If democrats really want to win this election

[TeacherCreature]

If we are going to win this election the big name democrats, including Kerry have to go to the unregistered voters and make their case. Forget the Nascar Dads. Forget the soccor moms. These people have decided and there is not going to be enough movement in these groups to make the election beyond stealing. Unregistered young women are the key to this election.

[jpgray]

1. Non-voters tend to do what identifies them in the first place (nt)

[TeacherCreature]

3. hide your head in the sand if you want......welcome to the bush victory

People don't vote because they are ignored both before and after the election. I have been in more than one campaign meeting where people made statement just like yours. This is why we have lost the senate the congress and the presidency.

[jpgray]

4. Nader actively courts non-voters, and they continue to not vote for him

What do the non-voters want? No one knows, and any set of views from any side of the spectrum do not appeal to them, because they continue to not vote.

[TeacherCreature]

6. who care what Nader does?

What does Nader have to do with anything?

[jpgray]

9. Try to remember your own replies--you said 'non voters are ignored'

That isn't true--Nader goes after them (or claims to), and is rewarded by people not voting for him.

Non-voters have had every opportunity to vote, and for platforms that encompass the entire political spectrum from leftist/libertarian to authoritarian/rightist. They simply do not vote for any set of issues. They are not some romantic disengaged enclave that has nobly decided to protest our system by not voting. They simply don't see politics as important enough to waste their time on--otherwise, there would be SOME set of issues that would inspire them vote.

[TeacherCreature]

11. JP, Nader courts those people and they DO VOTE FOR HIM

Thousands of new voters voted for him in in florida. Imagine if someone who was not a senile old nutcase followed his strategy and reached out to non voters.
In 2000 without much effort at all I convince 5 of "those people" to vote again. After the election they were disgusted and discouraged, but they voted simply because I talked to them.

[ASanders84]

7. Non-voters piss me off

If those people had been voting the past 30 years, think of how much progress we could have made. And dammit, the democrats would have stayed on the traditional "left".

[TeacherCreature]

10. it doesn't do any good to get mad at them

I get upset twith them too. But rather than getting mad we need to try as hard as possible to get them to vote.

[TeacherCreature]

8. why don't we find out what they want?

That is the whole point. I would say that they want people to show up where they are and talk to them. I think they want politicians to come after the election and then keep their promises.
I have worked in democratic campaign for years and your attitude is the same one all 30 year olds party hacks make. This is why we are loosing. Get your head out of the conventional wisdom box.

[jpgray]

12. So each non-voter needs a personal visit from a candidate?

That's ridiculous--Howard Dean relied on non-voters shaking up Washington, and once the primaries rolled around the non-voters did what they do, they didn't vote for him. The time and money wasted there would be better spent on those who care about the leadership of this country enough to vote. Candidates make the rounds of the country and of the competitive states all the time--do these non-voters bother to show up? My guess is no. Is part of your plan to physically force the non-voter to participate in the candidate's appearance?

[TeacherCreature]

13. Yes obviously that is what I am saying

:eyes:

This is my last reply to you.

[jpgray]

14. Isn't it?: ' I would say that they want people to show up where they are'

Candidates DO this. They show up around the country trying to convince voters to vote for them. Where do the non-voters magically become convinced to vote? Do non-voters even show up for these things?

[BeFree]

16. Where do non voters go on election day? eh?

In Iowa, IIRC, many 'non-voters' went to the polls, finally. The outcome was that Kerry won.

Reports from around the country indicate that voter registration is up, way up.

Let's face it: Politics frighten most of the sheeple. A politician who gets people to vote is one who is not scary. Kerry is doing a good job of encouraging people, Kerry on Kerry.

[Joy Anne]

2. tiny URL

I couldn't get it; is the URL correct?

[TeacherCreature]

5. looks like the link is broken now

[Joy Anne]

20. Thanks

Let me know when the link works. I'd like to read that!

[SheilaT]

15. There's a reason they are called

non voters. It really is very easy to register to vote in this country, and for the most part it's not hard to get to the polling place and actually cast a vote.

I'm walking door to door courting voters, and I live in a reasonably affluent area where almost everyone is registered and our voter turnout is remarkably high --78% in my district in 2000. But maybe one household in 100 either has no one registered, or not everyone over 18 there is registered. And when I offer to register them, or suggest they register and just vote for me, I'm turned down 9 out of 10 times.

Those who don't vote, even the middle class non voters, simply don't feel connected to the system, just don't believe their vote matters at all.

And of course, the electoral college system makes our presidential vote, the most important one of all, virtually meaningless. I am so angry about my vote not counting because I live in a state that will undoubtedly go for Bush, as incredibly incompetent and amazing awful a president he's been, that I probably won't bother to vote for a slate of presidential electors. Besides, our legislature is very, very Republican, so even if by some miracle Kerry wins, do I really believe those Republicans will actually certify the Kerry electors? What do you think?

[BeFree]

17. Didn't you hear Al Gore?

He said he is proof that every vote counts. Also that we need to make sure every vote is counted.

This is a democracy, damnit! It is ill, yes, but the cure is more democracy. That means more people need to be involved. Do not be discouraged, have courage. Remember those who have fought for the people for hundreds of years, they never gave up, did they?

[TeacherCreature]

18. If you can convince repulicans to think like you do

then we would have a winning strategy. Maybe you can get them to stay home in droves too. But chances are you can not and that is why your legislature is overwhelmingly republican.

[SheilaT]

21. I understand quite clearly

what is at stake, and exactly why my Democratic vote in Republican Kansas doesn't count. With the electoral college system it doesn't matter if one candidate gets every single vote in the state, or exactly 50% plus one. Either way, he gets all the electoral votes. The popular vote, despite the fact that the electoral college winner usually gets more of them, doesn't matter in the end.

The reason Kansas is so Republican is because a lot of people here have been bamboozled into thinking the Republican party actually cares about them, which isn't true unless they're in the top five percent or so. And the Kansas Democratic party has been very weak for a long time. Lots of voters register as Republicans simply so they can vote in the primary, which is often where the only real choice will be occurring, since all too often there's no Democrat running for a seat. I'm the first Democrat since 1998 to run for this particular position, and Probably 20 percent or more of the registered Republicans tell me they're RINOs (Republicans in Name Only) and will of course vote for me in November.

A lot of Democrats here think they're the only one, and it's pretty sad.

[GreenArrow]

19. black voters are the key to this election

.