Print

Email story

Comment

Letter to the editor

Steal the playbook, Democrats

By BILL ADAIR
Published December 5, 2004

WASHINGTON - As Democratic leaders scratch their heads and try to figure out how to rebuild their party, they could learn a thing or two from the Republican playbook.

In the past decade, the Republicans have mastered the art of political campaigns. It's not a matter of money or always having better candidates. The Republicans have simply outplayed the Democrats at every turn.

Even Democratic strategists acknowledge their rivals' superiority. They say Republicans have more effective messages, they understand suburban voters better and play a ferocious hardball.

"They beat us bloody and we walk away and say, "At least we didn't stoop to their level,' " said Democratic strategist Steve Jarding. "Democrats have to get some passion and be willing to engage in a battle."

Joe Klein, an author and political columnist, has said Democrats have always been hindered by lousy bumper stickers. Republicans deftly package their ideas with snappy slogans while the Democrats issue long-winded position papers.

Case in point: the presidential campaign.

Can you think of some basic themes of the Bush campaign? That's easy: Kerry's a flip-flopper. Bush is a decisive leader. Bush won't appoint activist judges. Freedom is spreading.

Now try to name ideas from the Kerry campaign. Hmmmmmmn. That's a lot more difficult. Kerry often said large corporations are sending too many jobs overseas. Didn't he also say something about health care being too expensive? And didn't he complain that Bush helps the rich?

It's easier to remember Bush's ideas because they were concise. Flip-flopper. It's a powerful phrase that bounces off the lips.

Activist judges worked well, too. It's a sly phrase that portrays liberal judges as villains. Never mind that conservative judges sometimes issue "activist" opinions. By labeling liberals that way, Republicans shrewdly avoid individual issues. We don't oppose the judge because he supports abortion rights. We oppose him because of his ACTIVIST rulings.

But Democratic speechwriters seem to get paid by the word. They had a potent issue with outsourcing, the practice of sending U.S. jobs overseas, but they never came up with a catchy way to describe it.

"We are too nuanced," said Democratic media consultant Karl Struble. "We want to cover every base and we want to make everybody happy and we don't want to ruffle anybody's feathers."

"Republicans do two things extremely well," said Craig Crawford, a political analyst for MSNBC and Congressional Quarterly. "They keep it simple and they create villains. Human nature loves good versus evil."

Ever notice how politicians on TV always use the same phrases? That's because they're reciting the daily talking points, the scripted lines that reinforce the party's message.

Media consultants tell politicians not to answer an interviewers' question, but to instead use it to recite a talking point. The journalist will ask something provocative, but the politician simply repeats a line you've heard a hundred times.

Both sides use the technique, but the Republicans are better at it. Look at their flip-flopping attacks. President Bush used it in nearly every speech. So did Vice President Dick Cheney. Then dozens of other Republicans went on CNN and said it again.

"I think our side has better message discipline," said Neil Newhouse, a Republican pollster. "It is the message discipline that makes those phrases more potent."

That's an advantage of controlling the presidency and both houses of Congress. It gives the Republicans an infrastructure to distribute snappy phrases. "It enables our side to speak with one voice," Newhouse said.

A few years ago, congressional committees held hearings on the estate tax, which the Republicans artfully called "the death tax." The president then gave speeches vowing to repeal the tax on death. Republican members of Congress went on TV and said the same thing.

It is a multilayered, highly disciplined effort that rarely strays from the message of the day. As Struble put it, "When you stay consistent, it increases the chance that people will believe what you're saying."

The Democrats try to do the same thing. But they are fragmented and speak with many voices.

Democrats also are more likely to stray from their message. During his presidential campaign, Sen. Bob Graham held a press conference in New Hampshire to unveil his economic plan. When he took questions, a reporter asked whether President Bush should be impeached for allegedly misleading the nation about the Iraq war.

Graham should have politely declined to answer so he could keep attention focused on his plan. But he answered and promptly made headlines. As a result, he got little coverage for the economic plan.

Matthew Dowd, the chief strategist for Bush, often referred to "the story line" of the presidential campaign, as if he were writing a movie script.

Indeed, the plot ultimately became what Dowd wanted (Kerry's a flip-flopper, he won't keep us safe) rather than what the Democrats wanted (Bush helps the rich, Iraq is a mess).

Why? The Republicans simply played better hardball. The Bush campaign came out of the blocks with a relentless message that defined Kerry before the Democrat could define himself.

Struble, the Democratic consultant, says his party is too cautious.

"I can't tell you how many times I've sat in meetings with people and they've said, "We can't go negative,' " Struble said. "Hell yeah you can!"

He said the Democrats should do the same thing the Republicans have done: attack early and keep it up.

"We keep on acting like we're playing rope-a-dope," he said, referring to the boxing strategy of taking blow after blow. "We just want to be nice and have everybody like us."

Newhouse, the Republican pollster, said Democrats mistakenly assume Republican attacks will fail.

"It is almost an arrogance on behalf of the Democrats that they don't need to respond because (they believe) people will see through these things," he said. "I just think the Democrats believe everybody looks at the world through their eyes. Because of that, sometimes they run campaigns with blinders on."

In the past two decades, Republicans have steadily seized the Democrats' turf.

The Republicans now have an strong foothold in the suburbs and rural areas, leaving the Democrats clinging to their old base in the cities. The Republicans succeeded because they took time to understand the attitudes of suburbanites and rural voters.

"Democrats have just lost touch with Middle America," said Crawford. "They've lived in a world of issues and ideas that kept them from connecting with the culture."

Newhouse said Democrats have ignored the spirituality of people in the heartland. Bush made strong appeals to them, but Democrats seemed unaware the group was so large, he said.

"Democrats just don't get it," Newhouse said.

Struble agrees that his party is out of touch.

"The Democratic Party acts like it is superior. It is just smugly better," he said.

Struble said "Hollywood stars and East Coast politicians" from his party belittle the residents of Middle America and people who are religious.

"It's like we've made our tent smaller," he said. "We've got to make the tent bigger."

Jarding, who was campaign manager for Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, won that race partly because he targeted rural parts of the state. He emphasized Warner's support of hunters and even sponsored a NASCAR truck.

Some Democrats remain skeptical that will work nationwide because they believe NASCAR fans and hunters are solidly Republican. But Jarding says the Democrats must find ways to expand their appeal and regain the ground they lost.

"Democrats have to learn to shed this cloak of cultural elitism and go back and talk to the people."

Times Washington bureau chief Bill Adair can be reached at 202 463-0575 or adair@sptimes.com

[Last modified December 5, 2004, 00:05:18]