For Democrats, Many Verses, but No Chorus

[brooklynite]

WASHINGTON, March 5 — From Arizona to Pennsylvania, from Colorado to Connecticut, Democratic candidates for Congress are reading from a stack of different scripts these days.

...snip...

These scattershot messages reflect what officials in both parties say are vulnerabilities among Republicans on Capitol Hill, as well as President Bush's weakened political condition in this election year.

But they also reflect splits within the party about what it means to be a Democrat — and what a winning Democratic formula will be — after years in which conservative ideas have dominated the national policy debate and helped win elections.

And they complicate the basic strategy being pursued by Democratic leaders in Washington to capture control of Congress: to turn this election into a national referendum on the party in power, much the way Republicans did against Democrats in 1994.

Interviews with Democratic challengers in contested districts suggest that the party is far from settling on an overarching theme that will work as well in central Connecticut as it does in central Colorado.

http://nytimes.com/2006/03/06/politics/06cong.html?hp&ex=1141707600&en=790e7f23b923bdba&ei=5094&partner=homepage
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I have told Nancy Pelosi and Rahm Emanual personally that it's not enough to locate good candidates; we need a coherent and concise message of what the Party stands for. I had a 20 minute discussion with one of our "Fighting Dem" candidates last week, and if DCCC was working on a message, he wasn't aware of it.

[fedupinBushcountry]

1. How about

posting who wrote this article? Nagourney, enough said, move along.

[depakid]

2. Really- Adam Nagourney, the Times' senior propagandist

The fact that he's even allowed anywhere other than the editorial page just shows how far the Times has fallen- and why they're unlikely to regain their credibility on national affairs any time soon- if at all.

[roseBudd]

3. Competence should be the message

[John_H]

4. This story is exactly why I have stopped al donating and activism except

urging the Party to change their approach and clean house,because if we do not fix our system of message development and dissemination, nothing else is we do is going to make a bit of difference.

writing this off as just another example of Nagourney's typical whoring just doesn't cut it.

I hate saying this more than anything on earth, but he's right: We should run our message operation like the republicans do. We have the opportunity to be MORE effective since the American People are more inclined to agree with us on the substance. The republicans have a much harder row to how, since most people recognize the wrongheadedness and moral insolvency of their policies. Yet they still win elections.

I'm too tired to reenumerate my beefs w/ the multiple-time-losers who are, unbelievably, busily running communications shops in every corner of the party or why the chief problem is the consultant culture still pervasive at the DNC despite promises to end it. In the unlikely event anyone cares what I think they can search my posts, since that's all I post about anymore. More importantly, we've all got to recognize what's costing us votes, and start pressuring our leaders to fix it before it's too late.

[Minnesota Libra]

5. Why ask leadership to do anything rank and file can't do? We......

.....the Dem rank and file can't even get 30 people just on this board to agree on one message.:wtf: Too bad too because the rank and file Dems are throwing away a chance to regain and keep control of Congress and the White House for the foreseeable future.:argh:

[Toucano]

6. That's a very good point. n/t

[Minnesota Libra]

7. This is basically all I rant on these days........

....Dems get it together and go after what is being shoved into our laps. :grr:

[John_H]

8. a motivated, unified rank and file is the RESULT of

a successful message operation. How many rethugs do you know who who incessantly repeat the lies they hear on Rush of Faux? They do this because the GOP has an effective operation to clearly ariculate thpse lies to them, stick to the same lies as all the other liars, and repeat those lies over and over. Shouldn't that process be easier to do with the TRUTH, which most rank and file dems--and swing voters, and evern some republicans believe anyway?

The fact that we can't even put in place the easy stuff--like a surrogate operation through which our surrogates are booked, provided with talking points, and urged to stick to the talking points they've been sent instead of turning every question into an opportunity to talk about their pet issues--shows how bad our message operation is. How many time have you screamed at the TV as a rethug sticks to repeating KKKarls Talking Points of the Day while the Dem opponent spins off into a very well reasoned, articulately nuanced--and utterly ineffective from a vote getting perspective--lecture on what's wrong with Bush's policies?