I don't know WHY people keep forgetting that.

I never once thought he'd win, because as you said the district is specifically drawn up +9 for thuglicans. It's a RED district. Ossoff did well to come withing 2 or 3% points of an R in a Ruby Red district.

I will say that for ME, spending $25 million is more alarming than what Ossoff lost by though

Duh!

THAT is precisely what Dems need to understand, especially with a very low-approval-rating-nut-case president like Trump.

I fully understand that the GOP needs to cheat, lie and steal to win. But that doesn't mean that Dems no not need to improve our appeal and brand.

So, I am going to call people out not being factual, when they make a statement that is not factual.

need to take a course in Marketing 101. I will always vote for the Democrat, no matter what (well, with a few exceptions - but will never vote republican), but I have to say that most of the Democratic races I have seen in the last few decades (with the exception of Obama) have been pretty uninspiring and lacked a cohesive message.

There isn't just ONE reason that we aren't winning, there are a number of them, including the fact that republicans cheat and people are stupid. But many of us are ignoring the truth that we just can't seem to get people excited about who we are running. They vote for us out of party loyalty or because they hate the other guy, but we need people in the party who are experts on messaging and marketing. People who can get those non-voters out of the house and into the voting booths!

Sorry, I know it sounds kind of corporate, but this is the world we are living in.

His political acumen leaves much to be desired.

BUT I very strongly agree that our messaging is for shit.

+1 MILLION.

I think the challenge, where the real issue is, is that the media has created an absurd unlevel playing field holding the Democrats to a completely different set of rules than the Republicans.

hearing is whining and placing blame somewhere else than looking in the mirror.

It will interesting to hear what Chuck Schumer's "big bold plan" is going to be.

So again, I disagree with your basic premise.

we here at DU know what Democrats do, and Democratic politicians know, and about eleven other people know. Everyone else, not so much.

I just read that the vast majority of the country still doesn't know that their Medicaid and Medicare are on the chopping block, so for example, they certainly don't know that their Democratic politicians are going to the mat fighting for them.

We started a conversation about a conservative state vs a liberal state.

There comment to me was, The do not really care about all that. People are people. Both parties the same. It doesn't matter. Whatever.

I do not know what will wake people up to be concerned with their own circumstances.

the parties. That should never be on anyone's mind. And all that is really just a matter of advertising.

What will wake people up? Ads that get through their fog. Billboards (no kidding. They're inescapable and they catch you at a time when you are pretty much idle and thinking. They also get around your news silos. Look around at people's sig lines here. Lots of billboards.) Outreach to pastors. The real ones. The ones who care about caring for the sick and elderly. ALL of them. Social media seeding. If they are doing it, we HAVE to do it. We can be above board about it and have our people say, "I'm a Democratic communicator" or something, but we have to get in there. Bumper stickers. I think people noticed that there were no Hillary bumper stickers out there. I think it mattered. Sit ins on the steps of federal buildings followed by coordinated campaigns of letters to the editors.

Stuff like that.

His primary message is Democrats are Republican lite.

That certainly isn't helping us any.

I agree with your solutions. Social media. Organize. Connect. Consistent.

out there she's not going to make all those rust belt people swoon (in a non-sexist way.) She's a PERFECT image for us. A wounded vet, mixed heritage, tough as hell, and out there protecting the average joe. No one can NOT like her!

We have talent. We just aren't using it. We could do worse than hiring a PR firm.

social media support. I think now is a good time for locations to work on this and build it up over the next few years, connecting nationally.

I am going to be looking into that type context in my area. I would not be surprised if this was not already happening. Clinton mentioned something about investing in some org., and I want to check that out.

Soros, Buffett, Gates - they aren't buying time and media outlets for their relatively socially liberal/philanthropic messages to get out.
However, Randriods and Dominionists have been gobbling up local outlets for decades to push their selfish Prosperity "Conservitive Good and Strong/Liberal Bad and Weak" Fascist messages.

I hear and see our messaging all the time - in forums where people are individually making the effort to air it. But we aren't buying Media Outlets, we don't sell heaven out of Mega-Churches, and we don't pander to the lowest common denominator or the easy way out.
Are we buying ad time on Cable as well as networks? Will Sinclair Broadcasting, or Clear Channel air our National Ads - or hell, even local ads during "Drive Time", or "Prime Time"?

Liberals - or heck, Moderates don't own the Media. So these groups are dependent on whatever "good will" the Conservatives are willing to indulge to be able to use the platform.

As for the citizenry - people who are stressed, who feel helpless and weak, will always look for the easiest way out if they don't feel like they're part of a greater effort. And the GOP has been selling feel-good, sophomoric bullshit since Reagan's backers put Political Ethics and Responsibility to Constituents to sleep - and then euthanized them.

Haele

Establishing a "Cultural Core" and Re-branding won't help, because then we'll just either still be Liberals or be Conserva-Dems; which can't compete against the stranglehold of Conservative Money. And that's where we lose our message. They own the GOP, so why should they buy Conserva-Dem brand?
Especially since Conservative Money projects their own stink on the Democrats, whether we deserve it or not. Politics is dirty business; so it's easy to play the "what's the difference" game.

We have to get a strategy that attacks the Conservative Money but not their captive voters. And we need to GOTV to get the Independents in ways other than "othering" our own selves and our Democratic Coalition.

Haele

He keeps redefining Democrats and it is not correct, yet he is the one that has time in front of a camera defining us.

I think we really need to get on the Social Media. Professional, connected, organized. I think that is the way wee need to get it out.

With all the hacking, Republicans and Russia really culled social media. Before the elections, primaries, I was getting sites that I had never seen. I was targeted by these groups. Lies. I asked, why I am seeing these people everywhere now. I was told my demographics made me a target. It was like an invasion of my space.

Also with Independents. I think we use our organization skills with the Democratic Party and base thru social media. I think we well define ourselves. And the Independent has the choice to vote what we are saying. Not us beg at accepting their definition of us to be what they want. There has to be a line in accommodating and coddling at our expense.

coming for you. They're coming for you SS, your Medicare, your Medicaid, your mortgage deduction, your child's school, etc. They have their hand in your pocket and they hate you."

that will play on the news. Grayson was good at that, for example when he had the flip chart saying that the republican plan way back when was that when you get sick (flip to next page) die quickly. Franken is more elegant but he is also good at messaging and the country is falling in love with him and he is getting air time. What is it that sets Schiff apart other than that he is putting out a succinct, clear true message. So where is everyone else?

My representative has been instrumental in some really kick ass legislation. I have NEVER seen him on TV, and I bet you've never even heard his name. Consequently the kick ass legislation didn't get the air it should have.

The Republicans are good at the theatricality that gets them on the news. We are not.

Republican candidates were talking about their dick size. This was totally unconventional and continues to be. This is not under the same rules of the past.

Last edited Wed Jun 28, 2017, 02:42 PM - Edit history (1)

We won the first round because 11 republicans were in the race taking votes away from each other

Was it really the worst campaign he'd ever seen? I didn't follow the actual campaign dynamics closely. I didn't expect Osseff to win--although it would have been a pleasant surprise--not in this time, not in that district. The author may have good suggestions, but they are fairly standard for any campaign, not groundbreaking new knowledge or campaigning techniques. Makes me think the author is a bit of an opportunist

He was so mealy-mouthed and slippery in every interview I heard. Mere focus-grouped platitudes designed to run precisely down the middle. He is smart and savvy enough to do better than that. I think it's time to get rid of the consultants, because these are the same people who advise the 2016 Clinton campaign and then, just recently, Theresa May. If you can do both, you are an amoral asshole who believes nothing.

But I'm not surprised. The same techniques designed to sell soap and toothpaste are used to sell candidates. It's all bullshit. We are scammed and duped into supporting whomever the powers that be decide we should support. And Democrats, in particular, are so deeply afraid of being demonized by Republicans, that many of them decide running to the mushy middle is the way to win. Clearly it isn't. I want to know what YOU stand for, not simply that you are the anti-Trump. And bipartisanship is not a big seller in my book these days anyway, not when Republicans are such a pile of snakes.

would have helped but I do agree about the messaging. We suck at it. An ad with Ossoff standing at the playground he played at as a child would have gone a long way. John Bradshaw is a therapist who did a video series about family systems and later went on to write a book, John Bradshaw: On the Family. In the video series he wrote "E-Motion" and went on to say emotion is the energy behind our motion. We so need to understand that. It's why Trumpsters are fact resistant. I've seen people skew reality in unbelievable ways to validate their feelings. They hated Obama and will tell you he did a horrible job. Giving them facts to prove that is patently false won't work. They hated him based on their feelings about an African-American being president but, if you ask them, they will tell you they aren't racist. So, it must be something else, he's not American, he's a secret Muslim, he tanked the economy, he didn't respond to 9/11 correctly....none of it's true but it validates their feelings. The message to defeat the repeal of the ACA needs to be how it's yet again one more example of how those rich elite bastards are trying to screw you into the ground. Ads with them driving in super luxury convertibles, dressed to the nines, drinking champagne, by people waiting at the bus stop, by closed nursing homes and hospitals... With a line about they are celebrating the repeal of the ACA.

why you would even post this.

Tom Price won the sixth district over and over and over. Surprise the writer claims he had not heard it.

We all knew Ossoff needed to get above 50% in the first round when Republicans were badly divided.

That's what this post looks like to me. Because Ossoff was the most successful Democratic candidate by far in that solid red district since 1979. I think Westen just wants to say you should hire him and things would go much better.

But I must ask: What successful messaging has Westen Strategies LLC provided to candidates? And which candidates? And did they win? I tried to find this information on the company's website, but it is totally vague--bad messaging on its part, I'd say.

Nobody likes a Monday morning quarterback, especially one who doesn't put some skin in the game.