Nationalizing the Congreesional elections in 2004.

[Perky]

Remember the "Contract with America"? The GOP won the House majority by nationalizing the congressional race. Their Victory dance really had not not so much with a lackluster two first years of the Clint administration as it did with making the case against an entrenched , do-nothing House. It worked!!

Why not do it again?

Its my view that The Dean-Dubya battle sort of stands by itself and is largely about policy (Terrorism and the Economy) and personality.

What if The Dems nationalize the congressional races along the following lines:

1) We will restore fiscal sanity to the federal budget and no longer live off your children's credit cards.
2) We will do something about Education in this country to compete on a global stage and end the "offshoring of High tech" jobs"
3)We will Protect the future by making a College education within the financial reach of all Americans.
4) We will alter the way we pay for Health insurance and put money back in the hands of all families.
We will make the prescription drug benefit available for all Americans
5) We will insure that the greed of a few at the top of the corporate ladder never goes unpunished.
6) We will move effectively to protect Social Security and protect pensions.
7) We will increase oversight of the financials market by giving the SEC real teeth.
8) We will provide sufficient resources and require the President to make every effort to bring Osama Bin Laden to justice as our primary DOD objective.
9) ???
10) ???

The other thing that made the Contract effective is that it had a face at the lead-- "Gingrich". People knew that Gingrich was the leader of the GOP.


Due Respect to Ms. Pelosi....SHe is no Newt Gingrich. No. In order to move people to action the Dems in the House need a unifier and a recognizable face. Some one who would empathize with Americans on Kitchen Table issues. Someone who would have instant national credibi;ity and could move into the Speakership and then move Congress to act.

I submit that there is no Democrat in the house who can do that. I propose that to nationalize the Congressional election, the Dems need someone who is not a member.

You Constitution and history buffs will recall that one need not be a member of the House in order to become Speaker.

There are only two Dems that I can think of who could nationalize the congressional election and who could become "Speaker of the People's House. Al Gore and Bill Clinton.

Can you imagine Bill Clinton taking on Mr. Hastert (who?) in a 90 minute town hall debate?

[papau]

1. Only possible if DNC has a spine - Some"Dems" run away from

words like liberal, fiscal conservative (OR LIBERAL), civil rights, Working poor/middle-class needs, and "Democratic Party"

Would be a great move to Nationalizing the Congreesional elections in 2004 - and I think Dean has the balls to call for this to happen - but I do not see anything happening at the DNC.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. From what I have seeen from the beg for money

err contributions, they are starting to think of this

but have no clue how to do it YET.

That said, to the original poster, SEND this to the DNC and see if they take it

[forgethell]

3. I have to disagree with #8

Terrorism is a much bigger problem than Osama. Bringing him to jsutice would supply someemotional satisfaction, but cannot be the primary aim of DOD. That's using a nuke to swat a fly, a very annoying fly, to be sure, but in the scheme of things, just a fly.

[Perky]

4. On the whole I do not disagree...but

I think a concerted focus on OBL highlights work left undone since 9/11.

The populist sentiment is "where the Hell is he and why don't we have him yet.

The sentimeent resonates across the political spectrum.

Maybe worded differently:

We believe that OBL is a huge continuing threat to our country, we will commit all necessary resources and require the President to make his capture or death a top priority.

[forgethell]

6. It should be and is

a top priority. Do you seriously believe that * is not devoting great effort to capture Osama? I don't. I think he wuld like nothing better than to have Osama's head on a pike to show to America and the Islamicists out there. But it is not the only thing that can be done to wage war on terror.

Granted, the way that it is being waged can be disputed. but when Osama is dead, there will still be terrorists out there. We did not create the hatred that certain factions feel for us. Neither did Osama.

[Perky]

7. If ir were a top priority...

We would not have sent Agghani scrubs into Tora Bora.. That is how Osama escaped.

Sure Bush want him Dead or alive...but Karl Rove wants the enemy out there as long as possible to secure a second term.

Either they know preciesely where he is and they are waiting to do an October Suprise or if they don't then they will argue that the country should not change horses (presidents) in mid-stream.

[leyton]

5. Another benefit

is that if the party can get behind it, it will unify our platform; it's hard to ignore a platform if 435 candidates across the country are talking about it (or at least portions of it). About Rep. Pelosi - it's true that she's not recognizable but I think she may be the best person to spearhead this, seeing as she was so recently made the democratic leader. Does anyone know if she's had success keeping Democrats in Congress in line? I read an article about how she nearly was able to keep the House from passing the recent Medicare bill.

I think if Al Gore or Bill Clinton step onto the stage, they may take too much limelight away from Dean, and besides, to me at least they represent the last decade, not this one.

[Printer70]

8. Do you seriously believe DLC or Clark...

...have any interest in doing anything dramatic on the domestic front? Dean proposed health care for all, did it in Vermont, and proposed a tax plan that makes it possible. Clark wants more irresponsible tax cuts which will make advances in healthcare, education, college education, etc. impossible- even if he tells us otherwise. With a $500B deficit, do you think Clark will balance the budget with his proposal to cut taxes further? I'm not knocking the ideas but if we want to nationalize them, we have to start with a presidential candidate who is serious about them in the first place.

[Perky]

9. I don't think

a Presidential candidate can wage an effective was for the House. He is running for president and that is asking him to run a two-front war. Yeah maybe he gets some coattails but they won't be significant. The american popluace looks at Congress seperately that is why their is alot of split-ticketing.


A separate campaign has to be run to wrest Congress for Tom DeLay