"The third leg on that bar stool are the voters. If the Red Team voters show up in impressive numbers, we win, and we win big. If, like many other years, the Red Team voters take a pass, we will have nobody to blame but ourselves."
"The Blue Wave is coming! Get ready - we are taking back the House, maybe the Senate, and a boat load of state and local seats! And when we get the House, we are going to impeach this fraudulent President who slipped through the cracks in 2016!" Thus speaks the Democrats and the progressive socialists.
"It is going to be a Red Tsunami in 2018! We are not only going to hold the House and Senate, we will also pick up seats in many of the state and local elections. Once the midterms are over, it will be full speed ahead with the Trump agenda! We will get so much done, Donald Trump will make Ronald Reagan look almost ordinary!" Thus speaks the Republicans and the conservative patriots.
Okay - they can't both be right. Who is right? History has shown in the first mid-term election after a new Administration, the party in power loses seats. Sometimes a little bit, other times a lotta bit. Why? Some theories are the voters who got the new Commander in Chief elected, have lost some of their steam to come out in the same numbers two years later. They are not as motivated in the off year election. Whereas the other party is all geared up for some "get some" and "pay back". How often does that hold true? Actually, most of the time.
The other night we were in South Minneapolis for a program which turned into somewhat of a political rally. The Blue Team who were there (which was most of them) were fired up to say the least. How about the Red Team? If the primary voting totals were any indication, the red warning flags should be flying at full staff. For the Red Team to be successful this November in Minnesota, somewhere north of 1.25M voters need to show up and vote Republican. That is a tall order considering the token number of folks who showed up on August 14th.
Walt Disney had a quote he loved to use - "The only way to get started is to stop taking and start doing." With two months left until the midterm elections, and the fair now being over, the time for the "doing" is upon us. The candidates? They all have been doing yeoman's work. Non-stop travel, meeting and greeting. Jeff Johnson and Donna Bergstrom have had schedules so active, I can get dizzy just trying to keep up with where they are in the state.
Here is the bottom line, and it will be repeated a few times in the upcoming weeks. Who wants this election the most - who is going to win - is the team which will work the hardest to get out the vote. I may be a bit bias, but I think the Red Team has the right message being delivered by the right people. The third leg on that bar stool are the voters. If the Red Team voters show up in impressive numbers, we win, and we win big. If, like many other years, the Red Team voters take a pass, we will have nobody to blame but ourselves for the blue outcome.
One final thing. Besides voting, contact your CD office, or your candidate, and then ask if there is anything you can do to help. Trust me - the one answer you will NOT get is, "no thanks". As the Chinese proverb goes, Many hands lightens the heaviest load. And folks - we have a very heavy load these next two months.
SPPP this morning..............
ReplyDeleteSince the GOP doesn't have anything in it's platform that would appeal to a swing voter, this years race is going to be all negative.
It’s all about Keith Ellison, at least according to a Republican narrative as part of the first wave of what promises to be a tide of political attack ads coming to Minnesota’s 2018 election season.
Even in races where Ellison isn’t running, from the U.S. Senate high on the ballot down to state House races, he’s under attack.
The ads and social media messages basically say this: Democratic candidate (insert name) has refused to condemn Keith Ellison for domestic abuse. He/she should be ashamed.
The goal of attacking is less to change the minds of his supporters as it is to fire up Republicans to turn out the R vote, several Republican strategists said.
The moment Ellison won the Democratic- Farmer-Labor Party primary for attorney general last month, Republican strategists knew this: Every Republican in Minnesota, for the first time in their lives, would have a chance to cast a vote in November against Ellison, the deputy chair of the Democratic National Committee.
It's a mindless, evil, disgusting strategy that might work for the GOP.