Have the Democrats abandoned the Red States?

On today's LBN, there's a thread on a story about how Indiana residents are suffereing economically more than ever. Some Indiana DUers posted about how the Democratic national leadership has abandoned their state. All that's left of the Democratic party in Indiana are just a few, scattered party-machine type organizations; new blood and new ideas are apparently discouraged.

What can be done to reverse this slide of the party's fortunes in Red States? I know I've suggested that Blue State Democratic rank-and-file try to help their Red State brethren in some way, but the response to that idea was basically a dismissive "people in the Midwest and the South would not appreciate the interference of Blue Staters, etc."

That's a lame attitude to take, in my opinion. But to return to the topic at hand: has the Democratic national leadership made Red States into "flyover states"? Has the national Democratic rank-and-file lost all interest in the Red States?

I hope this effort to delve into this important issue bears fruit!

South Carolina is as red as it gets and we do have a DNC person now hired in SC and have been given cash (small amount for various operations). But we all need to work hard. We can't just complain that the DNC is not here/there. Work in your own county to do a fundraiser of some kind - then tell your state officials about it and it's success and fire off an email to the DNC as well. If they don't come around don't stop your success just keep on building on it and keep on complaining or firing off emails messages what have you to the state and national party.

It works - not always as fast and as dependable as you always want - but it works and my red county in a red state has made great strides at first in despite of the state and national party and then with help from.

But I'm concerned about states that don't have much infrastructure to begin with. A state like Indiana, for example, sounds like it needs a lot more outside help than even South Carolina. I'm from NJ, and watching the other states' dilemma from afar, I feel helpless to do something.

start local. County Party. Do you have one? If you don't know find out. If you don't have one then find out why and how you can form one? Have a forum at a restaurant once a month - and there don't just complain start thinking of what you guys can do locally to promote the democratic agenda, get local democrats elected for local offices and non-partisan boards that also have a heavy influence on things like education and mental health.

Just a suggestion.

Speaking from one VERY red state, I see several ways that the Dems can start making gains.

First, FIGHT!!!! Stop letting Republicans go uncontested. While it may be an uuphill battle to win Indiana statewide, It can be done. It can even be done by non-Evan Bayh-style DINOS. For example, in the 1990's, Indiana elected Pam Carter as attorney-general. Ms. Carter ran a very good, aggressive campaign and travelled around the state extensively. She won a close race. (Now, please don;t attack me for this next statement...) For Indiana to elect a woman Democrat who was also African-American is pretty amazing.

Secondly, contribute money to promising local or statewide candidates. A forum like DU is a great place to network. While running TV ads here in Hoosierland featuring New Yorkers saying (in their wonderful accent) "I want you to support John Smith" might not play well, donations can come from anywhere. For example, in my other post I talked about a young county official here in our county who is being shunned by the Democratic machine because he's not a machine favorite. Despite the fact that he has shown real cross-over appeal and could actually HELP the Democrats, the machine would rather see him beaten because he's not beholden to them. I know he's worried about raising money for his re-election. Out-of-state contributions could help people like him re-energize the Democrats here and send the self-centered machine pols packing so that New Democrats can rebuild.

Sorry, just my two cents.

I think that if the DNC were to work very hard in states like Indiana -- regardless of the odds -- that bit-by-bit, little-by-little, the "red tide" can be turned. National rank-and-file has to be better engaged, too.

I see some extra effort by the DNC in swing states, but it's still flying over most of the firmly Red states. That has to be reversed - immediately.

I attended a 50 State Strategy meeting Tuesday night. They held them all over the country. Mine was in Florida. In a totally red county. And I saw a lot of people there, that I never would have expected to see. One was a supervisor in the (repub)Supervisor of Elections office.

We can turn some of these states blue, but we have to start working now.

Even here in Florida, Katherine Harris is tanking. Congressman Jim Davis has pulled ahead of the 2 repubs to replace Jeb. The DCCC is targeting several campaigns in our area as winnable, as is Nancy Pelosi's New House PAC.

They are paid for by the DNC, hired locally. I don't know which states have done what yet, but I did find this page at the DNC website.

It tells what some of the states are doing. He calls it the 50 state strategy, he says it all the time on TV and in emails.

www.democrats.org
Do a search for 50 state strategy.

http://www.democrats.org/a/2004/06/a_50_state_stra.php

The ultimate goal? An active, effective group of Democrats organized in every single precinct in the country. Here's what we're doing to get there:

1.The Democratic Party is hiring organizers chosen by the state parties in every state -- experienced local activists who know their communities.

Do you see it linked from front page? We need to ask them why.
And that is only a small portion of the page...weird.

abandoned their country? Have people that vote based on one issue (abortion) and against their own economic interests abandoned their senses?
I ask these questions neither as a joke, nor am I suggesting that red states are mostly racist. In fact, as the colored political leaning maps show, most states are purple.

I ask because how does one reach the type of voters in my examples? Now I do agree, and it is yet another reason to like Howard Dean: Dems need to campaign in all states, instead of just giving them up, as they are prone to do. Money appears to be less of an issue, so it can be afforded. The Dems also need to just push a populist message, and when those issues such as abortion or religion come up, dismiss them as distractions, which they are.

As much as I (strongly) favor things like the Brady Law, some people on these boards insist that gun control issues torpedo Democrats in their respective Red states.

"Have people that vote based on one issue (abortion) and against their own economic interests abandoned their senses?" Yes. "Have people that vote based on the "southern strategy" abandoned their country?" Not in their own estimation, unfortunately. They honestly think that this is officially a Christian nation and that the evildoers are trying to take it away from them! You simply can't imagine the hatred, rage, and fury that are exhibited by the good "Christian" people in this area when abortion, gay rights, gun control, prayer in schools, "Under God," etc., are brought up. Mississippi has plenty of Democrats elected to local office who are doing a good job, but... when people are actually more interested in the afterlife than what happens to them in this life, common sense goes out the window. (See Muslim suicide bombers.) The national Democratic Party can and should help us keep our local and state elected officials in office, but Mississippi will probably never vote for a Democratic president again. Not that it matters, with only six electoral votes anyway.

I was the last liberal in Mississippi, but you have proved me wrong. thanks for your comments. The democratic party in Mississippi proves that Will Rogers was correct in his saying, " I do not belong to any organized political party, I am a democrat".

You and I aren't the LAST liberals in Mississippi by a long shot. For what we lack in quantity, we more than make up in quality. I keep comforting myself with the indisputable fact that there are more liberal Democrats in Mississippi than there are in Vermont, and if we were concentrated we could make a difference (after all, Vermont has two senators and a congressman). Gene Taylor, my congressman, acts like a DINO, but I think his heart's in the right place, and as I have said so many times, our locally-elected mayors, alderpersons, and county supervisors are majority Democrats and (mostly) doing an outstanding job of running their cities and counties. Also, Rowdyboy ShellBeau (spelling?), and BOSSHOG are three more fantastic members of DU from our great state.
So keep the faith!

I certainly hope so.

The Dems need to focus on a winning strategy for a change- and if the last 6 elections are any clue- that DOES NOT involve legitimizing Republican policies in the "hopes" of picking up lost causes like Indiana, Mississippi, etc.

As far the Dems should be concerned- the majority of the people in those states made their beds- and they can lie in them.

They pretty much had. But the new head of the DNC is currently in the process of establishing a permanent presence in all fifty states for the first time in DNC history.

What there is is a nationwide renewal process of the Party. An older variety or style of the Party has been in decline since ~1980 or even earlier. The people running it are cliche-type union or ethnic or local establishment political sorts. We tend to shorthand this variety/style as "FDR Democrats".

Since the mid-Nineties this set has gotten incrementally replaced by a more educated, relevant/informed, social laissez-faire set. Experience says it has to be people from the locality itself, transplants don't go over well.

Democrats in highly Blue States are not completely done with this process but are generally pretty far into it. In the Red States it's pretty spotty and uneven stuff so far. There are all kinds of elements to it- forcing resignations or primarying out problem people, small scale town or county Party 'revolutions', defection waves to Republicans by the Old Guard, passive disintegrations, and stuff like DFA to do rebuildings, registration campaigns.

The DNC is something of a bind, not wanting to run an unaffordable national purge and yet wanting the process to take place efficiently. McAuliffe emphasized the first, Dean has emphasized the second. The least competitive parts of the country are necessarily made lowest priority- relatively highly semirural population, relatively agrarian, relatively 'Christian' and ethnic, low tech industries, and very white is where payoff is slowest to arrive. Southern Indiana would be

The nationwide story this year is very much Republicans falling apart in Blue states and their lesser decline in swing and Red ones. Democrats are gaining national and state power by intensifying their grip in Blue and recovering some in swing states. The lag/difference between national and local reality is greatest in places like Indiana, unfortunately.

That was a helpful post for me. Thanks.

Lexingtonian regularly tells me stuff I don't know, more than anyone here.

That was my guess, that deepest red areas like southern Indiana would be lowest on the totem pole in regard to 50 state help, but I wasn't confident enough to express it, especially not with a word like agrarian.

I'm still not in agreement the GOP is "falling apart," in blue states or elsewhere to lesser extent. I think it's becoming a more polarized nation with red states becoming more red and blue states more blue. The teeter states are subject to political winds which currently favor our side. If we can slowly get rid of the 9/11 influence then I'll agree the Emerging Democratic Majority fundamentals have been restored.

This fall I believe we would have been the recipient of a 3-4 point shift virtually nationwide given the PR debacle for Republicans since late summer, but like always I reject negative news for the other side as any type of foundation. That's identical to post '94, when my right wing friends were giddy and certain Clinton was one term toast for '96. I reminded them no one was embracing Republicans despite any contractual myth, their gains were overwhelmingly due to distaste for Clinton, and Democratic non-participation at the ballot box. That was hardly a dependable stepping stone to ousting him in '96. Let's just say I took my disbelieving friends for a bit of cash in November '96.

It was great misfortune that our lowest point coincided with a major midterm in '94 while the Republican low tide (or perhaps not, let's hope) came in '05 with few major statewide races at risk.

Last night the Alabama State Party Chairman said the DNC would be providing four staffers to help with both state and national races. I think people are going to be surprised at how Democratic Alabama can be with enough money and some good candidates.

Nope. But, on the other hand, I don't see Repubs attempting to make much progress in Massachusetts and Illinois... or any strong blue state.