Reply #7: Absolutely. The first thing the democratic party must do is develop and

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implement a plan for defining the republican party. For over 20 years the democrats have allowed the GOP to define the democratic party. That has to stop. But the democrats need to show Americans the true face of the republican party. That face is the Reich Wing fundamentalists.

An example of what the democrats must do is provided by the incidents of schoolteachers telling seven year old kids in their classrooms that Kerry is a baby killer. Democrats need to show that this is the GOP in action, not one or two isolated incidents of disturbed teachers. Every democrat who appears on any television show for the next several months should mention these incidents as an example of what the GOP stands for. Not just that the GOP is anti-abortion, but that the GOP believes that teachers must talk about baby killers to seven year old children. Every incident of extremism needs to be painted as showing the true heart and soul of the republican party.

The second thing the democrats need to do is nationalize the 2006 election, so that it is a referendum on one party control and the extremism of the GOP. The best way to do that I think is to campaign for reform of the government. This will cause people to focus on one party control by the GOP.

I think election reform is the first issue democrats should focus on. This is fresh in everyones' minds and the GOP is vulnerable on this issue since there are so many stories of long lines, unreliable machines, inconsistent rules, and republicans attempting to suppress minority voters. Republicans hate having the truth be told about the rampant bigotry and racism in the GOP and would have a hard time defending trying to continue to disenfranchise minorities. They will look bad if they oppose election reform. There is no reason that an election reform bill can not be the very first thing passed by the next Congress. But the democrats have to make it an important issue.

After that democrats should raise the issue of reforming Congress and the rest of the federal government. They should focus on nepotism and the revolving door of government employees leaving and becoming lobbyists. The democrats should freely admit that this will hurt some democrats as well as republicans, but they should argue that it needs to be done. Put the onus on the GOP to defend nepotism and revolving doors to corrupt wealth. (I do not necessarily believe that reforming the federal government is the most important issue facing the country but I do believe that it is one which would resonate with some people who voted republican who might switch their vote.)

One other thing the democrats should talk about is the deficits and the debt. But they need to show the historical record on this. Of the 14 times since 1960 that the annual deficit has exceeded 3% of GDP, every single time was under a republican president. In that time republicans have added around $3.8 trillion to the publicly held national debt. Bush is projecting that the total national debt will exceed $10 trillion at the end of his second term. Democrats can not continue to let this go largely unnoticed.

The democrats need to run a national campaign in 2006 which focuses on a coordinated and consistent message. I think that message should be that the GOP is too extreme and that the federal government needs to be improved and since republicans control the government any failure to reform government is a willful failure of the republicans to do something about the corrupt staus quo.

The democrats need to focus on extremism and reform, but they can not ignore the failures of Bush and the GOP. Those need to be addressed, but in the context of extremism, reform, and one party control whenever possible.