| 1. If the party does use a primary to select general election candidates, there should be some leadership given to all candidates in that primary regarding the expectation that they should avoid criticism that can help the opposition in the general election.
2. Never again should a candidate's campaign take two months off after a June primary. The old-school belief that a candidate could afford to wait until after Labor Day to engage the public is ridiculous. It must be a leftover from the old Byrd machine when the outcome was pretty much preordained, anyway.
If a primary candidate - or a candidate selected by a convention, for that matter - is not ready to begin the general election the day after he/she is selected by the party, that person should never have contemplated running for the office in the first place.
3. Our party has a base, just as the Republicans do. They never seem to forget their base. We risk what we just saw if we forget ours. People get active in a party because its positions most closely resemble theirs. So, the party must articulate the positions of its base, not simply positions geared to attract independents. Never should a candidate craft a campaign that seeks to attract cross-over votes at the expense of alienating the party base.
I'm not saying a candidate cannot have views on some issues that differ from what I believe. I simply mean that every Democratic campaign should be true to the basic principles of the party.
Sometimes, I wonder if those on staff at the state level have ever sat down and listed the things that the party that signs their paycheck actually stands for.
It's no secret what Democratic Party values are.
We believe that government has to be the solution to some of society's problems. For example, only government can guarantee equal rights for all Americans. Only government can regulate the greed and sociopathic behavior that caused the economic morass we currently are in. Only government can insure that we all get a chance to achieve what we are capable of.
We Democrats also believe that there is no such thing as a free lunch. Sometimes, if people want governmental services - for example, enough roads to avoid spending unproductive hours trapped in NOVA traffic - then people have to pay for them. Otherwise, if we demand services and refuse to pay for them, someone sooner or later will have to pay even more. "Borrow and spend" is far worse than "tax and spend."
We Democrats believe that a humane and civilized society has certain "goods" that cannot be relegated to the supply-demand curve of the marketplace, nor to a scarcity-price curve. Democrats believe in government action to provide air clean enough for all to breathe, water clean enough to drink, land that is not polluted, medical care for all citizens, K-12 public education...all of which are social goods that should not be subject to free market rules. In other words, we do not worship the free market. We do not sacrifice our humanity and concern for our fellow citizens in the name of profit.
4. There are certain tried-and-true ways to get a party's voters to the polls. If we don't use them, rest assured that our opponents will (and did).
One area that has been overlooked far too often by Democrats in Virginia is outreach to groups with which we have common goals. We understand how to do that with labor unions, but that is just the start of outreach. Professional associations, veteran groups, environmental groups, organizations of seniors, etc., should be part of every campaign's activities.
The voters who were mobilized by the presidential campaign of 2008 to vote for President Obama will not come out and vote in state elections just because the president makes a couple of appearances. It is up to every candidate and campaign to identify how to reach reliable Democratic voting blocs (young voters, minority voters, the Jewish community, urban voters).
Democrats, in the foreseeable future, will be lucky if they stay competitive among white, male voters. The margin of victory has to be found elsewhere.
5. Perhaps all people who want to be paid campaign staffers should take a course in the value of attacking an opponent on the issues vs simply reacting to attacks from the opposition. Having one's candidate constantly on the defensive projects an image of weakness and a lack of leadership to the very independent voters that we should also be seeking to reach.
6. Every election has certain themes that will come to the forefront because they are the most important things to the electorate. Just like 1992 and 2008, this election was one in which the most important issue was "the economy, stupid." Unfortunately, if a campaign doesn't address the most important voter concerns, it will not be successful. (I don't need to elaborate on that, huh?)
A candidate's emphasis on those most important issues has to be focused on solutions. That's what will motivate people to vote for a candidate. An attack of an opponent based on an issue has to be followed by the candidate's own plan.
7. If there are outside groups (as there are in every election) stirring up hate against our candidate, perhaps we should learn how to play that game, too. That tactic allows the candidate to disavow negative campaigning. If a candidate won't set up a way to go negative, then he/she needs to attack on the negativity of the opposition.
8. Any candidate who does not understand the role of new media in campaigns will likely not be successful. Yes, television and radio ads have their place, but so do blog ads, Google ads, use of Facebook and Twitter, etc.
9. If the state-level Democratic Party is dysfunctional, perhaps local and regional grassroots groups need to have backup plans of their own. Let's all pledge to hold local and regional meeting to develop our own "co-ordinated" plans. After all, we are the people most likely to connect with voters in our areas.
We may not be able to pay for expensive media buys, but we can purchase our own bumper stickers, yard signs, etc. We also can hold our own door-to-door and phone banks. We might also consider doing our own mailing on behalf of a candidate. Ideally, a campaign should welcome such grassroots activism, but I'm not sanguine about that.
On the regional level, we can seek out future candidates and find training for them. In fact, the party should take a pledge at every level to insist that all party candidates learn how to field questions from the media and how to handle themselves in debates and candidate forums. Candidates need to enjoy interacting with the public. Retail politics is not for the shy. We shy people can help in the organization, but the party standard bearers need to enjoy all the interactions that come with being the focus of a campaign. Otherwise, the whole campaign effort will be wasted.
10. We Democrats must never forget that Virginia is, at best, a state that will vote for a Democrat who is a charismatic candidate who runs a practically flawless campaign. Otherwise, the Republicans start with a built-in advantage. That isn't going to change in the near future. We need to devise some sort of party apparatus that can find those candidates and teach them to run winning campaigns.
Success won't come overnight. It won't come from focusing on just a few areas of the state and writing off the rest. It won't come by focusing on just some levels of government. However, it can be done. |
