Text 14593, 159 rader
Skriven 2005-08-14 11:40:43 av John Hull (1:123/789.0)
Ärende: Democrats in Total Disarray
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You know times are desperate for the Democrats when even James Carville is
talking about how bad off they are.


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Posted on Sat, Aug. 13, 2005

Democrats struggle to change perceptions in GOP strongholds
BY BILL LAMBRECHT

St. Louis Post-Dispatch


WASHINGTON - (KRT) - After their shellacking in November, Democratic
politicians promised to do a better job of telling voters about their moral
values.

But judging by a candid report last week from key party strategists, Democrats
have made little progress presenting themselves in a way that would recapture
rural voters or make inroads into Republican turf.

The report by the Democracy Corps, based on interviews in rural areas and
Republican-leaning states, offered a further testament to the cultural divide
in America that has worked to Republicans' advantage in elections.

In response, several Democratic strategists said they are working to reverse
voters' perceptions about the party's core values that have dogged them. The
strategists say they see an array of openings caused by GOP shortcomings.

Authors of the study also pointed to openings for Democratic candidates:
growing dissatisfaction with the Iraq war, unbridled health care costs and the
direction of the nation in general.

But in a withering assessment of their own party, the Democratic pollsters who
put out the study raised doubts about whether Democrats can cash in on GOP
problems.

"As powerful as concern over these issues is, the introduction of cultural
themes - specifically gay marriage, abortion and the importance of the
traditional family unit and the role of religion in public life - quickly
renders them almost irrelevant in terms of electoral politics on the national
level," the authors wrote.

The report notes that Democrats running in next year's mid-term elections begin
at a disadvantage with voters in rural areas and "red" states - states captured
by the GOP in the presidential election.

"The real problem for Democrats is that their elected officials, and by
extension their entire party, are perceived as directionless and divided,
standing for nothing other than their own enrichment," the Democratic authors
wrote.

The report carries weight because of its high-profile authors. The Democracy
Corps' principals are Stanley Greenberg, James Carville and Robert Shrum, top
strategists for Democratic presidential candidates in recent years.

It was based on eight focus groups - gatherings of randomly selected voters -
in Arkansas, Wisconsin, Kentucky and Colorado in recent weeks.

While it carries generally negative news for Democrats, the report also
presents the outline of a strategy to regain power. It notes Democratic success
thus far in blunting President Bush's plan to revamp Social Security and
Republicans' disarray on issues surrounding stem cell research.

The report likens the Democrats' problems to those of Republicans in 1994, the
year the GOP regained the House for the first time since the presidency of
Dwight Eisenhower by running stridently anti-Washington campaigns.

"If Democrats want 2006 to be a major change election, they have to define
themselves as opposed to the mess in Washington," said Karl Agne, a Democratic
pollster and one of the authors of the study.

But Democrats may first need to deal with their own problems.

The report found that particularly among less-educated voters, cultural issues
"not only superseded other priorities, they served as a proxy for many voters
on those other issues."

In other words, voters who paid little attention to the difference between the
major parties on substantive issues like economic policy cast their lot with
Republicans because of party leaders' opposition to same-sex marriage and
defense of Christian values in public life.

John Kenneth White, a political scientist at Catholic University of America in
Washington, predicted the Democrats' problem in his 1993 book, "The Values
Divide."

He argued last week that Democrats have blamed their candidates rather than
examining honestly how the party is perceived. For that reason, he said,
studies like that of the Democracy Corps' can speed the party's repair effort.

But White sees no easy fix. "The divisions are so great that we have two
parallel universes, the red and blue states, in which people speak to those who
are like-minded, thus reinforcing their divisions. The distrust on both sides
is enormous, and it spreads out to all kinds of preferences, not just what you
believe but what kind of coffee you drink."

White was referring to a survey by pollster John Zogby, which found that people
in Democratic areas are more inclined to drink Starbucks while Republican
voters expressed a preference for Dunkin' Donuts' brew.

Republicans also need to worry about the cultural divide, White said. He argued
that the assertiveness of the Christian Right in public policy issues combined
with perceptions of GOP ineffectiveness on economic issues could drive
moderates to third-party candidates.

White offered this advice to Democrats: "They have to convey to married people
with families, to rural voters and to red state voters that they do, in fact,
share their values."

Democratic candidates have long fought to escape the negative connotations of
the word liberal. But the Democracy Corps study suggested that they've had
limited success, judging by the frequency critics used that word in describing
Democratic positions on cultural issues.

The Center for American Progress, a Democratic-affiliated nonprofit group in
Washington, is leading an effort to highlight the morality of many Democratic
and liberal stances on social issues.

In Kansas City, Mo., last month, the center's Faith and Progressive Policy
Project held a forum to discuss issues surrounding science and intelligent
design during the battle in Kansas over teaching evolution.

The project is putting together similar meetings, usually in Republican-leaning
states, on topics related to poverty, health care and civil rights. The aim,
leaders say, is assisting the work of religious leaders and demonstrating core
values of progressive voters while at the same time defending the separation of
church and state.

Project director Melody Barnes said that the effort wants to inject religious
perspectives into controversial issues.

"You can respect separation of church and state while understanding that
there's a place in the public space for people to talk about these issues," she
said.

Rep. Russ Carnahan, D-Mo., is a member of an alliance of self-described
moderates called the New Democrat Coalition. He said Democrats often are
restrained when talking about their faith because of what he referred to as the
need for an appropriate separation of church and state.

But he said that after soul-searching about what ails his party, he has
concluded that voters want to hear elected officials share their values so they
can better understand who they are.

Carnahan cited Missourian Harry S Truman as a model for Democrats trying to
reach a balance in presenting their public and private beings. Truman spoke
often of his faith and quoted the Bible in his first address to Congress.

"I don't think it's so much changing as it is being open to sharing things in a
better way," he said.

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(c) 2005, St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Visit the Post-Dispatch on the World Wide Web at http://www.stltoday.com
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.

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