The Democrats Still Don’t Get It

Did you fall asleep yesterday watching the Democratic candidates give canned answers to original questions submitted by ordinary citizens through YouTube videos? Don’t worry, you were not alone.

Once again, an upcoming Presidential election is playing right into the Democrats’ hands, and once again they’re ready to fumble the ball at the goal line. The frontrunner has sky-high negative and unfavorable ratings among the independents who decide the election. The guy in second has passion, money and is the people’s choice but is unloved by the party insiders and diehard liberal partisans that control the party, and can’t summon the courage to knockout the leader. None of the other candidates has a chance.

And once again, the Democrats are trying to win an election on issues and intellect. It’s noble, but you’d think enough presidential losses on that platform would get them to reconsider. When you’re working with a population that is materialistic and image-driven as the United States is, you’re not going to win an issues campaign. When you’re working with a mass media that’s married to soundbites and values catchy words and easy solutions to complex problems (which the media will never fully investigate), you need to adjust your messaging. It’s Political Marketing 101, which the Republicans have down pat. It’s a long way to Election Day 2008, but I’m betting the Republicans will have a better message more attuned to the people who follow Anna Nicole Smith and Paris Hilton instead of our soldiers in Iraq or Anderson Cooper – and these are the people who decide elections in this country.

I’m certainly not saying this is fair or correct, but this is the way it works. The Democrats are like Lisa Simpson, vainly arguing for what is right and logical to an oblivious audience composed of Homer Simpsons. Does Lisa ever win those arguments?

Here’s case study number one. John Edwards, he of the three-figure haircuts and 6,000 square foot mansions, has made poverty his top campaign issue, still sticking to the “Two Americas” theme that didn’t work for him last time. Obama is also speaking directly to the poor. But poverty isn’t even a top issue among Democratic voters. Furthermore, polls show over and over again that poor people are the least likely to vote. Poverty is certainly an important issue, but has it helped Edwards climb in the polls?

Why don’t Democrats make a simple adjustment to something like, “There is no longer a middle class in this country. There is an upper class and an underclass, and the underclass is growing too fast. As president, I’m going to do everything possible to help your children get the education and every opportunity they can to become rich and live the American Dream.” That gets it out of the poverty angle, which everyone ignores and makes it into an easy-to-understand mainstream speech that people will pay attention to. The Republicans have been great at this spin, and the Democrats need to fix this.

And here’s case study number two. Dick Polman says everything here much better than I could. Even in its current doldrums, the one place Republicans still trump Democrats is on defense and national security, and no matter what happens in Iraq that will still be our number one issue next fall. The key here is what Polman labels “the gut-level issues,” and gut level issues are always won by emotion and trust. Not a single candidate said anything like this last night. That will not go unnoticed by the GOP.

Bill Clinton was the one successful Democratic presidential candidate in my lifetime (I still regard Jimmy Carter as an anti-Watergate fluke) and he won with successful gut-level appeals to voters, backed by a strong likeability factor. If the Democrats are going to nominate another Clinton with none of her husband’s likeability, charisma or ability to capture gut-level, emotional appeals that work with Independent voters, they will never capture the White House.

More Info: An interview of Republican pollster and consultant extraordinaire Frank Luntz, who gets it and has helped the Republicans win election after election (except last year). He is the answer to "What's the Matter with Kansas?"