Things we have to do different this fall if we want to win and if we want the win to matter.

[Ken Burch]

1) No "move to the center". Our chances of victory depend on mass turnout and enthusiasm. A centrist "we're just barely not THEM" campaign CAN'T generate enthusiam. Nobody who likes the status quo will vote against the GOP. And the vast majority of the voters DON'T like the status quo this year, so we don't NEED status quo types.

2) For antiwar Democrats, NO moratorium on antiwar rallies this fall. No one who still supports the war is going to vcte for us since, at this point, no non-reactionaries still back the war. Antiwar rallies keep people mobilized and keep the war in play as THE issue. No one thinks any other issue matters more. And we can't do anything about any other issues if we get elected by implying we'd keep even part of the war going. The war is the enemy of everything Democrats and real Lunch Bucket Dems stand for. Nobody wants their kids dying in this anymore.

3) No refusing to fight back against smears. Anytime you leave a smear unanswered the voters think you're admitting the smear is true.

4) No distancing the candidates from any part of our base. People are concerned about the war and the economy. They aren't obsessed with bashing the poor or with dissing "latte sippers" anymore.

The key to victory is mobilization, confidence in our message, and a fighting spirit. We can WIN as our true selves. We can't win "by default".

[FrenchieCat]

1. Sounds like we need Obama as our contender....

based on your formulation.

[Ken Burch]

3. Whoever we do end up with, we all need to do what we can, from the grassroots

To assert the importance of these things.

We can't let The Beltway and "the pros" lose it for us again.

[Justitia]

2. Sorry, we've regressed to flag pins & preachers, it's futile. -eom

[AndyTiedye]

4. People Are Afraid this Will Be a Repeat of 1972

That is the reason for all of the behavior you decry here.

(Except #3, which carries the false premise that Kerry did not respond to the Swift Boaters. He did, but the media would not air it, so most people (even on DU) think it didn't happen.
Kerry could only get on TV by paying around a million dollars a minute for advertising. The FREE advertising the Swift Boaters got was easily worth several billion. That's billion with a b).

The party always lurches to the right and throws anti-war people and progressives under the bus because they still have nightmares about another 1972.

And it sure looks like we're in for another one. All the ingredients are in place.

We are having an extremely bitter and divisive primary, leaving many in our party vowing to stay home. (Not me, I'd vote for a yellow dog over McCain).

We have a very unpopular war, but the unabashedly pro-war candidate gets none of the fallout from it, and is leading in the polls.

The "Homeland Security" state puts the Watergate buggers to shame. They can (and presumably do) have a direct line from the NSA to RNC headquarters and we can't do a thing about it.

"But this time will be different!"

[Ken Burch]

5. 1972 was the nightmare it was because the regulars, the ones who insist on "tacking to the center"

Were the ones who threw McGovern under the bus, after he committed the terrible crime of beating them fair and square on the issues in the primaries.

And their approach gave us 1980, 1984, 1988, 2000 and 2004. That's five losses due to "being careful" compare to one loss caused by sabotauge.