I found this interesting post by Ben Lowe, a candidate in IL06. He is the only Democratic Candidate who had the courage to throw in his hat against Roskam.
Engaging the Moderate Majority Means Recovering Common Ground to Pursue Common Sense Solutions.
The post-election maps of 2004 supposedly proved it beyond all doubt: America is divided into two warring ideological factions, red states and blue states. Right-wing talk show hosts attack Democratic candidates, and are, in turn, attacked by left-wing bloggers. The Great Communicator gives way to the Great Divider. Yet all wars require two combatants, and every punch is answered with a counter-punch.
A powerful irony underlies this so-called "culture war", and it’s an irony powerful enough to influence who wins the next election.
Sociologist James Davidson Hunter revived talk of culture wars in the early 1990s. He hypothesized that on a wide range of issues, positions were not arranged haphazardly but tended to coalesce into two camps: the traditional and religious vs. the progressive and secular, or, more concretely, Republican vs. Democrat. Of course, no academic or political theory goes unpunished, and considerable debate continues about the existence and nature of any culture war.
The irony is this: Both Hunter and his challengers concur on one fundamental point, but a point that is largely disregarded in contemporary politics. To whatever extent a culture war exists in America, it only engages 5-10% of voters on either end of the political continuum. These are the party loyalists, those who give generously and work sacrificially for the cause, and who are most effectively motivated by alarmist rhetoric and confrontational stance. In the middle stands the vast and moderate majority, those who seek composed communication and mutual respect, and are alienated by a political process marked by the lobbing of hand-grenades and smoke bombs against entrenched opponents, turning compatriot Americans into enemy combatants.
The bottom-line? The political future belongs not to the extremists, but to the moderate middle, not to those who resort to clamor or smear, but to the party that carries a big umbrella. Of course, the political and media elite profit from culture wars over abortion, gay rights, gun control, the flag and pledge, stem cell research, and the like. But the moderate majority rejects both the extremes and the rhetoric, preferring a stance somewhere in the middle of the issue, along with a rhetoric of respect rather than demonization.
More here:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/1/1/821167/-The-Failure-of-the-Culture-WarsAbout Ben Lowe:
http://www.loweforcongress.com/2009/10/welcome.html