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It assumes three basic groups of voters: Republicans, Democrats, and undecided.
Election 2000 should have thrown all of that kind of simplification out the window. When 20% of registered Democrats vote for the Republican candidate, supporters of a non-Democratic liberal candidate are attacked rather than courted by the Democrats, and the vulnerabily of the election to fraud is exposed so blatantly, arguing over who gets the swing voters is far too simplistic. None of the above categories on its own can win the election.
What we need is:
-an appeal to those former Democrats who voted against the party in 2000 -- Whether they voted for Bush or for Nader, they were obviously turned off by the Democratic party enough to no longer associate themselves with it. This problem is solved by emphasizing the differences between the parties rather than attempting to minimize them. 2002 proved you can't ride a Democrat into office on Bush's coattails, and we need to stop trying. Attacking Bush's policies is a start, but we need to emphasize the difference in our ideologies at every step to retain our base
-a recognition that a swing voter is not necessarily a centrist voter -- The great unwashed masses are ready to see the truth about Bush; they just need someone to show them there's a viable alternative. All of our candidates (except Lieberman -- see the first point) have strong platforms that will appeal to the American people without forcing us to play into the Repubs "soft on crime," "soft on terror," "loose spending" caricatures. Ignore the Repubs' talking points and focus on improving cooperation between intelligence entities, supporting first responders, funding health care, cutting out corporate welfare and tax loopholes, and insuring fair elections. The American people aren't stupid; they'll understand the contrast with Bush without us banging them over the head with it.
It all comes down to CONTROLLING THE TERMS OF DEBATE!!! Don't let Karl Rove and the Freepers decide what the election is going to be about. Talking about gay marriage is a red herring to keep us from talking about the corporations gutting of the economy. We have to tell them what we're going to do when we get the presidency and let them make the case that they can do it better.
As is so often repeated here, almost nobody who voted Gore in 2000 regrets that vote and many who voted for Bush in 2000 regret it. We don't need to change our tune to appeal to the swing voters -- we've already got them. We just need to avoid building up the Republicans to help Bush steal them away.
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