THE CLINTON/KENNEDY UNDERCARD :

War of Words Reopens Democratic Party Rift : As Lieberman and Gore argue populism, indications are that cultural attitudes could be hurdle in this year's races. (RONALD BROWNSTEIN, August 6 2002, LA Times)

[E]xit polling from the 2000 campaign suggests that Gore's populist appeal neither attracted the working-class voters it targeted nor repelled the more affluent voters that critics believe it alienated. More dramatic was the party's decline in 2000 among culturally conservative rural voters, who will likely prove a decisive group again in many of the most competitive Senate and House races this fall. "The populism in the message, at the end of the day, did not make much difference one way or the other," says Democratic pollster Mark Mellman.

Yet the new argument over Gore's old message may solidify his position, even as he is showing increasing strength among Democratic voters looking toward
the 2004 nomination. [...]

Gore's populism was aimed largely at working-class voters, but he didn't run as well with those voters in 2000 as Clinton did in 1996, when he entirely avoided populist themes. Meanwhile, Gore ran better than Clinton among voters earning $100,000 a year or more?some of the affluent voters who critics thought were alienated by the populism.

Other findings in the polls suggested that cultural attitudes?on issues such as guns, abortion and Clinton's affair with Monica S. Lewinsky--influenced voters in 2000 more than the economic issues at the core of Gore's populism. Compared with Clinton in 1996, Gore lost far more ground among rural voters than the suburbanites the DLC feared he was driving away with his populism.

And some Democratic strategists believe that culturally reconnecting with those small-town voters may be a more urgent priority for the party in 2002 than calibrating the right level of economic populism. An unusual concentration of the most competitive Senate races this year are in Midwestern and Southern states with large rural populations, such as South Dakota and Arkansas. "A lot of the task before us is to take fairly conservative men whose economic interests lie with the Democratic Party and
put them at ease culturally," said Jim Jordan, executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

The GOP needs to stop running scared and return to a '94-style campaign, with themes specifically designed to appeal to these men. Republicans need big turn out in the mid-term election and the only way to get these guys to vote is to toss out some red meat--affirmative action is a good place to start. Posted by Orrin Judd at August 6, 2002 8:05 PM