Democrats competing in all 50 states--It's killing us.

[European Socialist]

Pelosi and Reid have to move so far right to protect gains in dark red states that they are doing the Pukes work for them. Kind of like giving yourself a bloody nose so the bully can't.

[European Socialist]

1. OK, I'm wrong. If a D comes after a name it;s good government.

[Warpy]

2. We need a bulletproof majority this year

We need to go after Blue Dogs and other conservatives in primaries in 2010. We need to get the conservatives and the other dead wood out of office to get our country back.

Some conservatives from backwards parts of the country will always be elected. However, conservatives with a (D) will count toward a majority until we can get rid of them.

The strategy is sound. Pelosi and Reid are weak, though.

[ColbertWatcher]

3. Although, I disagree with your premise...

...I think this is something we should discuss.

The 50-state strategy reminds people in those "dark red states" that the GOP is not the only game in town. That the liberal ideas that made this country great are now an option for them too.

[Fovea]

5. And it is making the Republican party

really whore themselves to the max for big donations.

Also, if you look at the Prez race state by state in polls, you can see how hard the WSParty is expending themselves for little gain.

In Missouri they are fighting for their lives.

And it looks like they are losing.

Rather than top down coattails, I think in Mo, at least, the Repug state party has really shot their up and comers. Part of that is because of term limits, a part of their original strategy to take control from the traditional Dem base.

[alfredo]

4. Don't get too upset over election year movements. You can't make

change if you're not elected. It's a nasty business, and I don't like it, but with out the leverage of winning, we can't make positive changes. It's going to take several election cycles to get rid of the old ways, and we can't get rid of them if we can't show we can win.

Take over your local party, the work your way up to the state party. We're doing it in Kentucky. Our party has become more responsive to the voting public since the young, progressive activist have taken control of the party. We still have the old guard around, but they know the direction were taking is not the direction they've been traveling for decades. They also know that time is on our side.

Nancy Pelosi is being very cautious. She's the first female speaker of the house and that could be why. The thought that probably runs through her head every hour on the hours is something like, "don't screw it up." And I think that is what is making her so cautious, and so willing not to ruffle any feathers. If the first Madame Speaker screws up and loses, or performs below expectations, it might, in her mind, reflect poorly for other women in positions of power in the party.

[sofa king]

6. I think it's a great plan.

And I admire the prescience of that plan more and more as I watch the course of this election year.

Howard Dean deserves a whole lot of credit for this, because back when things were at their very darkest, Dean was busily working on a counterstroke designed to completely reverse all of the GOP's gains made since 1996.

And it has already worked. The results are already here to see: Incumbent Republicans even in "safe" districts have spent more cash just to secure their primary nominations, and many of those same candidates face the risk of genuine competition in general elections. All of this comes at a time when legal campaign funding to the GOP is at a low ebb. Conversely, there are a great number of safe Democratic districts which need much less funding from the Democratic Party, and those funds are being put into the campaigns of candidates who are now legitimate contenders when just a few years ago they would have been considered long shots.

The result is already obvious: months in advance of election day, the GOP has no prospect whatsoever of making any material gains in Congress. Their usually lavish funding is mostly being spent on protecting their most important candidates instead of competitors in open races. It's already a question of how bad they're gonna lose.

All of this has been done in the face of near total control of our television news and against a propaganda wing of our government that would have made Joseph Goebbels proud. It's being done in the face of documented election theft and fraud, racial targeting, and the usual GOP smear-and-slime tactics.

Furthermore, I feel the need to point out that I don't think the Democratic Party has shifted to the right this year nearly as much as they did in, say, 2002, when the situation was somewhat reversed. What certainly has happened is the Republican Party has had to shift to the center, abandoning some of its most insane policies.

He who defends everything defends nothing, says Sun Tzu, and the Republicans are about to prove that, thanks to Dean's plan.