SOOOO ..anybody else thinking about 2006.ANYBODY?!

[LimpingLib]

Just wondering.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

1. 2006? Just another stolen election year.

[Radical Activist]

3. I see these doomsday "everything is a waste of time" posts a lot.

Do you really think that's constructive?

[seriousstan]

4. So if we win ...your premise is incorrect?

I have high hopes for 2006. The hardcore religious right has reared its ugly head alienating the centrist Rep.. The economy is tanked. The war...it could be a plus in the Rep. party if they do a pullout but I will accept that if it leans toward a stable middle east.

[Carolab]

2. Sure. Just wrote two candidates for Senate in my state today.

To take Dayton's/Coleman's place.

Read about Dean's strategy and the first Dean Dozen candidates for 2006.

[ogradda]

5. Almost.

2004 was a blow but I'm well on the way to regaining my strength. :)

[Withywindle]

6. Oh yes, getting there.

Don't have a Senate race in '06. My Dem Rep is safe. So looking around a little wider to see who might need some help from me. I'm thinking the picture will become clearer later.

[OneBlueSky]

7. we'd better be . . . it is likely our only hope . . .

for halting the BushCo juggernaut and reversing some of its most egregious actions . . .

obviously the corporate Republocrats are going to keep pushing the BushCo agenda until the middle and lower classes have no rights, no jobs, no money, no healthcare, no retirement, and no hope . . . the battle isn't between left and right -- it's between the ruling oligarchy and the rest of us . . . and the ruling oligarchy includes both Republicans and Democrats more loyal to their corporate sponsors than to the people they pretend to represent . . .

and this is how we must engage the battle -- not as left v. right, but as us v. them . . . we can do this either by starting a third party (bound to fail) or by taking over the Democratic Party and making it democratic . . . which means progressive . . . and the only way to do that is OUTSIDE established channels (e.g. working within the party) . . . they just don't work . . .

Step One should be a massive internet-based collaborative campaign by Move On, People for the American Way, and other progressive organizations to replace each and every Congressperson and Senator who voted for the bankruptcy bill . . . these people are NOT Democrats; they are corporate scum . . . every dollar raised by progressives in the next year and a half should go to support this campaign . . .

to actually accomplish this we will need to put social issues like gay marriage (I'm a gay man) and abortion on the back burner . . . our position on social issues should be maintaining the status quo until we solve the more critical issues like energy, jobs, healthcare, education, international cooperation, ending wars, etc. . . and generally keeping government out of these issues altogether . . .

we will also, of course, have to ensure that Republican-controlled electronic voting is forever banished from our electoral system . . . and that the system(s) replacing it is both honest and secure . . .

I've had it with Republocrats!. . . if the progressive leadership in this country can't come together to take back the party from these hacks, I'm done with politics . . . because it just won't make any difference . . .

[LimpingLib]

8. I say we ignore the Senate in 2006 and focous on the House.

Maybe put a little effort into beating GOP Senators in blue states like Rhode Island, Maine and Pennsylvania.

But we need to take the House back. I say we dump every last bit of energy into targeting every remotely vulnerable GOP district and promise potential House candidates that we will support them 100% for a change.

Its funny. We always dump truck loads of $$$ into SEnate races yet its the Senators that are the most out of touch and the ones who sell us down the river on every major piece of legislation.

The worst thing Ive seen in my like was DailyKos conning everybody into dumping nearly $1 million into conservative Democrat Brad Carson's campaign coffers despite the fact that he was running to the right of GOP maverick Tom Coburn.

KOS was a John McCain supporter in 2000 BTW.

[Skarbrowe]

9. My comments about the 2006 elections are meant to be hopeful, BUT

they don't come across that way because I know in my gut that the 2006 elections will be the defining moment on just how rigged the elections might be. I think Democrats can organize and get out the vote and come together on many issues. My major worry is that if the vote tabulators are so deeply compromised and that we don't put a good chunk of our energy on fighting and getting rid of the equipment that is out there, that 2006 could possibly tell me and the rest of this country and the world, just how deep of doo doo we are truly in.

I'm still optimistic about our desire to win and our fighting capabilities, I just won't know how it's going to go until the day after the election that November. If the Republicans pick up more House members than they lose and if the R's make it to 60 Senators on what looks very much like what happened in 2004 in Ohio and 2002 in Georgia, then what can I say? How do we stop the vote stealing? If we can do that, then the future is ours. I don't believe for a second that some kind of moral majority has taken over the U.S.. I do think there are a lot of Republicans voting legitimately and that I can handle. It's the theft part that destroys my soul.

I don't for one second think these elections have been honest. I know most elections in the past have had theft problems and that politics can be a dirty business. I will also admit that Karl Rove has done an amazing job of catching practically the whole Democratic party sleeping on the job. Now that we are wide awake, our only chance of not having almost every state and federal office held by a Republican is to make sure that the votes are counted as honestly as possible.

To answer your question, 2006 is on my mind constantly. It has even been in my e-mail addy since 2000.

[LimpingLib]

11. I agree totally (TOTALLY) on ballot machines but 2004 Senate races.....

...had alot to do with our(Im talking about Hollywood activists and the base, not our politicicans , they are to blame for the next point) endless culture war agaisnt Christians and total lack of regard for economic,civil rights , and foreign policy issues(this part IS our Democratic politicicans fault the endless Pro war , anti-civil liberty , and dissful economic policys).

The DLC candidates have been slaughtered in the south and other states , and 2004 was all our chickens coming home to roost and 2002 when you consdier the Colorado Tom Strictland race and other DLC jokers we ran in southern seats (Senate seats).

The problem with the House lately has been the pathetic support from both the base and DNC not to mention the GOP gains in Govenors and Legislatures fucked us in redistricting.

I agree 100% on ballot reforms , infact I think this is where we have been fucked by Blogs featuring McCain supporters(DailyKos,etc.) rising to speak for the left. We have devoted like 0% effort to ballot reform measures and I think that had we done that in 2002 then we would not have lost in 2004 and Im not just talking about Diebold but even that ALONE probabily cost us the presidential race.

Not helping 3rd partys get ballot access also told progressive voters they should just stay home and give up on the political process in 2004. They did in small-medium part (Id say in LARGE part with populist voters).

[LittleClarkie]

10. Anyone? Bueller?

Yeah, I am. One Dem Senator, on Dem Governor, and perhaps a do-nothing Congressman who seems to have a life-time appointment despite being absentee.

Hell, I even voted for freakin' mayor in my little town for the first time ever.

Yes, I'm thinking of 2006. And I think all the talk of 2008 is non-productive and divisive, though I've been called a DLC operative Kerry bot for even suggesting that perhaps we should forget who we're supporting in 2008 if one of our Dem leaders does something good.

God forbid we should support positive action. I don't mean that folks shouldn't criticize if the need arises. But I wish that it didn't still feel like the Primary wars continue.

[Lexingtonian]

12. yep

People around apparently have to get a serious amount of stupidity and latent conservatism out of their systems. As if reliving the '04 primaries ad nauseum had anything to do with reality. Or somehow Southern conservatives or Christian Right folk were easy to persuade with cheap tricks. Or there were an intelligent Kerry excoriation.

Bush had two things going for him that he got put back into office to finish up or finish off. 'Values'...well, Tom DeLay and Terri Schiavo have done quite a number there, along with the mendacity about Social Security. Defensive posturing against gay marriage is about all that remains politically intact in that department, but it wedges Republicans. As for the Middle East business, the ice becomes thinner and thinner over time. The Coalition is fraying away and with it the UN license to occupy Iraq, the Guantanamo detention/torture/death system is yielding only trivial results in comparison to the crimes it perpetrates, the Al Qaeda leadership has vanished into Afghanistan/Pakistan, Homeland Security is a Potemkin Village. Mission Accomplished might end in auto da fe.

I think a year from now we'll be talking about winning Congress and a pile of governorships. And whether the slugs running on the Democratic ticket will do as comprehensive a cleaning up as we're going to need.

[quaoar]

13. 2006 is going to be a big year

Roy Moore will run for governor here in Alabama, which means Lucy Baxley is going to have to stop him or we're all fucked.

Plus, we have GOT to take back at least one House of Congress so we can some kind of investigations going into the various Bush crimes and so we can stop a lot of this crap they keep cramming down our throats -- like the bankruptcy bill.


I think we can retake the House by nationalizing the election --making Republican arrogance the issue with DeLay as the poster boy. I think we can even win DeLay's district if we try hard enough.

[Bluesplayer]

14. let's get Ralph Reed

With DeLay out of the picture by '06, Ralph Reed would be another good target. Surely, someone out there has a picture of him with a sheep, or Phyllis Schlaffley, or something equally disgusting.....

[GOPBasher]

15. Yes, but first we should worry about electronic voting. n/t

[derby378]

17. Never again

I voted on an ES&S machine once. Never again. I don't care who tells me they're safe, even if it's another DUer. Never again. I'm not turning my vote over to a private corporation. Never again.

[kevsand]

16. Of course we are.

We have a governor's race in Illinois (and another next door in Iowa). Plus I'll be focusing on a local state senate race where we should be able to flip the district from an R to a D.

[THUNDER HANDS]

18. no, we're not winning anything until 2012

sorry. But that's just the way it is.

[ewagner]

19. Constantly on my mind

there are a couple of State/local races that are important to me and there are a couple of Repub Congressmen who are on my "list" for 2006.

There are some opportunities here and I intend to work with the party to take advantage of those opportunities.....

voting fraud? Yes, I'm worried about it, but I'm also doing everything I can to put checks and balances in locally.

[bobthedrummer]

20. The Republicans have a strong incumbent in Congress Mark Green.

I'm in N.E. Wisconsin. The Democrats ran a self-employed unmarried hypnotist and the Greens ran Dick Kaiser, a music store owner and longtime activist against Mark Green.
I voted for Dick Kaiser against Mark Green.
I'm an independent thinking about 2006.

[Atman]

21. 2006?

[itcfish1]

22. Why Think About it?

The republicans have control of the Media and there is no hope for the US to become a great nation that it once was. Until the Fair Media Doctrine is re-instated and Democrats grow some "Cojones" there is nothing to think about.

[MollyStark]

23. All that matters is the presidential race in 2008

We have to start early and make sure that our "guy", whoever it may be, is seen as the early consensus candidate.
:silly:

Forget the senate and congress, forget the state house, forget governors. Nothing matters except to jump on someone's cult of personality band wagon.

[Catchawave]

24. 2005 First !

There's a splattering of elections here:

http://www.thegreenpapers.com/G05/events.phtml?format=chronological

I'm also quite excited about how Tony Blair does next month! If he loses,that could be very damaging to BushCo.