Political Strategy: Time To Play Offense
By Daniel DiRito | Related entries in Economy, Elections, Foreign Policy, General Politics, Polls, The War On TerrorismIn football, they call it peaking too soon. In politics, they call it a mismanaged campaign strategy. Call it what you will, but if the current trending beginning to surface in recent polling continues to expand and multiply, the Democrats may be scrambling to explain why they failed to capture control of the House or the Senate come November 8th. Adding to my concern is the fact that the Democrats continue to revise and adjust their national message even though the election is less than two months away. At the same time, the GOP is in full campaign mode with a clear and concise message that can be voiced in short, simple sound bites. I may be a cynic, but I’m having a deja vu moment.
Two articles caught my attention today. First, a Washington Post article offers a view into ongoing Democratic efforts to refine and deliver their comprehensive, yet cumbersome message. I was struck by the article primarily because it detailed yet another new Democratic slogan with revised priorities…one that I hadn’t yet heard…and if I haven’t heard it, there isn’t a chance that a sufficient number of voters has or will hear it before the November election.
The second article is the latest Zogby poll. While the data isn’t enough to conclude that the Democrats are on the precipice of squandering what appeared to be an insurmountable advantage, it does seem to support other recent polling indicating that the midterm election is tightening and that the Republican strategy is achieving a favorable movement of some key polling numbers.
From The Washington Post:
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, the woman who will become speaker of the House if Democrats get lucky in November, began her weekly news conference yesterday holding up a red-white-and-blue brochure.
“I hope you all received ‘A New Direction for America,’ ” she said, standing at a lectern that bore the same slogan. She called the manifesto “a compilation of many of the initiatives taken by our House Democratic Caucus that encompasses our new direction for all Americans.”
Among the party’s campaign slogans this year: “Culture of Corruption,” “Culture of Cronyism,” “Do-Nothing Congress,” “Rubber-Stamp Congress,” “Together, We Can Do Better,” “Together, America Can Do Better” and, most recently, “Six for ‘06.”
For those keeping score at home, Democrats arrived at “New Direction” yesterday by downgrading one of the “Six for ‘06″ issues (health care) and upgrading three others (honesty, civility and fiscal discipline), for a total of eight items on the contents page.
I just don’t get it. Democrats will never gain traction on an issue if they continue to determine important issues from the latest focus group or the most recent polling data. In contrast to their Republican counterparts, Democrats seem to chase issues rather than attempt to define them. Perhaps the GOP decision to focus on primarily one singular issue…the war on terror…will prove to be a miscalculation and a return to the well one time too often, but if the new polling is accurate and indicative of voter trending, its working as it did in 2002 and 2004.
Further, Republicans have mastered the art of pivoting from their primary topic enough to draw its connection to other relevant issues…culminating in a comprehensive narrative that may well be a fabrication but it has all the elements of an easily understood and seemingly logical rationale. From their focus on the war on terror they explain the Iraq war, they discount the deficit, and they tout economic progress in spite of the impact of 9/11 and two costly wars.
The GOP understands simplicity and they recognize that voters ultimately spend very little time studying the issues and the positions adopted by the two major parties. They find a message that is short and simple, they repeat it incessantly, and they stay with it till the end. Doing so gives voters the impression that they are both decisive and principled…traits that resonate with busy people looking for strong leadership on issues they haven’t the time to address.
To read the full text at Thought Theater…link here:
This entry was posted on Friday, September 15th, 2006 and is filed under Economy, Elections, Foreign Policy, General Politics, Polls, The War On Terrorism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
September 15th, 2006 at 5:34 pm
Zogby is an AWFUL pollster and he is very left leaning, I don’t even trust the generic congressional polls anymore, Dems see their numbers so high they don’t even try to make sure their victory actually happens. I agree that it is no longer a given the Dems will take the House, but if they don’t they will surely be the party of failure and will need a leadership change. 2008’s maps look great for Dems but what matters is their performance this year to see if they can screw up even all the good they have for them in 2008. I’m ashamed to be supportive of the Dems since they don’t even appear to be trying especially so close to election day.
to the site owner: there is a high school student who does unbiased election predictions and updates polling almost twice daily could you possibly link to him? : http://electionpredictions.blogspot.com/
September 15th, 2006 at 6:00 pm
Here’s how I see it:
The leadership of the Republicans looks like a bunch of corrupt, hypocritical windbags.
The leadership of the Democrats looks like a bunch of incompetent, hypocritical windbags.
Why are there so few – of either party – who seem to have any national appeal or value?
September 16th, 2006 at 7:00 am
“Adding to my concern is the fact that the Democrats continue to revise and adjust their national message even though the election is less than two months away”
Are they adjusting their strategy, just to tell the people what the Dems think the people want to hear? Surely. They don’t intend to follow up on any of it.
There’s a book out called “75 Broken Promises” about Michigan governer Jennifer Granholm. It basically lists her entire platform for getting elected, and then shows how she hasn’t even introduced legislation on most of it, and those that she has are completely watered down.
September 16th, 2006 at 8:11 am
Daniel – You seem to be saying that repubs target ignorant voters who aren’t educated on issues. Not to mention that Repub ideas “might be” (I suspect you really mean “are”) illogical and simplistic fabrications. In other words, you’re really saying only Democratic Party ideas are worthy. Unfortunately for the dems, there still are just a few too many stupid voters and it appears that more are getting stupid and ignorant with every passing day.
Maybe the dems are better off without those voters. After all, who in their right elitist mind would want to be associated with the ignorant masses? Sound pretty yucky to me. I sure don’t want to be forced to hang out with rednecks and evangelical christians.
Chris – You’ve got Nancy, Howard, Ted, Al, Bill’s better half and etc. as leaders now and you think the dems “might” need a leadership change in 08???
September 16th, 2006 at 4:03 pm
IHMO what the republicans or democrats do and say has little effect on national opinion. Exterior forces usually sway the public not the empty words of politicians.
The economy, the war, the price of gas are deciding factors. Every once in a while I forget this, and credit the latest political campaign with having an effect. Then I go and look a this graph of gas prices verse bush’s approval ratings.
http://www.pollkatz.homestead.com/files/gasindex_files/NEWBUSHINDEX_28670_image001.gif
If your more conspiracy minded there is an interesting correlation between local gas prices and republican senate seats in jeopardy.
http://www.columbusgasprices.com/Price_By_County.aspx?state=OH&c=usa
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/2006/senateBalanceofPower.htm
September 16th, 2006 at 10:37 pm
If the price of gas is a deciding factor, then the democrats are in for a rude awakening. Close to the elections, in most of texas, gas prices have gone down about 75 cents in the past 2-3 weeks. Gas prices magically going down? In the past 1 1/2 years prices never fluctuated more than a few cents from an average of $2.99 / gallon. It is probable the same is occuring in other parts of the country.
Reading the business section in the local newspapers three headlines read 1-Inflation eases, consumer confidence rises 2- Texas unemployment drops slightly in August and 3-texas retail gas prices keep falling.
From the media propaganda it seems everything is rosy. Bush & co are in full mode bamboozling of the terminally scared and the easily hoodwinked citizens. I suspect that closer to the election Osama will be captured and we better get resigned to two more years of Bush doing as he pleases with our country