Spoken Like Democrats Who Lose Campaigns

5:26 pm EST December 6th, 2006 | News | 5 Comments

Jonathan Singer tries to make the case that John McCain’s campaign is DOA because the public disagrees with his Iraq War position. I read things like this and wonder if people have been living in a vacuum for the last 20 years or so.

Voters are not like binary on-off switches, they don’t vote for candidates based on issue positions. It’s why Democratic candidates like John Kerry and Al Gore did not connect to voters when they came out with laundry list speeches (ie. “Today we talk about education”). People vote on the entire package. And as far as that’s concerned, John McCain is the most dangerous Republican candidate. His story is compelling, and he’s crafted an image of himself as “the maverick” that the press and the people buy into. To think that one issue position – no matter how important the issue or how far out of the mainstream McCain is on the issue – will derail that, is folly.

Strangely enough, the overall gut feel of a candidate is exactly the same reason why John Edwards and Barack Obama stand out in the Democratic field, in my opinion.

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5 Responses to “Spoken Like Democrats Who Lose Campaigns”

  1. vwcat says:
    December 6, 2006 at 11:18 pm

    My senator is the stand out.
    Obama.
    and he will crush Hillary.

  2. Repack Rider says:
    December 7, 2006 at 12:04 am

    Despite your criticism of his speaking style, Gore “connected” with more voters in 2000 than GWB did. Why do you suppose GWB didn’t “connect” with voters as well as Gore did?

  3. benny05 says:
    December 7, 2006 at 4:28 am

    OW, you are one of the few who sez what is in the gut. I think there are many who like Obama for that reason. My beef with my senator is that I am one of his constiutents, and he seldom answers my e-letters; the senior senator, Dick Durbin is better about answering letters and telling you why he stood on a particular issue. Obama answers letters mainly from his area, Chicago, I think.

    But in terms of my gut, I go with John Edwards. His message for the workin’ man resonates with me. I’m not alone. JRE is getting a Paul Welstone award from AFL-CIO this Friday.

    Want to see a long list of accomplishments this year to receive this award?

    *Hotel Rising Tour in Feb, including Hawaii
    *Opportunity Rocks (Spring Break) in NOLA
    *Janitors’ right to organize in Miami and Houston
    *Spoke to rallies for or conferences of union groups in Las Vegas, Oklahoma City, Wilmington (NC), Ohio
    *Campaigning for minimum wage ballot initiatives in 6 states, and all of them raised it
    *ACORN rally in Ohio (ACORN just got an injunction to make FEMA continue pay out what they are supposed to Katrina survivors)
    * Spoke at Wake-Up Wal-Mart Rally in Pittsburgh
    * Was at the LAANE rally last week when hotel workers got an increase in wages last week in LA

    and he’s running a Poverty Center to boot.

    He deserves this award.

  4. Oliver says:
    December 7, 2006 at 3:14 pm

    Repack: Because VP Gore was a major part of the Clinton administration. Had he embraced that connection more it wouldn’t have been close.

  5. Adam Herman says:
    December 8, 2006 at 3:51 pm

    You got it, Oliver.

    Edwards and Obama’s approval ratings are as high, if not higher, than McCain’s. It helps to be likeable and have a good narrative. People know who these guys are and they like them, even if they don’t agree with all of their policy stances.