ROGER SIMON COLUMN
JANUARY 9, 2005
WASHINGTON - - How bad off is the Democratic Party? Well, the Democrats don't have the presidency, they don't have the senate and they don't have the house.
And just what the heart, soul - - and future - - of the party is seems very much an open question
"I think we are in for a difficult period," says Bill Daley, Al Gore's campaign chairman. "Can we win in '08? Tell me what the economy will be like or what the war in Iraq will be like. I don't know. Do I see that the Democrats are on some grand march with programs and ideas that will motivate people? No."
"It is depressing losing elections, especially one in which so many things went well," Anita Dunn, a Democratic strategist, says. "We didn't get outspent; we did an extraordinary job organizing voters and increasing turnout. Fundamentally, the question Democrats face is: 'OK, if so many things were in place, why did we lose?' That is a tough question for a political party."
Says David Axelrod, a Democratic strategist who worked for John Edwards in the last presidential primary campaign, "The impression is that (the Republicans) have ideas and energy and we are trying to maintain the status quo. It was not clear in the last election what our vision was."
Even outgoing Democratic Party chairman Terry McAuliffe says, "There is no question that we've got to do a better job on messaging."
Some Democratic critics say message is not the chief problem, however. Over and over again, critics say that Democrats have become tainted by a "cultural elitism," the sneering belief that Blue Staters are better educated, more sophisticated and morally superior to Red Staters.
"We do sneer at Red-Staters," says Daley. "We convey that we are out of touch with the average person. We are truly a Washington, D.C.-focused party and that includes unions, feminists, etc."
Many also say that while Hollywood has been good for the Democratic Party in terms of contributing money, the Hollywood connection reinforces the notion that the Democrats are a condescending, leftist elite.
So even though Axelrod believes the party is fundamentally sound, he does say, "I don't discount that we should not be exclusionary and we should not project the cultural elitism that was radiated from (John) Kerry. Would the right kind of candidate and right kind of candidacy have produced a different outcome? I supported Edwards. I think his message would have reached people in small towns and rural areas."
Some Democrats are asking some very basic questions. Gilda Cobb-Hunter has been a member of the South Carolina state legislature for 13 years and is a member of the Democratic National Committee. She is an African-American and she shocked some of the candidates for the Democratic National Committee chairmanship recently.
"I asked them what plans do you have to attract white, southern voters to the Democratic party," she says. "I am not talking about NASCAR dads and Bubba - - those votes are gone. I am talking about attracting young whites. And, also, how do the Democrats keep young people of color, who are increasingly independent, in the party."
Cobb-Hunter says she did not get a very satisfying answer from anybody. She also believes Democratic candidates too often don't make a connection with ordinary voters.
"In the last election, we couldn't explain things in a way that made sense to people," she says. "We got too fancy and stopped talking to people."
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