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s earch) seemed to catch plenty of impassioned Democrats off guard, leadin g the party faithful to come up with an array of causal explanations, ma ny of which can be traced to 2000 but have been largely ignored since th en. Following defeat four years ago, many political observers expected the De mocratic Party to re-evaluate its priorities and message following the s tunningly close finish between then-Texas Gov. Bush and Al Gore, a scand al-free vice president who served in peacetime during a period of dizzyi ng economic growth. But by summer 2004, that reflection had taken a back seat as Democrats we re emboldened by nationwide voter registration drives, record-breaking f und-raising successes and a candidate who is a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War. Party loyalists seemed confident that the bloody postwar pe riod in Iraq and weaker-than-expected job growth would rouse a desire fo r change, even among voters who weren't in love with the Massachusetts s enator's personality. It's Not The Economy, Stupid Something didn't click despite early election polls that favored Kerry, a nd observers from the outskirts of the party are now crediting or blamin g Republican coordination and discipline as much as Democratic misguidan ce and self-assuredness. In last summer's best-selling "Whats the Matter With Kansas?
In his book, Frank uses the example of the decades-long shift in voter at titudes in his native Midwestern farming state to help explain how the D emocratic Party has been stripped of its New Deal credibility to the GOP s benefit. Kansans, among the most economically disadvantaged in the nation, no long er believe Democrats are the party of average working Americans, Frank e xplains.
search), are more in terested in helping their friends in the wealthy class first. Still, Bush wasnt re-elected solely because of GOP bait-and-switch, Fran k says, but because the Democratic Party, in its rush to compete in doll ar amounts, deprived itself of a potent platform from which to attack th e Republican Party.
From antitrust to deregulat ion, there is a blurred distinction between the Republican Party and Dem ocratic Party on economic issues." By befriending certain segments of corporate America "New Economy billi onaires," as Frank puts it Clinton and other centrists within the part y were trying to signal they were not the enemy of business. But in doin g so, they may have spent the credibility they would later need to hamme r Republicans on Enron and other Wall Street scandals that unfolded at t he start of the Bush administration. Clintons apparent alliance with big business and failure to close the we alth gap alienated many liberal Democrats, who ran toward Ralph Nader in 2000. The consumer advocate's role in the election is said by many to h ave cost Gore a win. Democratic pollster Pat Caddell agrees that the party needs to wean itsel f off large corporate donors. "Eight trillion dollars of the people's money disappeared in the 401 s candal ... the Democrats never spoke about it in the campaign," Caddell told FOX News. "Theyre so indebted to those money sources that they can t go after corporate corruption." Caddell pointed out that a $140 billion corporate tax cut bill, derided b y Republican Sen. John McCain as "the worst example of the influence of special interests that I have ever seen," easily slipped through Congres s before winding up on Bushs desk. While acknowledging it will be extremely difficult to compete without cor porate cash, Frank insists the party has no other choice. You have to figure out what your advantage i s and leverage that," Frank said.
advantage used to be they were the party of the common people, not money. They need to figur e out how to do this without the money." You Gotta Have Faith Many Democrats also spent the days after the election wondering if a cult ure war of some kind had been percolating right under their noses and wi thout their knowledge. Exit polls show that moral values were a prime reason people went to the polls, and an overwhelming majority of those voters preferred Bush to Ke rry. But morality was only a component of the divisions between red stat e Republicans and blue state Democrats. Another component is the differe nt perceptions of paternalism.
more, they still voted for Bush because they thin k hes a good old boy." The fact that Bush, a political scion, is perceived as more of a Joe Ever yman than Kerry, who had a comfortable upbringing but volunteered for se rvice in the Vietnam War, is a sore point with Democrats. But it may be understandable that voters who live in the Midwest and South feel under attack by those who live in major urban centers, where city folk dress l ike country folk as a Halloween gag or fashion statement.
"Especially Kerry, he was much more intellectual than Bush, and that's not what someone in Middle America relates to. "The problem with the Democratic Party is they really do have the wishes of the masses in mind, but I think there is a little bit of condescensio n," said Kolb, who voted for Kerry. "If you're in a position to almost b ecome president of the United States, you're not in a position to relate to the common man completely." Other Democrats were riled by the party's ineffectiveness at fighting att acks like an anti-Howard Dean ad that ran during the primaries, which re ferred to the former Vermont governor as a "latte-drinking, sushi-eating , Volvo-driving, New York Times-reading left-wing freak show."
creates divisions," said Jeff Price, president of B rooklyn-based spinArt Records. Though ABC News director of p olling Gary Langer has pointed out that poor wording may have inflated e xit poll results on "moral values," many commentators have wondered alou d if Christian conservatives have declared a holy war on Democrats. "It's clear that on conservative moral values, people voted for those val ues over their own economic interests," United Steelworkers of America P resident Leo Gerard told the Associated Press last week. "I dont unders tand it, and I think we need to go back and look at it."
Leaders on both sides agree that such mockery has played a part in red st aters' alienation from the Democratic Party, and urge against sneering a t religious and conservative Americans. "Youre making fun of Americans who have some religious bent or a faith. Keep doing that and your people will never win an election," former Sen. "Kansas" author Frank, who voted for Kerry, said that painting Bush suppo rters as "Jesus lovers" and hicks is not only unfair but also likely to backfire. coms Steven Waldman and John Green have argued t hat when asked questions measuring faith outside of church attendance, D emocrats are shown to be comparably religious to Republicans. But some secular Democrats strongly believe they can be the party of valu es without using overtly religious language. "I'm agnostic but I still believe in morality, in right and wrong," Zarno ch said.
never brought up the civilian casualties in Iraq, whic h could have appealed to evangelicals." Kevin Owens, a schoolteacher in Austin, Texas, argued that Democrats embo dy Christian values more than Republicans.
what Jesus said about the difficulty of a rich man get ting into heaven. What does this say about tax cuts, about cutting fundi ng for schools, health insurance and apparent favoritism for the wealthi est contingent of our country?" While little of the introspection to come is likely to calm many nerves, David P Redlawsk, a political science professor at the University of Io wa, recommends that Democrats "chill out a little bit." "After Clinton won in 1992 there was serio us demoralization among Republicans.
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