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11-12-06
Dems Win Challenges and Opportunity
by Kevin Morgan
The one thing that I believe the media is missing in its assessment of the mid-term race is the credit Democrats deserve for their victory. It is being mis-portrayed as Republicans having beaten themselves. Although it is true America was fed up with Republicans lack of results, corruption, etc., the Democrats deserve every bit of the credit for choosing and backing the right candidates who fought the battles better than their opponents.
They beat incumbents who outspent them and they stuck more with the issues, which ultimately trumped GOP personal attacks. The GOP played the fear card and puritanical halo facade one too many times. It insulted Americans intelligence, and the votes account for this truth.
Howard Dean was vindicated IMO for his spreading of money to all 50 states. The results were that Democrats carried critical votes in areas that were virtually ignored in 2002 and 2004, gifting the GOP the suburban edge. Dean laid a good foundation for grassroots Democratic growth that has a vast audience of potential supporters waiting to become engaged in the process.
Most importantly and frequently ignored was the excellent job Dems did of getting out their voters. Previously inactive Democratic districts and Moveon.org made millions of personal phone calls to swing voters and on again, off again Dems that caught the RNC offgaurd and beat them at what was boasted by Rove to be the GOP's secret weapon. Unlike past elections, the Dems now have a solid GOTV mechanism they can perpetuate and perfect for 2008.
If the Democrats can demonstrate a willingness to cooperate and reverse the bitter partisan division in the deliberation process of challenges like health care, education, and Iraq ... we may see an American surge toward supporting a democratically tilting electorate in 2008 because of the peace of mind it will bring to a nation weary of being pummeled by division.
The playing field for both parties is in the middle, and Democrat centrists who are newly elected represent a mixture of conservative views that don't conflict with common Democratic values like the environment, jobs, social security and healthcare. Dems can have a unified message and solidarity in voting on these issues and establish a clear identity. Guns, abortion, and gay marriage can take a rest if Congress pursues a bipartisan solution for Iraq and focuses on legislation aimed at middle class protection. Democrats should not be afraid to introduce immediate legislation to preserve social security.
Americans are well aware that the GOP abandoned presidential oversight. I believe that the Democrats can reinstate the checks and balances (including investigating a few primary Bush offenses) and voters will accept these as a needed safe guard rather than a witch hunt or Dem vendetta.
Polling numbers support the idea that a majority of Americans believe the president lied to us about going to war and a smaller, but still majority consensus, would consider impeachment if it were proven that Bush intentionally misled the people and Congress. Regarding the later, the House has a constitutional responsibility to check the executive branch from breaking the law.
Democracts responsibility to reinstate checks and balances also has serious political consequences for them. Bush should be held accountable for the pre-war deception or the Dems risk losing the left who helped them gain their slim majority November 7th. Without the left, swing voters and defecting evangelicals would not have mattered at the finish line. Losing them would mean losing period, because those furthest to the left were the prime volunteers in the Dems GOTV effort. They also drive an internet communication apparatus that fuels as much enthusiasm for supporting progressives as it raises money that Dems could not survive without.
It must all be balanced against what is necessary to extinguish the worst of the last four years most pressing and critical problems. But Dems have opportunities for their future that loom as large as their challenges.
If Democrats can produce positive results, the contrast of even minor progress will cast them in a favorable light
for maintaining Congress in 2008 and increase the appeal of being accompanied by a Democrat president.
PS - I found this article (below) and thought it did an excellent job of encapsulating the challenges and ultimate opportunities that lie in store for Democrats and the 110th Congress.
Democrats Find Lessons In GOP Reign
New Majority Is Mindful Of Rivals' Mistakes, Successes
By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 12, 2006; A01
Democrats preparing to take control of Congress for the first time in over a decade are looking to the Republican takeover in 1995 as an object lesson of what to emulate and what to avoid. They hope to match the legislative energy of the Newt Gingrich era while avoiding at all costs the partisan pitfalls that eventually soured voters on the GOP.
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THANK YOU GOD!
Democrats Take Control of the Senate
By Liz Sidoti and Bob Lewis
The Associated Press
Washington - Democrats wrested control of the Senate from Republicans Wednesday with an upset victory in Virginia, giving the party complete domination of Capitol Hill for the first time since 1994.
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