House of Representatives

[demwing]

Anyone interested in a concentrated effort at retaking the House?

Consider this -

With the millions upon millions of dollars that are spent on finding a Democratic presidential candidate, then running them against the Rpukes, we could finance untold House races and retake the lower half of Congress.

With the House in Democratic hands,

• We could financially stop a Republican president in his tracks


• Bring impeachment charges against a president or a supreme court judge


• Settle matters of electoral dispute


• Ensure the voice of the people and voters will be heard

Look what the Repukes did. They took the house, then the senate, then the White House. Is there a message in that?

[shoelace414]

1. Gerrymandering

[Trillo]

2. "Is there a message in that?"

Rigged elections?

[demwing]

6. Splain yourself

????

[Trillo]

9. I no longer trust our elections.

Anyone who wants to learn about these issues should see the "2004 Election Results and Discussion" forum.

Myself, I honestly don't know if I'll vote ever again. Perhaps I will if there are paper ballots counted by hand; this might infuse me with 'some' trust. Right now I have no trust in closed source electronic fruad machines built and sold by special-interest corporations.

Voting is something I always took seriously, and spent some time each election cycle (even primaries) researching the issues presented for a vote, ever since I was 18. This is valuable time of mine wasted by our leaders if our elections are rigged; to me the perponderance of statistical evidence suggests there's a definite skew towards republican outcomes that aren't reflected in exit polls.

The DU member "TruthisAll" presents a lot of this evidence in the "2004 Election Results and Discussion" forum.

[demwing]

12. Are the exit poll / result disparities at the Congressional levels?

I don't know.

But I'm not waiting for someone to tell me its ok to vote.

Nor am I going to waste a lot of MY energy trying to convince YOU to vote.

If you don't want to "waste your time" then go.

[Trillo]

13. I'll do whatever I please, and no-thanks for the contemptuous reply.

If you didn't want my answer, YOU shouldn't have ASKED.

If a presidential election is rigged by machines and tabulators, everything else in the same ballot using the same counting method is also suspect.

[demwing]

20. I wanted your answer

I just didn't like it.

No offense. Really.

[ewagner]

3. Of course I'm interested.....

but the pitfalls are many.....

remember most Americans hate Congress as a whole but LOVE their congressman.....

there are very, very few competitive seats in the house.....

[demwing]

5. "Most people hate congress"

that can be used.

Paint congress as having been taken over by elitists.

Get people interested in taking back the reigns, sweeping populist reforms.

Emphasize the role of the House of Representatives as the people's voice in Washington.

That can definitely be used...

[ewagner]

8. yes, but......

when it comes right down to it:

incumbents have TONS AND TONS of money from the shakedowns and payoffs.....

incumbents have name recognition from years of campaigns....

incumbents have been handing out grants and loans (aka PORK for so many years that they are OWED the votes......

[demwing]

11. You're right. lets quit.

NO. let's NOT quit.

Congress has been swept out previously, Gingrich did it.

Are you saying we don't have anyone as smart, or as hard working, or with such a dynamic personality as Newt Gingrich?

[ewagner]

14. Smarter strategy

target the most vulnerable repubs....and dinos and put our money and efforts where they can be effective......

[Lone Pawn]

15. Oh, dear God, no.

There's no way we can retake the House if we spend half our time purging out Democrats. Biden and Lieberman go just as far towards keeping the Senate as Kerry and Boxer do.

[ewagner]

18. Okay....then AT LEAST

Concentrate on vulnerable Repubs......

[Name removed]

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[katinmn]

4. spend locally, think globally

[Warpy]

7. Hard to do while those pigs control the whole electoral process

through those crooked voting machine companies.

That's the main reason they're still there. You do know this, don't you?

[demwing]

10. See, I don't think they've used them at that level, not yet

I may be wrong, but my remembrance is that the congressional results more or less matched the exit polls.

Do you remember differently?

[Lone Pawn]

16. Not even close.

Show me one lick of data that congressional elections are fixed.

[Lone Pawn]

17. The Senate would be easier.

1. We're closer to having it.
2. House seats are gerrymandered within an inch of their lives--instead of convincing a state that's, say, 48% Dem and 52% Rep to try on a moderate Democrat for size, we'd be convincing districts that are, say, 63% Rep and 37% Dem in that same state. It's easier to win a state than an equal number of districts.
3. It's worth more. A Senator gets more media play than a Representitive. Unless you're far more versed in Washington than are most Americans, compare the number of Senators you can name off the top of your head to the number of Representitives--then tell me a Senator isn't worth more than his House counterparts. A Senator harshly criticizing the administration gets some play. A representitive? Unless it's DeLay or Pelosi, not really.
4. There are more contested Senate seats than House seats.

[demwing]

19. I question that its worth more

because the House has such control over the executive branch. But I understand that its open to opinion..

Still, I think it got to be easier to take back the House becasue of the frequence of elections.

THink on this - Each Representative comes up for re-election 3 times in the time it takes the entire senate to come up for re-election once

[Lone Pawn]

23. They come up more frequently, true.

But like I said, with gerrymandering it'd be very difficult to pick up any more.

[Name removed]

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