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The Democratic Strategist

Political Strategy for a Permanent Democratic Majority

Political Strategy Notes

This Salon.com headline says it well: “The GOP’s media warfare goes nuclear: How the RNC is trying to hold journalism hostage.”
How the Right Trounced Liberals in the States: Conservatives have mastered the art of cross-state policy advocacy, while liberal efforts have fizzled. Here’s what has to change” by Alexander Hertel-Fernandez & Theda Skocpol should be required reading for Democrats concerned with political strategy. The authors argue that “Network builders have to get out of their comfort zones in the worlds of liberal advocacy groups mostly headquartered in New York, Washington, California, and a few other blue enclaves to find and activate network connections across the vast heartland. And if progressives want to gain credibility and clout in the states, they will need to become far more strategic about engaging in widespread policy fights with the greatest potential to reshape the political landscape in conservative as well as liberal states across America.”
George Stephanopoulos interviews Stanley Greenberg and Republican pollster Kristin Soltis Anderson on “The 2016 Election Through the Eyes of the Polling Pros.”
NYT columnist and Nobel Prize for Economics laureate Paul Krugman weighs in on the differences between GOP and Democratic presidents’ management of the economy: …”Historically, the economy has indeed done better under Democrats….The arithmetic on partisan differences is actually stunning. Last year the economists Alan Blinder and Mark Watson circulated a paper comparing economic performance under Democratic and Republican presidents since 1947. Under Democrats, the economy grew, on average, 4.35 percent per year; under Republicans, only 2.54 percent. Over the whole period, the economy was in recession for 49 quarters; Democrats held the White House during only eight of those quarters…The Obama record compares favorably on a number of indicators with that of George W. Bush. In particular, despite all the talk about job-killing policies, private-sector employment is eight million higher than it was when Barack Obama took office, twice the job gains achieved under his predecessor before the recession struck…Democrats can afford to be cautious in their economic promises precisely because their policies can be sold on their merits. Republicans must sell an essentially unpopular agenda by confidently declaring that they have the ultimate recipe for prosperity — and hope that nobody points out their historically poor track record. And if someone does point to that record, you know what they’ll do: Start yelling about media bias.”
For Republican elected officials who are thinking that it’s time to bail, here’s a good template:

Jessica Taylor’s post, “Can Democrats Find Their Southern Charm?” explores the Dems’ improving prospects for taking the governorships of Kentucky and Louisiana.
In his AlJezeera post, “GOP and Democrats slow to woo booming Asian American electorate,” Bobby Calvan writes: “In the 2014 midterm elections, some exit polls suggested that Asian Americans were about evenly split between Democratic and Republican candidates — a dramatic turn from the 2012 presidential election, when 73 percent of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) aligned with the Democrats…Far from monolithic, Asian Americans hail from dozens of countries — three-quarters of Asian Americans are foreign born — and arrived in the United States from a multitude of cultures, religions and political histories. They have different worldviews…Democrats and Republicans are more invested in chasing after the 25.2 million eligible Latino voters — a much bigger prize than the 9 million eligible voters of Asian descent.”
WaPo syndicated columnist E. J. Dionne, Jr. writes about the downer tone that pervades the GOP and it’s supporters in their view of the future. “The pessimism within significant sectors of the GOP is more than the unhappiness partisans typically feel when the other side is in power. It’s rooted in a belief that things have fundamentally changed in America, and there is an ominous possibility they just can’t be put right again…Democrats are more bullish on the future.”
Cartoonist Mike Luckovitch shares his vision of the coming GOP presidential debates.

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