Democrats loose big, will they comeback in 2006?

As word comes in that Senator John Kerry has called the President to concede the 2004 election, one must look at the two parties to see where we go from here. Republicans will no doubt feel that they have won a decisive victory, not only in the Presidential election but picking up 4 seats in the Senate and at least four in the House of Representatives. John Thune defeats former Senate minority leader Tom Daschle in South Dakota for the topping on the sunday.

Now that the picture comes into focus, a few questions need to be answered. Will the GOP drive a hard right leaning agenda through the Congress by picking off moderate democrats? Will the democrats make the same mistake they made in 02' when they lost and picked ultra-left Nancy Pelosi as the face of their party in the house? Those question will be answered soon.

If the democrats want to get back into the game, here is the way they can do it.
Find a base that is not divided before the race starts. Early in 2004 it was very clear that the democrats had placed their bets on groups of voters that contribute the vast majority of their time and treasure. These groups are the labor unions, both public and private, the pro-choice lobby, the anti-war movement, and the life long democrats that vote democratic because their parents had.

Most democrats that I know are not as liberal as the leadership of the democratic party by a factor of three to one. While they will say that they are pro-choice, they are not for partial birth abortion. They will say that they are for higher taxes on the rich, but they want their taxes lower. They don't like the war in Iraq, but they don't want to surrender and bring the troops and the terrorists home to America. Finally, they will say that they don't care what goes on the privacy of people's bedrooms, but they are not for gay marriage.

If the democrats want to win back the White house or even make gains in the congress, here is how they can do it.

Get used to loosing for a while.

The only way the democrats can pull them selves out of the huge hole they are in is to find out where the public is and find a way to out popularize the GOP. Here is another way to look at this, if you fight a war every four years with the same allies, and you keep loosing, find different allies. Tell the leadership of NOW, and NARAL that partial birth abortion is loosing them elections and supreme court justices. We want your money and your support, but if you don't change your position on this one issue, we won't be seen with you. Tell the public and private union bosses, hey, we fought for you on the baggage screeners after 9/11 when the nation wanted politicians to unite, and we were seen as partisans hacks not patriots. Tell the Howard Dean environmentalists and pacifists that we want your money and support, but we can't lock up the Anwar oil reserves when we are telling voters that the war in Iraq is a war for oil.

The republicans have discovered the big secret in our new political world. Clear, simple stands based on values. American values, not european values, not socialist values, not the new-age secular values that people find interesting but don't want to use to change the nations direction.

Why do I want the Democrats to come back to the center from the ultra-left edge of disaster?
Unity, the unity we need to win the war on terrorism that will be with us for generations. When America looks at two parties that reflect American values separated only by two different ways to get there, people will unite behind either party, no matter the victor.