Feeling Minnesota with Georgia On My Mind

 A lot of people are happy about the outcome of Election 2020, namely Trump losing to President Elect Joe Biden.  I myself was celebrating on Saturday when word came down of the win, but I have to admit, I'm mostly mad about what happened in 2020.  Once again the Democratic Party, while catering to the moderate wing of the party, managed to serve up an embarrassing set of losses. The Democrats couldn't take back the US Senate, and lost seats in the US House.  The Minnesota DFL (Democratic Farmer Labor) Party also failed at its quest to take the Minnesota Senate, and lost seats in the MN House.

This as a pandemic rages across the country, a pandemic which is far worse because of the Republicans.  AND they're the party trying to actively kill cheap healthcare. 

The Democrats should have mopped the floor with the Republicans, but yet here we are...AGAIN!

(Image via FiveThirtyEight.com)

Since 2006, when comparing Democratic Party results, we've seen a pattern in election seasons.  In years where the party runs unified, touting the benefits of a vibrant Democratic platform, the party wins, and wins big.  But in years where the party's message is controlled by Moderate Democrats, the results go from 'bland' to outright Republican ass kickings.

Let's talk the 2020 mistakes Democrats made by following the lead of the Moderates, both in Minnesota and across the country:

1) Moderate Democrats ran against their own party more than they ran against Republicans!  I can't tell you how many Minnesota DFL candidates I interviewed who vilified the Progressive side of the Democratic party FAR MORE than they vilified the Republicans.  Considering the only way the Republicans would win in 2020 was to make the Democrats turn on themselves, it's comical the Moderate Democrats fell for it so easily.

All Republicans had to say was "they want to defund the police" and Moderate Democrats wet themselves. Instead of saying "I'm running in this district.  When you have people being murdered by police officers on camera, there's clearly a need for police reform in Minneapolis, but I'll leave that to them.  I'd rather talk about issues which matter to my district," they did the Republicans bidding, bashing on Progressives as 'out of touch socialists needing to be reigned in.'

If you're beating up your own party during an election year, you don't convey confidence or integrity.  You look pathetic and foolish.  Democrats and the Minnesota DFL need to make a new standard: Attacking fellow Democrats WILL NOT BE TOLERATED!  

Dear Lord, is that so F-ing hard?!?

2) Republican-lite doesn't sell.  If you have a choice of a regular version of something or a 'lite' version of the same thing, you go for the regular.  Moderate Democrats are convinced their path to victory is NOT to embrace the tens of millions of Progressive voters they ignore, but instead sacrifice their party and platform in the feeble attempt to convince a dozen or so Moderate Republicans to vote for them. 

The last two months of the Election cycle, most of the Democratic candidate ads I heard were like this:  "Hi, I'm the DFL candidate for ____ and my first priority is to make sure I work with Republicans.  All my bills will get Republican approval first as I'd rather work with Republicans than work with my own party.  And if I win, the Republicans have told me I can sit near them in the cafeteria!"

Once again, if you're not proud of being a Democrat, then why should I vote for you, THE DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE?  You come across as a person without principles

3) And Moderate Democrats, Republican-lite is toxic for the rest of the Democrats.  Dean Philips was one of those Democrats whose ads talked about how much he loved working with the Republicans.  I know his campaign will insist it worked, as he got re-elected.  Great, but it cost the party; Traditional Democrats and Progressive Democratic candidates in his district never had a chance because of Dean's campaign approach.  Not only were they having to campaign against the Republicans, but members of their own party as well. 

In Dean's district, I know at least four great Traditional Democrat and Progressive Democratic candidates who never were able to get traction.  All of them lost.  Whether national races or local ones, Moderate Democrats embracing the Republicans over the Democrats puts the rest of the party on the defensive.  I'm tired of the horror movie "Do you agree with ______ candidate that parts of the DFL party are too extreme or are you part of the socialist gestapo your candidate says is killing America?" phone call coming from inside the DFL's own house!  

Seriously Moderate Democrats, if you can't run without beating up your own party or cosplaying a Republican, go find a different party.

4) Moderate Democrats, terrified of having to defend progressive ideas, made the election ONLY about Trump when the FAR more effective issue was healthcare.  In 2010, after the Democratic Party passed what should've been a signature piece of legislation for decades, the Affordable Care Act, Moderate Democrats, brainwashed by Republicans, vilified the ACA and actively campaigned against it.  It ended up being a disastrous election cycle because Moderate Democrats were too fragile when it came to Republican bullying.  They should have been proud of what they accomplished, instead of cowering away from it.

In 2020, Moderate Democrats were scared to death of having to defend single payer healthcare, so they mostly abandoned healthcare as a primary tentpole issue.  I was astounded they shied away from the issue during a pandemic, especially after it was such a winning issue for them in 2018.  They made the campaign only about Trump.  They managed to get him out of office, but their lack of quality message beyond 'Remove Trump' hurt them pretty much every where else. 

And before Moderate Democrats start bickering, I do know there was some talk about healthcare on the campaign trail, but it was a secondary issue.  Anti-Trump sentiment was strong, but I don't think there was any NEW convincing voters Trump was a bad guy.  The people's minds were made up, so all you had to do was get those people to the polls.  Meanwhile, healthcare is an issue which makes moderate Trump voters reconsider their choice, and Moderate Democrats didn't hammer that home, especially in rural America.

5) All Democrats became convinced the early voting numbers were enough.  In the end they were, but just barely. This should've been a blow out, but Democrats were too busy patting themselves on the back to realize most Republicans were planning on voting in person on 11/3.  There should've be a FAR More aggressive voter engagement program, especially in rural parts of Minnesota and this country, 

6) Democrats in Minnesota and nationwide seem have given up on any seat outside of the large metro areas. In Minnesota, the F in DFL means 'Farmer,' but the way the party seemed to ignore the districts outside of the metro areas made me ask if they had even heard of a farm.

If you give up on a district, I guarantee you will never win it.  In 2006, the Democrats had the 50 state strategy and tried to compete in every district.  It worked!  In 2018, I heard stories from campaign workers telling us it was the first time a DFL'er had knocked on most of these doors in years, and we got great results that year too!  By putting forward a lackluster effort in rural Minnesota, only focusing on the cities and suburbs, the Democrats are back to being a non-existent contender in many rural districts.

And Democrats, I understand there are Republican bullies in rural Minnesota.  I know it can be scary, but if you don't stand up to the bully, the bully always wins.

Winning as a Democrat is not hard:  Run proud Democrats in every district, get them the support system they need to win, campaign on Democratic principles, no bad mouthing other Democrats, don't run a campaign where it sounds like you're a Republican, get voters registered, and make sure they all get to the polls and vote! 

That's what happened in Georgia this year, and look at the results.  The Democrats were able to take a reliably red state and turn it blue.  Was it scary at times?  Damn right it was!  For God's sake, a Q-Anon candidate won a US House race, but if you don't challenge the bullies, the bullies always win.  Thank you Stacey Abrams for standing up to the bullies!  Georgia did it right.

In the days since the election, Moderate Democrats have gone on the offensive.  "The reason we didn't win more was because of those damn liberals!  They need to step back and let us lead."

Go F- yourselves! The reason we failed to gain more wins in 2020 is because you Moderate Democrats sold out the rest of the party and were only in it for yourselves. YOU failed us.  It's time for YOU GUYS, Moderate Democrats, to step back and let the rest of the party lead from here on out.  If you don't like that, don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.