This is actually a combination of two new stories that just go together naturally. In the first story, Mitch McConnell has made the GOP Senate 2022 platform official, We’re not for that. That’s it. They’re against everything. And why not? The 2020 GOP national platform was Whatever Trump says, and they only lost by 7 million votes nationwide. What could go wrong?
Well, story 2 is what. MSNBC had a story on earlier today that while both the Democrats and the GOP will be trying like hell to motivate their base, who largely watch MSNBC or FUX News, that may not be the real problem. They spoke to an independent pollster and public opinion specialist who has been holding focus groups, and those efforts may not get it done.
As I’ve been saying over and over, it is the finite number of voters in purple swing districts who will decide control of the House, and that’s who he’s been talking to. And what he found is that they’re a different breed of cat, and the normal media may not work on them.
For starters, while most swing district voters maintain an affiliation with one of the big 3, Democratic, GOP, or Independent, what makes them dangerous is that are infamous for changing their side from election to election based on the candidates positions on their pocketbook issues, or moral values.
They don’t get up in the morning and turn on FUX or MSNBC for the day. They’re called soccer moms for a reason. They have soccer practice, soccer games, football games, study dates, homework, dinner, baths to worry about. They’re highly likely to get their social interaction from like minded neighbors and parents at events.
The pollster found that despite the national ballyhoo, the frailty of democracy and voting rights were not the driving issues for these voters. They were more concerned with inflation, education, the economy, Covid, and infrastructure. Many of them said that their basic national news intake is the hour or so a day they get from their local network affiliate, which by nature will carry local heavy content.
This can be a huge advantage for the Democrats. Right now, as we speak, we have construction cones down a 2 mile stretch of Russell Road, and they’ll be there until late June or early July. The infrastructure projects are starting to kick into gear, and that’s something people can see and feel every day. When Obama signed the recovery act, we had a huge project on Green Valley Parkway. And at 3 different spots in each direction, there were large signs thanking President Obama and the Democrats for the infrastructure funding. They were signed by Harry Reid. Democratic House challengers can spend the fall hammering GOP incumbents for their No votes, as more and more shit gets done.
But the focal point is that these critical swing voters are issue and self interest oriented. And whether they’re an incumbent or a challenger, the Democrats go into campaign season with a rock solid list of positive accomplishments, and a laundry list of what they want to do next, if they can just keep the majorities. And the Republicans? Dr Seuss, white grievance, book burnings, and critical race theory. Really? In the suburbs of Atlanta or Dallas, or Phoenix?
In 2018, the Democrats blew the doors off in the House. They did it by holding town halls, coffee shop meet-and-greets, and burning the shoe leather door-to-door. They talked almost exclusively about local issues, and most importantly, listened, and replied with measured responses. And flipped 40 seats in the House.
That’s the Democratic House playbook for swing districts in 2022. Because that’s. what. works. Especially when you consider that the opposition is a bunch of arrogant, out of touch, whiny snowflakes. The average GOP personality is so bad that the North Koreans wouldn’t take stolen nuclear missile data from them. Make your pitch to the people, and show that you can follow through if elected. It worked in 2018. It should work even better in 2022 with Trump running around rallies promising pardons for insurrectionist thugs if he gets back into office, about a month before the J6 committee gives him a public pantsing with their public hearings.
As they say, “All politics is local.”
Lauren Boebert is in DC because Dems let their candidate choose herself and so they ran an aging Boulder hippie, a female with long white hair, who reminded even me of the witch in Hansel and Gretel in a rural Colorado district. It was cringe worthy. And that is how Dems continue to shoot themselves in the foot. I doubt they have learned anything. They continue to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. And none of them listen. Certainly none of them in the DC bubble.