Reply #16: Dude, I'm from the Chicago exburbs. [View All]

My father was an electrician when we moved out here in the late 1980s.

Kerry's non-response to the Swift Smear Vets is something that hurt the campaign in general, not something that hurt him specifically in exburbia and nowhere else.

Taxes and big government motivate a lot of exburbia voters, especially since exburbia is growing so quickly. Take an issue like education. Heavy tax increases for schools are on the ballot all of the time, and the bureaucrats often do not manage the dollars effectively. People move out to get away from this kinda stuff in the first place, and many get the impression Democrats just want to keep piling it on.

It isn't clear to me that going economically populist can get us these voters, since most of them already have the job, health care and retirement under control. We don't need to bash religion like another poster suggested since people moving out here are initially urban and younger, and tend to be socially liberal. I don't think voters in exburbia are gung-ho about the Republican economic agenda; it is more of a fear that Democrats do not make economic policy with their interests in mind.

A message that would resonate here would be an anti-special interests approach that fights for a leaner, more effective government. Things like protectionism and new government programs won't persuade many in exburbia.