Sunday, November 15, 2009

Don't forget why you were elected

Some thoughts from the post-election number-crunchers.

Lots of pundits say the GOP is on its way to revival, such as Yuval Levin in Newsweek. A coming GOP split? Doesn't seem so -- the GOP in Congress are able to speak with one voice. The Dems are the ones searching for some kind of unity. Apparently we shouldn't worry about the scuffle in New York State where the GOP candidate was too moderate and the Democrat won.

Lots of other pundits don't agree:
GOP voter turnout in Virginia was constant between 2008 and 2009. Dem vote there collapsed, electing a GOP governor. The DailyKos blog put it this way:
* If you abandon core Democratic principles in an attempt to get phantom bipartisanship, you'll lose votes.

* If you water down reforms to appease the Blue Dogs and their corporate sponsors, you'll lose votes.

* If you forget why you were elected -- meaningful health care, financial services reform, energy policy, immigration reform -- you'll lose votes.

There are plenty of reasons to vote against GOP candidates. However, you actually have to give a worthwhile reason to vote for the Dem candidate. Otherwise, voters stay home.

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