How Democrats Can Promote a Winning Campaign Message (4/29/06)
Dean Hartwell
In my last column, I said the Democrats will lose this year’s mid-term elections unless they can assert their ability to improve the lives of those in the United States. The new strategy means abandoning talk of GOP scandals in favor of three positive issues, more accessible and affordable health care, cleaning the environment and cheaper prescriptions.
The Democrats must keep it simple. Campaign manifestos, ten-point plans and calls to action bore the voters who wouldn’t turn their attention from their TV sets long enough to read them, anyway.
Instead, they should learn from their mistakes. They need a catchy theme. Does anyone remember Al Gore’s in 2000? It was the banal “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet.” Critics replied that they never saw anything.
Other campaigns have made similar mistakes. In 1984, Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro launched their campaign with the words, “They’re Fighting for Our Future.” But no one believed that their opponents, Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, were not fighting for the future, too.
This time, the Democrats should create a theme that distinguishes them from the other party. They can accomplish this goal easily by using a slogan like “Vote Democratic, Live Healthy.” The three issues mentioned earlier, accessible and affordable health care, cheap prescriptions and a clean environment, fit neatly within this theme.
Then what? The Democrats need to convey this message to the voters. They have several tools with which to do this. The Democratic National Committee chair, Howard Dean, could send out a memo to the House and Senate candidate committees asking them to adopt this message nationwide. The Party could purchase advertisements on television and radio to promote the theme as well.
In this way, the Democrats will co-opt Newt Gingrich’s “Contract with America” from 1994. Gingrich kept it simple – he promised to bring ten bills to a vote in the House of Representatives if the GOP took control of the House of Representatives.
By using these three issues, they could counter the Republican’s historical use of taxes, “isms” and crime to defeat Democrats. Each issue presents an opportunity for the Party.
Republicans like George W. Bush like to brag about cutting taxes. But there is little reason for them to gloat. For one, many in the middle class have seen their taxes go up, especially when one takes into consideration resulting state tax hikes on property and sales taxes.
For another, the tax cuts on the wealthy have contributed to a $9 trillion debt, estimated to go to $12 trillion by the time Bush leaves office. The interest on that debt will be one trillion dollars, almost 40 percent of the federal budget! At this rate, we won’t have the money to clean the environment.
During the Cold War, Republicans from Richard Nixon in the early 1950s to Ronald Reagan in the 1980s told voters that Democrats were “soft on communism.” Never mind that only Democratic presidents initiated sending troops to fight communist aggression. The GOP simply talked tougher.
Now, with the threat of communism reduced, we have a War on Terrorism to replace it. The Republicans played up their “experience” in fighting terrorism in the 2002 and 2004 elections. The Democrats asked where Osama bin Laden was. But it was the wrong question. The right question then and now is: what do more people die of in the United States, a lack of health care or terrorism?
And, the GOP has always stressed its opposition to crime – as if anyone other than criminals supports it. They want increased sentences for various crimes. Some of these new sentences make sense, but since most crimes take place under state jurisdiction, they are wasting their time promoting “get tough” strategies in races for Congress.
What is a crime is that Bush will not direct his Secretary of Health and Human Services to bargain with drug companies for lower prescription prices. And he forbids anyone to buy medication from Canada, where prices are cheaper.
So, forget about the high gasoline prices. They are more the fault of gougers than anything else. Forget about Abramoff, Libby and Rove. Their misdeeds hurt people, but not nearly as many as a filthy environment and skyrocketing health care costs. Forget about the war in Iraq. It won’t end anytime soon.
Use the new message and fill in the details later in the campaign. Focus on telling the people they will live healthier lives if they vote for Democratic candidates.