]

72. I think that would help in some ways - hurt in some other ways

If you look at the Senate races http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=890052

More ideological separation is not going to help us win in places like Nebraska, Montana, Missouri, or Virginia. A Democrat NEEDS to blur the distinction in those states in order to win conservative or moderate Republican and independent votes. A Democratic Party that was further to the left would just be an even bigger ball and chain in states like Montana and Nebraska, and even New Mexico and Wisconsin are not THAT liberal.

We are in danger of losing Wisconsin for the Senate because Republicans have a very strong candidate. I personally cannot stand Tommy Thompson, but Wisconsin voters elected him Governor 3 or 4 times and Thompson has, and can raise, lots of money.

In a similar way, I would be interested to see how many Congressional districts Obama won. I bet that in many Congressional districts that we have an uphill battle.

Some of that is because of messaging. The Republican message is pounded so much it is practically like background noise, and our own message, does too often echo them. I was annoyed with both Jean Carnahan (Senator from Missouri) and Dennis Moore (Congressman from Kansas). Both of them ran for re-election in 2002 and said in ads "we voted for the Bush tax cuts". Now, presumably they had to say that because voters in their districts approved of the Bush tax cuts. But as a guy who works on his own to spread the message that "the Bush tax cuts are bad for America" I thought it really sucked to see two Democratic candidates undermining my message.