"I think the race is going to come down to the perception in the last six or eight races of who the best opponent for McCain will be. I do not think in the long run it will come down to the popular vote or anything else."This is the shallow thinking that gets Democrats in trouble. Can you imagine this scenario in 1980?
"Well, we have two strong candidates in Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, Gosh, I don't know who to choose. Bush has a lot of experience, but Reagan has leadership. You know, it really should come down to who can beat Jimmy Carter."Quite frankly, I find it amusing and frightening that Howard Dean lost out on his bid to go against George W. Bush in 2004 over the issue of electability. Instead we got John Kerry and whether you think the election was stolen, factor that about 45% of those who did vote in 2004 did think Bush was the better choice despite the worst job growth since Herbert Hoover, Osama bin Laden being very much alive, and a muddled, unjustified war in Iraq. That's not electability.
Here's a little secret: the "electability" strategy only works if the only race on November 4 is for president. There will be hundreds of races on that date, and if Howard Dean and the rest of the Democratic leadership is only worried about who is sitting in the Oval Office on January 20, 2009, they need a wake-up call.
If the Democratic Party is serious about making a significant impact and change the perception in this country, the party needs to understand that all the races matter, and that who is at the top should make the difference in the other races.
So is electability the deciding factor for your vote? Are you more concerned with who would make a better president? Let us know what you think.
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Technorati Tags: Be-Elected [6] Chad Rubel [7] 2008 race [8] Barack Obama [9] Hillary Clinton [10] Howard Dean [11] electability [12]