Loaned Votes
EJ Dionne warns the Democrats that many of the votes they got on Tuesday are actually on loan from moderates. That is something the netroots do not see, but Dionne does. This was a call to the Dems to actually do something. If they don't, the loaned votes will disappear.
And no longer will we pay attention to political strategists who assert that swing voters aren't important and that independents and moderates don't matter. If Democrats are to make good use of the power they have been granted, they need to remember that last point. This election was the revenge of the center no less than it was the revenge of the left. The decisive votes cast on Tuesday came from moderates and independents, whom the exit polls showed favoring Democratic House candidates by about 3 to 2.
Nancy Pelosi and the other Democratic leaders face a genuinely complicated political calculus. On the one hand, Democrats would not have won without the intense dedication of their partisan and ideological base. Among self-identified Democrats, the party's House candidates won by about 13 to 1. Liberals went about 8 to 1 Democratic. This energy was critical to the outcome.
But many of the party's successful candidates ran as moderates, and Democrats hold power on the basis of a loan of votes from middle-of-the-road Americans who simply could not stomach Bush Republicanism anymore. The loan can be recalled at any moment.
The good news for Democrats is that their candidates, moderates and liberals alike, ran on two common themes: that the Bush Iraq policy had to change and that the Washington establishment simply does not understand the personal struggles and economic insecurities confronting so many Americans.
It's rather obvious that there will be a hard tug-of-war going on internally inside the Democratic ranks. The outcome of that battle will determine what happens in the next election. It is going to be an interesting couple of years.
By Quilly Mammoth, Thursday, 9 November , 2006 @ 11:01 am
Rahm Emanuel recruited several dozen moderate to conservative Democrat candidates. Those that were elected are, one might say, loaners. The problem is that the _leadership_ of the Democrats is still the same…Dingel, Waxman, Rangel and so forth. If those moderate and independent voters thought they would get a more congenial Congress representing the Vast Middle of the American Road they are mistaken.
By Diva, Thursday, 9 November , 2006 @ 12:47 pm
They have two years to prove to the American people that they can lead - if they take the party Left from the center they will lose in 2008. It’s that simple. This election was a win for moderates and conservatives not the Far Left (as much as they would like it to be). If the Democratic leadership fails to recognize that very important fact then they can kiss any hopes of taking up residence in the White House in 2008.
I am waiting to see if the Dems will lead or begin to investigate (impeachment rumors are every where today). If they do the former they have a chance if they listen to the nutjobs like Kos, FireDogLake, DU (the usual supporters of Far Left political losers - Dean, LaMont etc) and follow through on the latter then they will be punished and sent packing. It will be an interesting two years.