The lesson from Louisiana is clear:

[kpete]

Dem victories are NOT mostly about flipping Trump folks like Mabel down at the diner or whatever...they are about driving base turnout in blue cities w/in red states. Black turnout was up 15-30 percent in Caddo, E Baton Rouge and NOLA.

If Dems focus on turnout in Detroit, Flint, Lansing, E Lansing, Philly, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Madison, etc., MI, PA and WI are entirely out of reach for the GOP. There are not enough of these small town Mayberry white folks to overcome mass turnout in cities, college towns

Link to tweet

[yardwork]

1. That's it. GOTV. And don't let the Russians steal it again.

[Blue_true]

6. If we had gotten out the vote in 2016, Hillary would be our President.

The Russians couldn't prevent that. Cities like Detroit, Cleveland, Columbus, Philladelphia, Pittsburg, Miami, Orlando, Tampa underperformed for Hillary in 2016. We need to change that dynamic in 2020.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

7. part of the Russian interference was suppressing turnout

This ranged from amplifying the long-running smear campaign against Hillary to -stuff- on facebook telling people there was no need to vote because she was going to win by a landslide in crucial states.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

43. Hillary was easier to smear

She was smeared pretty much non-stop from the 1990's onward, with only maybe five seconds when she was SOS pre-Benghazi where she was pretty widely respected, but then Republicans went on and on about Benghazi and her e-mail server pretty much non-stop from the time it happened until the 2016 election. I'm not blaming Hillary because, of course, no actual wrongdoing was discovered but, assuming she's not running again in 2020 (which is fairly safe to assume IMHO), the next candidate may not be as easy to smear. I personally think that the Republicans have a bigger problem in terms of stumping for re-electing Trump, now that we've all been trapped inside his nightmare for nearly 4 years (though it feels longer). Back in 2016, as incredible as it may seem, Trump was pretty much only known for his stint on "The Apprentice" and had the wrong perception of him as a "successful businessman". He's a known quantity and a natural disaster and most people know it and, hopefully, lots of people are sick of him and his antics by now.

[Blue_true]

48. Hillary's camoaign was not on the ground in a lot of key places.

The Russians can tell people lies if there is someone that those people thrust telling them the truth. In Florida, Hillary's campaign left an enormous amount of the state to Trump, she lost Florida by around 115,000 votes, we can't let that happen in 2020. There were around 59 counties in Florida with no presence from Hillary's campaign, if she had reduced Trump's margin by an average of 2,000 votes for those 59 counties, she would have most likely won Florida.

[moose65]

58. That's true!

Florida is a big prize. We need a presence in every part of that state. Not only do we need maximum turnout in Miami-Dade, Broward, and the Tampa area, but we need to ramp it up in college towns and also maximize turnout by Dems and independents in rural areas. Forget about trying to woo Republicans! Florida isn't like other Southern states. It has people who are from every area of the country. Obama won it twice. I'd say it's certainly winnable for the next Dem candidate.

[Blue_true]

59. People here seem to ignore that President Obama won Florida twice.

President Clinton won it once (or twice, need to research that). We have not really lost Florida in any recent election but 2004, where Bush won it over Kerry. 2001 would have been a sizeable win if not for that pinhead Ralph Nader and the 97,000 pinheads that voted for him. Hillary could have won the state in 2016 had she focused more resources on the non-large urban areas of the state, and as you pointed out, college towns.

[moose65]

60. Yep

Bill Clinton lost Florida in 1992 by about 100,000 votes (while Perot got over a million votes in Florida). In ‘96, Clinton won Florida by 300,000 votes, which was actually more than Obama’s margin in ‘08 and in ‘12.

[MyOwnPeace]

10. A-MEN times 1,000!!!!

[StevieM]

16. Her ground game was widely regarded as one of the most impressive people had ever seen.

And in the aftermath of the election, when everyone started bashing her, the withering criticism of her was for the exact opposite reason--everyone said that she focused TOO MUCH on turning out voters in these areas, and not enough on persuasion of independent voters.

Voter turnout dropped for the same reason swing voters turned away from her at the very end--James Comey. He dominated that race from start to finish. And he completely destroyed her reputation with his illegitimate tactics.

Voter suppression laws hurt too.

[DownriverDem]

24. What keeps coming up

is that Hillary never came to Michigan. I bet the Dem this time will not make that mistake.

[StevieM]

26. What doesn't keep coming up, although it should, is that HRC did make campaign stops in Michigan.

She just did.

I am not sure how we suddenly arrived in an era where all that matters is where your rallies are held, and advertising and ground operation are now of minimal importance.

Never-the-less, here we are. And so you should know that Secretary Clinton made 3 campaign stops in Michigan during the general election.

[Blue_true]

51. Rallies fire up the base. 3 stops for such a critical state is bad.

Trump blanketed Florida, holding 3-4 rallies per day, unfortunately for the world, that paid off for him.

[StevieM]

55. Hillary held more rallies in Florida than in any other state, in a tie for first with PA and OH.

I completely reject your claim that Trump's rallies paid off for him. James Comey paid off for him.

[Blue_true]

50. She also didn't come to any of Florida's 59 smaller counties.

Those places in total account for a good bit of Florida's 20 million people.

[Blue_true]

49. My county, Alachua County count for around 250,000 votes.

NO ONE from Hillary's campaign showed up here. Trump did a rally in the second largest city in those two counties. Democrats from other "small/middle" counties complained about not seeing anything from Hillary's campaign. Her campaign spent lots of time in South Florida and the I4 Corridor (Orlando/StPete/Tampa), but not at all in 59 other counties. The reality on the ground here in Florida in 2016 belies your claim, IMO.

[StevieM]

53. There are three problems with your argument, from my point of view.

The first is that it does not appear that you read the post that I was replying to. The poster claimed: "If we had gotten out the vote in 2016, Hillary would be our President. The Russians couldn't prevent that. Cities like Detroit, Cleveland, Columbus, Philadelphia, Pittsburg, Miami, Orlando, Tampa underperformed for Hillary in 2016."

My response was to address that particular knock on her campaign.

The second is that whatever she did or did not do, it appears that it was good enough to allow for a decisive victory. James Comey undid all of that. If you take Comey, and his antics, out of the equation, we would have destroyed Trump.

Finally, I don't know how easy it would have been to get too much of an operation going in certain places. I think that there was real fear for the safety of people canvassing, or for properties and cars that had Hillary signs on them. The threat of violence against liberals, and even Hillary herself, was a huge, unspoken part of the 2016 campaign IMO.

Don't forget, areas like yours were her bread and butter in the 2008 campaign, as well as her first Senate race in NY, where she focused on Upstate NY over Long Island.

And let's also not forget that Donald Trump ultimately became president due to death threats. He was being sued by a woman who alleges that he raped her when she was 13. She was planning to hold a press conference in the final week. Death threats from Trump supporters put and end to both the lawsuit and the press conference.

[Blue_true]

56. I stand by what I wrote, except it should have been "my county AND Alachua County". nt

[DeminPennswoods]

35. If Philadelphians voted at the same percentage as the

rest of the state, Rs would never win any statewide election. But they don't.

[Blue_true]

52. That is why we need to have people in voters' faces.

Talking to them at home, after church, ect. In my area in 2016, I got the feeling that Hillary just forgot about us democrats. I watched the fired up MAGATS and deep inside I had a sensation that trouble was afoot. We needed a big name from Hillary's campaign to come in to rally us, none came. I was begging people on the day before and Election Day to vote, some listened, but some said to my face that no one came here to talk to us, so it looked like no one cared.

[rocktivity]

36. Hillary was defeated by Trump (and Obama) by trying to coast in on the women's vote alone

Last edited Mon Nov 18, 2019, 06:07 PM - Edit history (1)

Obama defeated her (and McCain, and Romney) by actively working at peeling off enough swing voters to win by a cheatproof margin.


rocktivity

[delisen]

45. Russia and Putin were not a factor in 2008 and probably not in 2012

In fact in 2012 Romney was very strongly anti-Russia to the point were many democratic voters mocked him as being 20th century.

The counting of votes remains a problem for 2020.

[Blue_true]

54. So we should throw up our hands and not expect our candidates to work his or her ass off on the

camoaign trail? In 2008, President Obama did something like 2-3 rallies the day before Election Day, remember the famous midnight rally where he was in the rain, his voice almost gone, fighting tears after learning that his grandmother had passed? In 2012, he was on the campaign trail as much as his job allowed, going to small states as well as large states. We need that type of effort in 2020, I can assure you that Trump will totally ignore his job to do rallies, he needs the adulation.

[delisen]

57. I think our candidate did work hard in 2016 plus she was also

dealing with the Russian interference which most voters did not have a clue about because no official announcement was made about it (except by H Clinton, the candidate, and retired CIA types).

...and of course there was also the absurd FBI investigation of Clinton. You think these things don't require work and attention on the part of the candidate?

Throw in Facebook and Cambridge Analytica.

Throw in the 1000+ seats the Democratic Party managed to lose in the years prior to 2016 + the 2 million in debt by 2016. The Democratic Party by 2016 was not the thriving party of 2008.


I do not believe the meme that began immediately after Election 206--just a few more appearances in strategic states would have delivered victory. (It has taken the FBI years to admit the extent to which our election system was compromised).

Clinton was not a weak candidate nor one who did not sufficiently campaign--she wasn't defeated by Trump, she was defeated by Putin.

Of all our governmental officials and candidates it is Clinton whom he he hates and her life long stand on human rights.

I don't know if we are even going to be dealing with Trump or Pence. We will definitely be dealing with Putin and Russia.





I

[msongs]

2. its not how many votes u get its where you get them. nt

[Beartracks]

21. And it's not just how great your message is, but where you deliver it.

===========

[bobbieinok]

3. Voter Suppression!! Voter Suppression!! Voter Suppression!!

[kag]

40. Yes.

I can hear the back rooms at the RNC right now. "How do we put even fewer polling places in Madison, Detroit, Philadelphia, etc."

[ritapria]

4. Edwards

The base did not turnout in Round One …...The vote for GOP candidates Rispone and Abraham was 52% …. The vote for Edwards and another minor Dem candidate was 47% ….In the runoff , the Dem base turned out and Gov Edwards won with 51 .3% of the vote …….The rednecks in Rural America are a lost cause for the Dems …..We have to overwhelm them with a massive Dem base turnout ……… Our fate is in our own hands ….

[fierywoman]

8. ...and then we have to make public education, an understanding of civics , and how to

discern truth from b.s. as a major priority.

[Blue_true]

9. We should reach out to democrats that live in East Dumbfuckistan, those people are under siege,

they need to know that we know where they are and care about them. More of them will quietly take the time to vote and add their vote to the statewide total for the democrat.

[paleotn]

17. Exactly!

When I lived in South Dumbfuckistan, my vote didn't sway the numbers for state rep, state senate or congress critter. But it did help send Roy Cooper to Raleigh and for that I am proud. We can win state wide races in otherwise red states. Doug Jones proved that in Alabama. Of course it also took a pedophile opponent to push Jones over the top.

[Blue_true]

5. We should not concern ourselves with flipping Trumpettes or Union people that have never voted for a

Dem. Yes, focus on our base, POC and Union people that vote their best interests consistently (i.e., vote for Democrats). Then we pull in rational surburbanites in the inner and outer surburbs.

BUT, we need to also have a robust presence in exburbs and rural areas, if only to buck-up democrats there so that we eat into the republican margin in those places. A lesson from Florida in 2016 was that the smaller counties (59 of the 67) need attention from democratic campaigns, we can't leave the local Dems to fight riled up Trumpettes alone.

What happened in Florida in 2016 is that Hillary's campaign pretty much ignored the smaller counties, while it allowed Trump to run rallies on the edges of the big population centers. The exact opposite should have happened, the Hillary campaign should have gone to edges of big pop centers and sent big names or Hillary into as many of the larger smaller counties as possible, putting Trump on the defensive. An average reduction in Trump's small county vote of 2,000 votes would have easily given Florida to Hillary.

[rpannier]

14. Agreed

Buck up Democrats and challenge republikkans, not just for Presidential elections or Gov races, but for House races and state legislature races

[Initech]

11. GOTV!!!! GOTV!!!! GOTV!!!!

[George II]

12. Another lesson, as Rick Wilson says....everything trump touches dies.

[yellowdogintexas]

13. May I recommend Postcards to Voters

https://postcardstovoters.org/

Go to the website, sign up to write postcards and you will get an email whenever there is a special election, runoff or very tight but flippable general election race that needs some GOTV push.

If you do it now, you will be ready for the next one. There are a couple of steps required.

I expect to receive an email for the runoff in Houston that is coming up.

So far, I sent postcards to the Alabama Senate race, a special election in Tennessee, another race in LA, Houston, KY governor's race, LA Governor's race

They screen the electorate for Democrats that don't always vote and create lists. You tell them how many names you want and they get right back with the names.

Amazon has a nice selection of GOTV postcards, as does this site.

[progressoid]

15. +1000

I know someone who sent out hundreds of these last election. She was unable to help canvas or phone bank so she sent personalized post cards. It makes a difference.

[JudyM]

23. Did this in '18. It's also a fun way to meet like minded people and a great personal touch in

people’s mailboxes. Highly recommend.

[Demovictory9]

30. i did postcards for Abrahms and florida felon voting. we won the voting thing and GOP gut it

[NewJeffCT]

46. Love the idea

it took me a while to get into actually hand writing post cards - for years now, about the only thing I hand write out is my signature and those medical forms you have to fill out when you go to the doctor.

[Farmer-Rick]

18. Overwhelm the cheat machine

[bitterross]

19. Absolutely correct! We must overwhelm them with turnout.

Flooding the polls with blue voters is the only way to win these days.

[LiberalFighter]

20. Too much effort to go after the small towns.

Need to be very selective.

[Garrett78]

22. Yes, yes, a million times yes.

It's been so aggravating to hear Democrats and members of the media argue otherwise over the last 3 years.

[world wide wally]

25. It's as easy as GOTV

[Demovictory9]

29. and fighting off voter suppression. GOP learn from these losses... where to strategically suppress

votes

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

27. Another lesson - its also about accepting that Dems in more conservative

Catholic areas might be more "pro-life" than some of us might like....

There has got to be more room for coalition building and pulling together on the MANY MANY things that we do agree on.

BTW just so you know - not all small town white folks are Trumpsters. May be minority but we want them to vote too.

[FakeNoose]

38. I hear you on that point

The pro-life issue has been a stickler for many of us, and it hasn't helped that the Catholic church has gone full-tilt GOP when really the only issue they care about is abortion.

I have finally distilled it down to this: as long as they aren't anti-choice I can accept a Dem candidate's opinion on pro-life. It's basically my own position having been raised a Catholic myself. I believe that abortion would be a morally wrong choice for me, but I also believe that it's every woman's right to choose whether she wants to be a parent or not. No state government should be allowed to deny a woman's right to choose. If enough Democrats can see their way to accepting the "pro-choice-y" position of a pro-life candidate, I believe we can move forward.

[Demovictory9]

28. yep. trumpsters are out of reach. nothing Trump does or says will shake their support

[UCmeNdc]

31. Agree!

Dems let the GOP suppress too many Democratic Party leaning voters too often. Altering voter rolls, changing voting locations, not letting people who have served their jail time ever vote again, etc.

[Dopers_Greed]

32. Same thing happened in Texas last year

Driving up voter participation in urban & suburban areas almost put Beto in the Senate.

[SunSeeker]

33. K & R & Retweeted!

[moose65]

34. Agreed, and needs to be repeated!

Democrats are too often swayed by consultants who tell them that they must reach out to Republican voters. I hope more and more candidates realize that’s baloney. We will never win by trying to be Republican-lite. As Alan Grayson always said, “You can’t beat a Republican by trying to BE one.”

[JoeDuck]

37. Something else is needed

I am from Kentucky. I don't know about the Louisiana election but looking at Kentucky results, I think more is needed than getting out the vote. We had a very unpopular Republican governor. Had the governor been popular, the result probably would have been different. I'm basing my opinion on the fact that Republicans won every other office on the state ballot. The big blue vote in the cities didn't seem to help the other Democratic candidates. Trump apparently remains popular among his base. I hope that isn't enough. I hope a big turnout of Democratic voters is enough, and I hope we get that turnout.

[dustyscamp]

47. Yeah, I noticed every office other than Gov went to R

We need every Dem there to go out and vote, but we also need to get more independents to come to our side

[IronLionZion]

39. Look for GOP to double down on voter suppression in cities and college towns

Since they would have learned the same lessons. They want to ensure that it's harder for our people to vote.

[kimbutgar]

41. I just want to know why are rural folks are considered real Patriotic American while us

Last edited Mon Nov 18, 2019, 04:21 PM - Edit history (1)

City dwellers are unAmerican?

I spent a summer between my junior and senior year in high school on a farm in rural Michigan where I met the most backwards, stupid and cruel people. It was eye opening for this SF girl that I came back for my senior year studied hard, raised my grades and decided to go to college because I didn’t want to be a dummy like those folks in Michigan.

[MarcA]

44. Largely a creation of the Rural Aristocracy - Land Owners, Plantation Owners.

Even further back are the gentry and warlords. Disdain for the "others" that populate
the cities and are not direct servants of the aristocracy. Equating the land with the
"better" people. Ideas that help control the Populace.

[LiberalLovinLug]

42. I heard this suggestion first from Dan Savage on Bill Maher

Fuck the mostly Trump cult ravished rural America. Concentrate on the cities. Sorry if the few Democrats in those counties would feel abandoned, but this is the way we win. Pump all resources, volunteers and the best candidates into the urban centers. Where Americans live together in a more multicultural society and where all the enlightened folks from small towns escape to.