Karl Rove: GOP Needs To Copy Howard Dean’s 50 State Strategy

[Pryderi]

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/karl-rove-gop-needs-to-copy-howard-deans

Karl Rove offered some advice to his fellow Republicans about what the party needs to do to prevent last Tuesday's election from happening again on Sean Hannity's radio show Monday. On the list: when it comes to engaging voters, be more like former Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean.

"I hate to say it, but we need to copy what Howard Dean did," he told Hannity. "And that is make our ground game in all 50 states."

Rove said Republicans had a "reasonably good" ground game in Florida and Ohio, two major battlegrounds they ended up losing to President Obama. (Mitt Romney's Florida adviser said in the days after the election that the state was "winnable" for Romney but that the organization there was lacking.)

Rove told Hannity that the lack of GOP ground game made a big difference in other states

Here they come!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. And they need to be instantly squashed like bugs wherever they appear.

[Pryderi]

5. I worry about 2014. Democratic voters tend to disappear in off year elections. Repugs already have

30 governorships and state legislatures.

If we can't get our voters out in off year elections, we're always going to be fighting uphill battles in presidential years.

[oswaldactedalone]

28. So true

Here in NC our Senator, Kay Hagan, is up for re-election in '14. She doesn't know it yet but I'm going to be helping out her GOTV operation when the time comes. Each of us should be thinking now about what role we'll have in helping with the '14 elections.

[BlueMan Votes]

34. if repugs keep up with their whole obstruction of democracy thing- voters WILL come out in 2014.

they're getting fed up with the bullshit.

[davidn3600]

42. Over the last century, the party in power at the federal level tends to lose power in the states

It just seems to be the way politics works in this country. Americans, especially independents, seem to be very fearful of one-party rule. When either party has had it, it is not kept for very long.

Turnout is ALWAYS lower in mid-terms. It's just harder to get people to the polls when the Presidential race is not on the ballot. So the people most likely to go out and vote (other than political junkies) are angry voters. And therefore it is easier to motivate the President's opposition. This is why the President's party almost always loses in the mid-terms.

[kelliekat44]

44. I don't think it will happen this time. The Dems are smelling the blood in the water and

their ground games is still in tact. 18 months out all they have to do is target some really key races and run ads as good as those run in the general election and remind the voters what is at stake. It will be a whole different ball game from 2010.

[lalalu]

2. Republicans tried that on a limited basis and failed.

Republicans made a play for Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Both were stupid moves. Especially New Jersey but they really thought they had a chance with Christie. What a bunch of dopes.

[1StrongBlackMan]

3. Isn't that ...

pretty much the exact opposite of what he did with the money he had?

Why is anyone listening to him? Better question: Why is anyone giving this clown a place to speak from?

[msongs]

4. dems gave it up so it's available nt

[mzmolly]

13. We did?

[Fawke Em]

30. If you lived in the South and mid-West you'd think we did.

It's hard to GOTV for Democrats in my state, for example, because we rarely have anyone worth a flip to vote for.

[tblue]

6. So he wants his donors to pony up even more $$$

to waste on ad buys in my beautiful true blue state? Whatever. Knock yerself out.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

7. Damn, I miss Howard Dean.

And fuck you, Karl Rove.

[XemaSab]

11. +1

[DFW]

15. I'm in touch with Howard a lot

He happens to be a personal friend. I posted a few days ago about something really cool he was doing right at this moment, and got exactly zero responses.

Four years is a glacial age in politics.

[EmeraldCityGrl]

17. can you provide a link for that thread? I love Dean.

[DFW]

20. Sure. Here you are:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=1772099

Howard will be spending his 63rd birthday (this coming Saturday) out in the jungle somewhere.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

25. Missed it the first go 'round...

thanks for the link!

[DFW]

39. My pleasure

Thanks for asking!

[ellisonz]

43. DFA is still going reasonably strong.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1105500

[DFW]

46. That they are

And Howard's brother, Jim, is a real steam engine.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

27. I still remember him slamming Dubya on MTP...

way back when and asking "who the hell is this guy?!" We worked hard for him in Northern Virginia, but it wasn't meant to be.

[DFW]

41. And you know what? Howard is STILL the same guy

He really hasn't changed much since I met him, which was well over ten years ago.

He freely admits that in his presidential campaign, he and his team "didn't know what the hell they were doing," but by the time he took over the chairmanship of the DNC, he showed he was one hell of a fast learner. VERY fast, I'd say by the look of what happened in the elections of 2006 and 2008.

Like you say, it wasn't meant to be, and Howard is adamant that younger people than he must seek and win the presidency, so he is absolutely and positively out for consideration in 2016. Too bad, I still think we would have had one HELL of a President in him, and not just because it would have been cool having a personal friend in the White House (although it would have been REALLY cool having a personal friend in the White House!!).

[justice1]

38. As you can see by my post count, I'm not a chatty cathy, but I did enjoy reading it.

[DFW]

40. Thanks for taking the time to say so! n/t

[BlueMTexpat]

21. +1000!

On both!

[Qutzupalotl]

8. We need to be there too.

Otherwise we cede the argument to RW talk radio, which IS in all 50 states.

I'm not suggesting we go all out in places like Idaho or Alabama. But even one person in one office with a few signs is better than nothing. That way he or she can TALK to voters and possibly sway one or two. If you plant a persuasive argument there, it can spread by word of mouth, in citizens writing letters or calling in to radio programs. So not much money is required, just people and passion, and that's how it should be.

[Dubster]

9. Spam deleted by gkhouston (MIR Team)

[oswaldactedalone]

10. I wish the DNC

would copy Howard Dean's 50 state strategy. What's the thinking behind not doing this?

[Motown_Johnny]

12. Good, let them spend money in states where they can't win.

I'm all for it.

[rocktivity]

14. Rocktivity: The Dems Need To Copy Howard Dean's 50-State Strategy

Also


rocktivity

[OKNancy]

16. +1

I would love that!

[krispos42]

18. Time to bring back Howard Dean.

Throw whatever money at him that's required.

He should have been our candidate in 2004, and he should have stayed on at DNC chair.

[EmeraldCityGrl]

23. Who else had the cajones to say this...everyone else danced around it, Dean said it.

[link:

[DFW]

19. Rove saw what Howard accomplished when he was DNC chair

Stood up to Rahm when Rahm was DCCC head, and turned the balance of power in Congress (and then the White House) completely around and delivered them all into our hands. Howard was rewarded with being excluded from the very administration that was his brainchild to begin with.

The Republicans would not have been so ungrateful as to exclude Rove had he delivered again. But he didn't. All of Rove's money and all of Rove's money-men couldn't beat the Democratic ground game again. So he wants one of his own. Using Howard's tactics and Koch money is a frightening prospect. I hope he screws up again--badly.

[Johonny]

22. The problem is too many clowns want to be chief clown in the GOP

Who cares about a 50 state strategy when different areas of the country have the ear of different billionaires. It's hard to have a ground up grassroots 50 state strategy when your marching orders come from isolated an inbreed billionaire aristocracy.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

24. No, they can't

[hrmjustin]

26. I can tell you that here in NY republicans do not break 35% anymore, and Thank God for it.

[JVS]

29. I think he's wrong. The republicans did quite well in 2010 even in historically blue states.

WI, MA, PA, NJ, and MI were all traditionally democratic states that went red. This seems to indicate that the local branches of the republican party have some vitality to them and are not automatically ceding the state. I think the bigger problem was that the republican nomination process gave a really belligerent base a stage from which to turn off swing voters. Their message control was terrible this election.

[Warpy]

31. Yeah, and they'll be told to go fuck themselves

in my part of town, if they can find any Republican with the guts to venture here.

[leftlibdem420]

32. What 50 State strategy is KKKarl talking about?

Texas would be a toss-up state right now if the Democrats were truly embracing a 50 state strategy. We have to nurture our future California.

[melody]

33. No, they need to grow a conscience and start treating people like human beings instead of "moochers"

But that poor, sick monster will never figure that out. Psychopathy is incurable.

[blogslut]

35. The GOP needs to what it will not do:

They need to let go of their religious fundamentalist/racist base.

[cynatnite]

36. And the repuke party will still be the antiquated KKK pary. n/t

[Fence rider]

37. Big picture

Karl doesn't quite get it still!
They aren't just votes dickhead
They are people
He thinks its a damn game and he considers all of us pawns
That is why they lost
Condescension to your target voters only works for the really stupid and gullible
The 47 percent they did get in states with higher educated voters
I bet the Koch brothers want to hold Karl upsidedown and shake him to see how much of their wasted moneys comes out of his pockets.

[quaker bill]

45. Geography is their enemy

The basic problem in a nutshell can be seen on any red/blue county map. For the most part, the blue counties are urban with lots of voters per square mile. The red counties are rural with very few voters per square mile. This make mass door knocking / face to face chats really tough for them.

In this election the extent that our voters (AA, Hispanic and Asian Americans) have organized themselves into neighborhoods and communities within these urban areas made our work even easier. Not only are there lots of voters per square mile, but +/- 80% of the residents there favor your candidate to begin with. We can get to lots of supporters for one on ones without driving far at all. They can't.

Rove is correct about one thing, unless they break into the blue states, every dem candidate going forward will be starting with a base that is not far short of 270. Like Rmoney, each (R) candidate will need to run the table, just to get to 271+.

[HughBeaumont]

47. Uh, wouldn't that mean moving to a platform that doesn't suck the ass of the dead?

The GOP's economic policies are detrimental to just about everyone on earth except upper middle income and greater white males. The GOP's foreign policy can be summed up in one sentence: "Conquer and Spare No Expense while Doing It." The GOP's domestic policies are Dickensian. As far as education, you couldn't sneeze without hitting the words "charter" and "voucher". They love money and hate people and feel just a little less than an atom-speck guilty about that fact.

They aren't politicians, they're used-car salesjokes. They're the sleazy three-card monte dealer. Do they suspect that 50 full states are chock-filled with uneducated people who think in sound-bites, news-ticker factoids and bumper stickers? How long do they think they can keep on sticking with this loser of a plan?