> marvin writes:
> > It still seems to me that race is the primary reason why
> > Obama is lagging the reported movement towards the
> Democrats at the Congressional level.
>
> I don't know about that as the whole explanation. The
> surge among white women toward McCain was part of their
> strategy, but I don't think it had to do with gender so
> much as about evangelical christianity. I thought Palin
> was a big hunk of white meat thrown at the base. Wasn't
> that shrub's strategy in the past, to wring out every last
> xtian voter, with the evangelical conservative vote being
> the main target?
I don't doubt that Obama's race plays into it in some way, but I think this is closer. And the reason, it seems to me, that the Democrats keep losing is that they insist on fighting over this same sliver of voters, white, suburban/rural, Christian. Instead of inspiring some of their "natural" constituencies to actually show up to the polls -- with, you know, policies that might actually benefit them -- they both allow Republicans to turn out their natural voters and then try to fight for them, with prevaricating words about the tragedy of abortion, the importance of values, all that shit. It seems to me it isn't possible for Democrats to win with 50% turnout, but they do nothing to inspire 55% turnout. They deserve to lose.