I originally wrote this about a month ago - with 50 days to go before the election. That said, given recent news it bears repeating, so I'm repeating it.From now until election day, I want you to make yourself a promise. You can even put it in writing if you're the put-it-in-writing type. Every time you see
poll results that are favorable toward Democrats, be they in your home state or elsewhere around the country, forget that you've seen them. Look away, not unlike Indiana Jones tells Marion to do at the end of "Raiders of the Lost Ark". Avert your eyes as though a long-dead, pissed off, life-threatening ghost was headed toward your midsection at full speed. Keep them closed, forget what you saw, pretend it was a figment of your obviously rich imagination. Now, will that be hard to do?
Sure. Will you want to uncover your eyes for a brief peek?
Of course. And, should you do so, will you want to brag to any Republican within shouting distance that it's looking a lot like a blue November?
Yes. But every moment we spend celebrating a Democratic lead is a moment we waste by not working harder than ever to bury the Republican Party this fall in a shallow, unmarked grave.
Am I excited that, in my home state, U.S. Senate candidate
Sherrod Brown is maintaining a solid lead over his rubber-stamp Republican opponent, Mike DeWine? Yes, just as I'm beside myself that Democratic gubernatorial candidate
Ted Strickland has, in polling, repeatedly embarrassed
Ken Blackwell to the point that the Ohio GOP's only hope looks more like a third-rate also-ran than a top-tier challenger. And for those of you outside Ohio, there are other races and other results worthy of progressive excitement. Everywhere you turn, there are Democratic candidates surging ahead of their Republican opponents. Everywhere you look, the progressive message is resonating in places where the conservative broken record has once and for all fallen on deaf ears. If you stare at the steady stream of poll results long enough, you can almost see both the House and Senate in Democratic hands come next January.
Don't believe the hype.Now, before you begin to think I'm a pessimist predicting business-as-usual this November, please hear me out. These polls, no matter how good the outcome starts to look, are pure political candy. Consume too many of them and you'll be left with a sugar high, unable to do the crucial work needed to turn dream into reality. In fact, if I were more of a conspiracy theorist, I'd suggest that the recent flood of pro-Democratic Party poll results came with a Republican return address. Because if we sit back, relax and take the work necessary to achieve victory for granted, we're playing right into the Republican Party's hands.
Think about it. The last thing they want is a flood of Democrats heading to the polls this November. They know getting out the vote will be the deciding factor. They also know that their voters simply don't have much to be excited about this year, keeping
their turnout down. With that in mind, they would love nothing more than to keep
our turnout down, either by their tried-and-true methods of voter disenfranchisement or by giving Democrats a false sense of hope.
That happens when we look around and think a Democratic landslide is in the cards. Well, if we let up one bit, it won't be. Should that happen, we'll have no one to blame but ourselves.
Though I'm admittedly a sports junkie, I find the use of sports analogies rather tiresome and often poorly executed, often by myself. That said, please forgive me for using one. When I was in college and for a couple of years after graduating, I traveled with my alma mater's football team as the radio broadcast crew's statistician. Needless to say, I saw more than my fair share of college football games. Being from a mid-sized conference, the team quite often was on the road, frequently taking on stronger, more athletic competition. Now, the biggest mistake a visiting team can make is to rest on its laurels should it take the lead.
Especially when playing a powerful adversary. Because the moment
that happens, the moment a surging road team stops playing to win and instead plays
not to lose, the game is over, whether the players know it or not. Pretty soon, the road team playing conservatively finds itself in a world of hurt. A touchdown here. A turnover there. Suddenly, momentum is back in the hands of the home team. Then, no matter what went well before, nothing goes right. Before you know it, the game is over and you've squandered any chance you had to pull off an impressive victory. All because you let up when things started going well.
This fall, we as progressives need to heed that warning. We can't let up, no matter how promising the outcome appears. We must follow the lead of good visiting teams, which, when given the chance,
bury their home-standing opponents. Good road teams don't relax.
They attack. Take a hit from the other side?
Hit back twice as hard. And that's exactly what we need to do this fall. We can't fall into the trap of thinking anyone is going to help us win. We can't allow ourselves the luxury of believing that, by simply doing nothing while Republicans struggle, victory will be ours in November. We've got to seize this opportunity. We've got to do everything we can to prove those polls prophetic. And that means giving money. That means keeping others informed about the election. That means phone banking. That means canvassing. That means writing letters to your local newspaper. That means calling talk radio. That means holding irresponsible reporters to account. That means working as hard - and as smart - as possible between now and November to use
our power to
take power. Do you want to feel as good the day after the election as you do every time you see your pet candidate enjoying a lead in the latest poll?
Then get back to work.No one is going to help us but ourselves.
No one. Don't count on the media for help. Do you honestly think Chris Matthews and other
Beltway-bound pundits are on anyone's side other than our opposition's? Can you look me in the eyes and tell me that your local press, who likely
couldn't spell their names correctly without GOP talking points, will cover the election in a responsible manner? The answer to both questions, of course, is a resounding "no". Nationally, so-called experts will no doubt make even the most seemingly insurmountable Democratic lead look like a potential Republican pickup or retention. Locally, our candidates will no doubt consider themselves lucky if they receive half the coverage as their right-wing opposition. You better believe the
servile mainstream media - especially its corporate masters - have a stake in who wins and who loses this fall. Republicans win and the Fourth Estate that traded integrity for access will again enjoy a false sense of security. Republicans lose and "Fairness Doctrine" will become as recognizable a two words as "Natalee Holloway".
Without the media, supposedly a powerful check on unbridled power, the game quickly changes. Knowing this, realize that, no matter our chances,
we're the road team this fall. We're playing in a hostile environment against a team, the Republicans, backed into a corner and willing to fight dirty. And that's just what they'll do. Prepare to again have
your patriotism challenged. Prepare to again have your character and intelligence
called into question. Prepare to again have to answer to an unending
stream of slime. Prepare to again have to respond to lie after lie after lie taken as gospel by a the Republican Party's willing accomplices in the media. Prepare yourselves for a barrage of
foiled terror threats. Prepare yourselves for more
divisive politics. Prepare yourselves for being compared time and time again to those
who would appease the world's most violent despots. In short, prepare yourselves for anything. Because, when everything you touch turns to crap, you've got nothing left to do
but hit below the belt. And that's exactly what the Republican Party is doing.
Don't get me wrong. Polls have their place. They help us make sense of the political climate as it stands whenever Americans are asked for their opinion. But polls are as misleading as they can be promising. A simple turn of the phrase can make seemingly objective questions loaded. Effective campaign staffers can turn even the most ominous result in their candidate's favor. They can be downplayed into irrelevance or turned into the
biggest news ever. But they are a mirage. Wander after them at your own risk. Note them, sure, but only do so as a reminder that, with
50 21 days to go until election day, only our hard work can make their results a reality. Don't, in any event, think things will take care of themselves.
They won't. If Democrats are going to have the chance to take Congress back and start turning this country around, it can only come with our help. But if we fall prey to the tantalizing trap polls present, the true margin of error this fall won't be mere percentage points, it will be the difference between doing nothing and doing something. And our party, remember, was built by people who did something.
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