Intangibles
There are plenty of intangibles needed to make this longshot come on. The nomination of a good campaigner would help. A successful Democrat will have to speak to voters’pocketbooks but without proposing a laundry list of new government programs, which most voters view as code for new taxes.
The candidate will have to choose issues carefully: though Wofford seems to have turned health care into a metaphor for middle-class discontent, such programs cost money. And it’s unlikely his success mean liberalism is popular again – Wofford was, after all, the endorsed candidate of the National Rifle Association.
Admittedly, the recipe for beating Bush includes a large dose of luck. But it also calls for an ability to listen, to speak more directly to voters’ concerns, and to set aside, at least for now, long-held partisan and ideological baggage. Only then can a Democrat escape the fatal error committed by past Democratic candidates – giving the wrong speech to the wrong crowd."
Topics:
Flashbacks
, Michael Dukakis, Election Campaigns, David Duke, More 
, Michael Dukakis, Election Campaigns, David Duke, John Silber, Ray Flynn, Tom Harkin, Willie Horton, John Brennan, Michael Barone, William Weld, Less 
