Once more... EEEE-NOUGH ABOUT 2008 ALREADY!!! Focus on THIS YEAR!!!

[UrbScotty]

I had to get that off my chest.

We're less than 300 days away from 11/7/06 and more than 1,000 days from 11/4/08.

Which is more important now?

[Ian David]

1. I vote for Barbara Boxer, you freedom-hating rejectionist!

:P

[bahrbearian]

3. What ? I can't hear you !

[UrbScotty]

10. Well hello Mitt Romney

Would you like to talk 2006? }(

[BlueCaliDem]

11. Isn't Feinstein up for reelection this year?

We just reelected Milady Boxer last November.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

2. What about Dean or Clark or Warner? They could take it!

:popcorn: :popcorn:

[Mnemosyne]

4. Feingold may be looking better to me...

:popcorn: :rofl:

[snowbear]

5. Hey.... hand me some of that popcorn...

[AZBlue]

35. Love those smilies!! (nt)

[Jack_Dawson]

6. But what about HILLARY?!

:puke:

[snowbear]

7. uh...

[feelthebreeze]

8. I agree whole heartedly with you...

If we lose 06 then al this talk of 08 is for nothing but the excercise of our typing fingers. 06 decides it for all of us and this Nation. It is all or nothin' proposition.

[dchill]

9. If we concentrate on '08...

the country may not last until '07. Seriously.

[wiley]

13. Amen!

Can we get these Trolls and Freepers off this board?

[Golden Raisin]

12. Between the evil machinations of neocons,

BushCo, Diebold, K-Street, Rove, a packed rightwing Supreme Court, etc. elections probably are a lost cause already. LOOK at the last 2 Presidential elections. Look hard at Florida & Ohio and look hard at the unchallenged trump card of the Supreme Court throwing Gore's victory out the window. I totally agree 2006 should take precedence over 2008, but it may just be too late. We may already be in for permanent, 1-party, fascist rule in what was once our Republic. And beware if there's another big terror attack (real or staged) in the USA. That'll be BushCo's excuse for a declaration of martial law and a suspension of the Constitution and any elections.

[tritsofme]

14. Believe it or not

Democrats can walk and chew gum at the same time.

[Steve A Play]

15. Y A W N !

There are people here who are more than capable of paying attention to both. Please try to cut them some slack and focus on what you can.

Thank You,
Steven P. :kick:

[tsuki]

16. I hear you! Thanks for saying it! n/t

[mom cat]

17. And we need to be fighting Alito THIS WEEK!

[robbedvoter]

18. How about on last year? STOLEN ELECTION? Broken system?

To me, everything else stems ferom this one. Withoiut elections, what's the point of kvetching about anything?

[Redneck Socialist]

19. OK, let's talk about which candidates are running nationwide this year.

You see the problem?

I'm happy to discuss the congressional races here in NH, but unless you live in NH it probably won't be much of a conversation. I'm confident that DU'ers will be doing all they can locally this year, but as there is no common reference point to those local races it makes it hard to discuss them in a forum like DU.

Plus, talking about '08 is fun.

Just sayin' :shrug:

[wryter2000]

22. Yes and no

I feel it's important that I know what's going on in other states. I recently gave Hackett money in Ohio because of something that was reported here. (I'd be happy to give all Dems money, but I only have so much of the stuff.) If DUers keep me up to date on other states, I'm more likely to be able to help out.

[IndyOp]

20. No! We must focus on 2008 before stopping Alito; before fixing

voting machines; before the 2006 election!! Nothing else other than 2008 matters because as soon as we have the 'right President' everything in the world will be perfect and we'll never have to worry about anything every again.

Get your priorities straight! --> SNUFFY IN 2008!



:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[UrbScotty]

29. Better than Lieberman (nt)

[wryter2000]

21. Thank you!

If we win the Congress, there will be hearings with witnesses subpenaed and giving testimony under oath. That will bring out all their crimes. My guess is that if we win 2006, 2008 will be ours.

[janx]

26. Absolutely.

My guess as well. :hi:

[wryter2000]

28. Thanks

I hope we get to see it. :hi:

[Tom Rinaldo]

23. False dichotomy

For example, On DU I focused on what is happening this week, by starting this thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=2380215

And I explained why I care about 2008 in post #72 on this thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2374486&mesg_id=2382503

Obviously we need to deal with what is right in front of us, failing to do so is a grave error, but we are also capable of doing some planning for the future, and we need to. It's like a family budget. First priority is putting food on the table etc. But if you don't save now for major expenditures later, future options will be limited. Yes it is a balancing act, and a warning to pay attention to the immediate threats is in order, but by sitting out 2008 completely until 2007, that leaves the traditional power brokers free reign to manipulate the process for selecting our candidates until them, and no one should deny that they are hard at work at that already. Given that much free lead time, the fixes will all be in.

[rasputin1952]

24. We should all be working on the '06 election. If we do not regain at

least one of the houses, the damage done may be irreparable.

The platform will be put together until after the '06 election, and if we do not take over the House or the Senate, you can look forward to many more years of neo-con rule.

To think beyond '06 is something that is a non-issue at this point. Without Congress in D hands, the voter fraud issue will continue unhampered, Civil Rights will be rolled back to somewhere near 1855, and a host of other maladies will afflict the nation.

Every one of us needs to be out there getting people in line to vote, and have their votes counted properly. If we do not retake ar least one house, we can blame only ourselves, because it is up to us, and all Dem's/Progressives to be active in putting the brakes on this horror of an administration.

[pstans]

25. We have a shot at picking up 2 House seats in Iowa

Right now it is 4 Rethugs - 1 Democrat here in Iowa. In District 1, the incumbant (Jim Nussle) is running for Governor and the Rethugs are scrambling for a candidate. The Dems have 3 solid guys running.

In District 2, incumbant Jim Leach is vulnerable. Recently, he hasn't lived up to his moderate image, he is getting old, and the Democrats have a very good candidate running. Hopefully this is the election that send Leach home for good. I don't live in this district, but will be travelling there to campaign for the Democrats this summer.

[janx]

27. I think New Mexico has a shot at at least one House seat.

I'm looking forward to it.

[ddeclue]

30. Don't have to tell me...

I'm already working to get environmentalist and attorney Scott Randolph elected to the Florida State House (District 36) where he is fighting to replace a DINO who finally gave up being a DINO and went back to being a Republican (that's what she used to be and how she has always voted.)

www.electscottrandolph.com

and I'm also working to get Florida State Senator Rod Smith elected as Governor. I went to our first organizing meeting for the Orlando campaign last week.

www.rodsmith2006.com

Of course it is always fun to complain about Bush, talk about "what ifs", and speculate who is running in '08 for President and "was the vote stolen in '00 or '04" etc. etc. but we need to get serious about working on actual campaigns OUTSIDE OF cyberspace. If every DU'er pledged to seriously work in a campaign this year that's 85,000 volunteers! If every DU'er pledged $100 to various Dem campaigns this year that would be 8.5 million dollars. Think about it.

:)

Doug De Clue
former Volunteer Kerry Staffer,
Mills Ave Office
Orlando, FL

[NativeTexan]

31. Of course you are right, but....

....just remember this. We ALSO have to make sure that people recognize that their votes were made unnecessary in 2000 and to a point in 2004, so they can recognize a con-job when they see it.

Those who ignore history, are doomed to repeat it. What has been allowed to happen in so many ways, not just elections, since 2000 CANNOT be allowed to happen again.

But, I will agree that a balance has to be struck also.

[dsc]

32. There is literally next to nothing I can do about 2006

We have no state wide races here whatsoever. No Senate, no Governor, no Supreme Court races. I live in Walter Jones' district, whose defeat for reelection is as likely as an asteroid destroying planet earth. The district adjacent to mine is Butterfield's and he is also not going to lose. In short, other than money, I can't do squat for 2006. I don't think talking about 2008 is harmful.

[ddeclue]

33. Let me ask you this question:

I assume you are talking about U.S. Congressional races.

There is also local and state politics to consider:

1) Is anyone running for State House, State Senate, Governor, Lt. Governor, Revenue Commissioner, Agriculture Commissioner, Insurance Commissioner, State Attorney General or other office in your state that is a Democrat?

2) Is anyone running for school board, county commissioner, mayor, district attorney, coroner, or other local office that is a Democrat?

People we got to stop focusing solely on the national elections. State elections are important too and you can be SURE that the Republicans don't forget the local races.

The local and state races are like the "farm teams" in major league baseball. They are feeders for these national races. A guy becomes dog catcher, then county commissioner, then mayor, then state senator, then Congressman, then President. That's exactly how Truman became President by the way.

So if there isn't a national campaign in your area to work for, find out what the local races are and help out there. It may not be as glamorous as a Presidential race but your support will be all the more appreciated and the experience will serve you well when 2008 finally does roll around and you go to work for a Presidential campaign. These local races serve as great training grounds not only for candidates but for campaign staff as well.

Remember also, if there ARE no Democratic opponents for a local, state, or national race to consider running yourself. You never know you might get lucky when your local Republican weasel Congressman is caught out on a "date" with Jeff Gannon-Guckert on the nightly news or is found to have taken one too many golfing trips with Jack Abramoff or just has a heart attack. (Look at what happened with Barak Obama's election to the Senate.. it was amazing how ex-wives came forward to destroy the Republcians... :)

In any case, you might get lucky or you might win by being smarter and a better campaigner than your Republican incumbent who thinks he's better than he really is. Also it's always great to make sure they don't take their seat for granted and force them to spend a little money defending it so that they can't help their buddies raise funds for other more competitive races.

I had a friend last year here in Orlando who ran against Ric Keller (R-FL) with very little money but still managed to post a respectable 40%+ and he was new to the area, unknown in local politics, and had very little capital to work with. He did so well because he was a database whiz and really knew how to use technology to get the vote out.

This year also consider that many voters are fed up with being fed up with crooked Republicans and may throw your guy out in spite of the fact that he's the incumbent and regardless of whether he actually did anything wrong himself. So don't be afraid to run. The worst that can happen is that you lose and then go back to your regular life.

Doug De Clue
Former Kerry
volunteer campaign staffer
Mills Ave Office
Orlando, FL

[dsc]

34. I live in a Democratic district for both state rep and state senate

all of our Council of State races are in the Presidential election years. I honestly can't do much here. I certainly couldn't run for office since I am gay and in a state where that wouldn't work too well.