How quickly they forget. The democrats now are sitting back and licking their wounds. They think they have done their best shot, and it wasn’t good enough. What next?

And, since I think I’m a good representative of the voter they want to appeal to (and because I love to give advice) here’s why they failed to inspire me this year, and why they lost me, and millions like me, in many campaigns all across the country.

1) You can’t build by tearing down. True, you sometimes have to tear down before you build, but it’s not the tearing down that’s important. Make me believe there’s something good coming. Let me see your vision of my future.

2) Focus. You don’t have time to tell me all your plans. Give me your best idea right up front. If that hooks me, then you have the time to explain your 66-point plan for World Peace. But throw your best stuff out, clearly and in the open. I need to be baited.

3) Fear neither ridicule nor scorn. If you’re shy and reserved, get over it, because I want to know who is asking me to trust him/her with my dreams. If you’re not like me, and you’re not, show me why you’re different. I know different isn’t always, or even often, bad; being different is an attraction, not a turn-off. But I need to know why before I can believe you actually are what you say you are. Show me who you are and why you are; the real you, not what your packager and handler wants me to believe is you. Believe me, I will be able to spot the phony. That was behind the Dean Meltdown. You can talk about the Iowa Yell all you want, but that was just the excuse for the meltdown. The wheels were coming off the Dean campaign, anyway, because Howard Dean was not the candidate Joe Trippi was trying to package and sell, so the effort was doomed from the start. And the worst part about that was that Dean himself was an interesting candidate. If Trippi hadn’t tried to package and sell Howard Dean as Josiah Bartlett, and had instead let Dean be Dean, who knows where it would have led?

4) Show me the fire. Everyone who decides to run the gauntlet of a political campaign has got to have fire in their belly. I know that. So where is it? If you don’t show me the passion that drives you to run, I’ve no choice but to believe it’s the power itself that attracts you, and that means I won’t trust you. You have to connect with me, and that means letting me see why you get up in the morning and face the swarm. I need to know what drives you; once I know that I can decide if I can trust you.

If you think people voted for George Bush because they thought he was great leader, or a great thinker, or anything like that, it’s no wonder your man lost. George Bush got the votes because he let people see his moral compass. He let people know what was important to him. Once they knew what made him tick, they felt comfortable deciding where he would jump on issues close to them.

I voted twice for Bill Clinton as president, despite the fact that I would never have asked him into my home for dinner, nor would I have accepted a similar invitation from him. I voted for him because I believed he truly was in this, not out of a lust for power, but because he wanted to make our lives better, and thought he knew how. John Kerry never once convinced me he knew what was important to me, much less that he could fix it.

Check the subject line. The famous note stuck to Bill Clinton’s mirror says it all. The neo-conservative movement that captured the Republican party during the Reagan years handed the Democrats their best issue on a silver platter. Yet only one Democrat had the brains to figure it out, and the ones coming after him, astonishingly, refuse to follow his example.

You want to know how a Democrat can win the White House? Start with “It’s the economy, stupid.” Mix in a little bit of “I feel your pain.” Paint me the image of a shiny city. Be civil, only turn your anger on foreigners and criminals (and don’t indulge yourself in stretching the definitions of either of those terms). If I’m in a hole, jump in and show me you know the way out. Show me you know the way to a bright future.

No, it’s not easy. You’re a cynical fool if you thought it would be. I’ll give you one more clue: There may not even be a Democrat on the current national scene that’s capable of carrying it off. Look among your governors. Why a governor? Senators and Congressmen talk about doing things; governors actually do them. They’ve made the hard choices before, and can do it again. I don’t remember the last presidential race a governor lost to a non-governor. Johnson and Kennedy both were non-governors, but were running against non-governors as well. Even the two possible exceptions I can think of aren’t really exceptions. Stevenson lost, but to a general, the military equivalent of a governor. Dukakis lost, but to the former VP of a popular president.

…as I waited into the night.

1) It didn’t take long for the Wisconsin voters to show they hadn’t been taken in by an empty suit. Feingold by a hefty margin. It could have been an interesting race had Feingold’s opponent had more than one firing synapse. It was like watching a badly written AI attempting the Turing Test; the answers the challenger gave were knee-jerk, doctrinaire, anything but challenging. And, as a final desperate measure, showing just how out of touch he is with Wisconsin voters, he runs last-minute ads attacking Feingold for being, of all things, a Maverick. You’re running for office in the state of Bob Lafollette and William Proxmire, and you choose to brand your opponent as (gasp) a maverick? That’s like offering to double every vote he would normally get.

2) (Extension of #1) Businessmen don’t understand politics. They understand telling people to do something. They believe that’s all you need to do in government, as well. They understand getting people to buy in to a project by offering to pay them. But they just don’t understand how to get people to buy into a project by getting them to like it, or believe in it. And because they don’t understand it, they downplay the importance of the skills. And so they lose, or are ineffective in office.

3) Our Lady Of The Florida Ballot Box could learn a lot from the Ohio Secretary of State. The man avoided the rampaging bulls of the press corps with the grace, skill, and artistry of a matador. He kept to the facts, and left opinion to the reporters. A man with a cool head in trying circumstances. Bodes well for the upcoming counts (and recounts).

4) Favorite scenario of the Night: Larry King’s observation that if Bush won Ohio and Kerry ran the rest of the board, the 269-all tie might be broken by the faithless elector from West Virginia. (Note to partisan attack dogs. “Faithless” is not a value judgement. It is the precisely correct technical term, which has been used since time immemorial to describe the electors who choose, for whatever reason, not to vote the way the people in their state voted.) It was actually the scenario I went to bed hoping I would find when I awoke, but Nevada (5 electoral votes) let me down.

5) Whoever is finally adjudged the winner (my odds favor Bush, the Ohio ballots would have to split at something over 70-30 for Kerry to gain enough ground) will announce a mandate, when of course, none exists. Bush did not manage to hold the staes he won in 2000, despite the improved popular vote total, showing a relative loss of confidence in his leadership, which will definitely not be recognized by him or anyone close to him. Kerry’s loss of the popular vote tally would prove no mandate for him, but it likewise would go unacknowledged.

6) Poetry is dead. The most poetic finish would have been for Bush, who came into office by losing the popular vote but winning the electoral vote, to go out by winning the popular vote while losing the electoral vote. It’s still possible, but as I explained in #5, I doubt its likelihood.

7) Ohio is not Florida. They have a Secretary of State who acts like a statesman, not a politician. They have clear, binding guidelines written specifically to cover the situation we are in, and even have experience in handling it. I may not find their decision to my taste, but so far it looks as if it will satisfy me that the people will have been heard.

8) If, as others have maintained, we are to remain a two-party system, I want two different parties. I no longer believe a decent election is possible so long as these are the major parties. I think also they’ve become too focused on doing down the other guy to be able to govern adequately. Both have adopted a scorched-earth policy, conveniently forgetting that the earth they are scorching is where they will have to live after the votes are counted. Governing requires compromise; “death-before-dishonor” types should go into the military, where they belong. Reform Party? Green Party? Consitution Party? At least one of you is going to have to step up and deliver us from the hell we the voters have created for ourselves.

9) McCain-Feingold has become endangered by its success. It chased the dangerous money out of the candidate’s hands into the 527’s. (BTW, despite what you’ve heard, M-F did not create the 527’s. They just became the vehicle of choice for the money that used to come into the system through the holes it closed.). Now people are wondering if the money wasn’t better handled by the candidates. Round 2 needs to take the 527’s down a peg or six. I’d favor adding a “truth content” requirement to 527 ads, similar to commercial speech requirements, with a conviction for violating it being enough to effectively take them off the air for the election season, and possibly the next one as well. Looking for an honest ad among the 527’s this season was a task even Diogenes would reject.

10) We need Henry Clay, and all we’re being offered is more Alexander Hamiltons. If he doesn’t turn up soon, we’re doomed.

Wisconsin’s a “battleground state” so everyone with a political axe to grind is swinging it my way. In the last 24 hours I’ve been called 15 times by political phone banks, from the Sierra Club to Right to Life. Along the way I’ve developed a few techniques for maintaining my sanity I’d like to share.

1) Keep a list of candidates near the phone. As pollsters call to ask you who you’ll vote for, go down the list, ticking off each candidate you say you’re voting for in turn. See how many complete cycles of the list you can make before the election comes.

2) Claim to be a relative of one of the candidates. Doesn’t matter which, just pick one.

3) Second use for the list: Every time someone calls with a push poll or other means of urging you to vote against a candidate, place an “X” beside the name. Before voting, total up the “X”‘s. The candidate with the most X’s has certainly offended more people with money (otherwise how could they afford so many phone banks) so that makes one more reason to vote for that candidate.

Currently I answer the phone with “Walker’s Political Research. And which candidate do you want me to vote against?” This throws them off long enough for to speak without interrupting them, and tell them politely I have no interest whatsoever in anything they have to say, and hang up. (I wonder how many divergent political opinions the callers have of me, now that I’ve told both sides of the health care issue, tort reform issue, environmental issues, and the abortion issue to go take a long walk off a short pier? About the only lobbies I haven’t told off are the NRA and the NAB, but that’s only because they haven’t called — yet!)

For those keeping score, I was called three times by phone banks while typing this entry.

Over on Electrolite, there’s a storm of outrage a-brewing. I have to admit, opening the blog up and seeing the address of my old high school rival was a bit of a gigglesnort, but the misinformation that was abounding within it and the comment thread started out by offending me, then left me laughing helplessly. I really needed that laugh, but I wish you weren’t so quick to judge us uncivilized bumpkins.

OK, just what is going on? George W Bush had a rally there on the high school campus, and students were supposedly threatened with expulsion if they dared to wear Kerry props. Part one is true, part two isn’t. Book both of those as fact, children.

How do I know? Richland Center is the county seat of Richland County. I grew up (and still spend a lot of time in) Lone Rock, which, as of the 1990 census anyway, is the second largest town in Richland County, with a population of less than 1000 (I’m being charitable, it was more like 600 but it’s grown lately). I spend more time annually in Richland Center than the entire thread of commenters have in their lifetime. I’ve worked there; I went to college there. I know those people. I spoke to my mother this morning, who still lives (and holds office) in Lone Rock and she was as bemused at the “controversy” being manufactured out on the ‘net as I was.

Have I a political axe to grind? Well, I’m considering voting for Kerry this year, and the only reason I could possibly bring myself to that position is that to do otherwise would risk letting Bush back in for another four. I think Kerry’s definitely not the right man for the times, but compared to the alternative, I’ll probably hold my nose and “take one for the country,” and pray that next time out one of the parties decides to send a real candidate for a change.

So I’m no Bushie. I just know the place and the people for the last half-century. RC is a firm republican town. Most folks there are what you’d call “yellow dog” republicans, meaning they’d vote for a yellow dog if it ran as a republican. I’d be willing to bet that well over half, possibly as many as 90% of the students that might have considered wearing Kerry badges (a total itself that wouldn’t be very large) would have done so primarily as an act of rebellion against their parents, not out of any real affinity for his cause.

The princpal’s own words are that he “asked” the students not wear Kerry stuff. I’m sure he thinks so, but I’m equally sure the students heard that as a command. And (now I’m specualting, based on experience) one or two from that point said they’d be expelled if they dared disobey, and so the stone started rolling downhill. They’re probaby getting a bigger chuckle out of the gullibility of ‘netheads than I am right now.

Let’s get to facts:
1) The HS Gym is the standard meeting place in the town. There’s a couple of dance halls that will be close in size, and maybe one spot on the college campus, but if you’re doing something big, you need to talk to the HS. And the HS knows you’ll need to, so they’ll always be willing to rent, regardless of political view.

2) Yes, the demographics are mainly white. The commenter with this bright idea obviously thinks this means something more than just that there are few industries in town that would attract minorities. If you weren’t born in the area, the odds are real high you aren’t working there, either. It’s opportunity, not bigotry, that drives the demographics.

3) The principal knows the law. He isn’t going to threaten to expel students over something that trivial, and he wouldn’t, even if the law permitted it. I know you folks like to think of us as bumpkins, but spend some time reading history, for pete’s sake. Wisconsin came up with both “Fightin’ Bob” Lafollette and Joe McCarthy. the posse comitatus and Progressive magazine. You want more recent examples, OK, how about Tommy Thompson and Russ Feingold? How do you think that happens if we’re so eager to stifle free speech?

My stepfather was Richland county chairman of the Democratic party. What went on in that thread makes me ashamed of my family’s connection with the Democrats. Patrick, you oughta know better than to spread crap like that.

Addition: Now I find in the comments to the original post, that the one who first started to spread this male bovine excrement couldn’t be bothered to fact check himself. “At least my motivation was to protect kids from the poor decisions of the adults in charge of their education,” was the exact phrasing he used (comment from him datestamped Thu Oct 28th, 2004 at 22:56:46 GMT). More interested in protecting the kids from the poor decisions than he was in finding out if poor decisions were, in fact, actually being made in the first place? Meow.