As a Democratic County Chair in Kentucky, I read Bill Bishop’s response to Alec MacGillis’ “Who Turned My Blue State Red?” Being someone who has been active in local politics in Kentucky for number years, I feel compelled to offer some observations.
I am in agreement with the conclusions that low income citizens do not turn out to vote. However, low voter turnout by low income and minority citizens is but one component of why Democrats are not faring as well as they should in Kentucky and other states. National Democrats do not have a strategy to communicate to working Americans who vote Republican, they are voting against their own self interests.
Unfortunately, the “grassroots” Democrats feel that the national Democratic Party “wrote-off” (or abandoned) a significant part of the country. This has been done without real consideration of what the “write-off” would do to state and local Democrats and future national campaigns. Moreover, this write-off has been done without thought of efforts that could be taken to counter Republican take-over.
Communication and the ability of the national Democratic Party and its local units to connect with voters is a problem that exists in places other than Kentucky and the south. President Obama carried Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin in 2008 and 2012. However, since the President’s election those states have elected Republican governors and legislatures. This indicates the disconnect between the national Democratic Party, the Presidential Campaign and local and state parties.
While many of us hear and read about a 50 state strategy from various Democratic organizations during Presidential Election years, it is far from the truth. The strategy is concerned primarily with electing the President. As seen with the results over the past 7 years in Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin there is little or no concern or effort of electing members of Congress from those states which would help the Democratic President govern smoothly or legislatures which would help with re-districting issues. This lack of concern about a national strategy can be seen in the drop in voter turnout in Ohio. In 2008, 69.97 of registered Ohio voters voted. In 2010, when there was no Presidential Election and only Congressional and Ohio legislative seats on the ballot the turnout fell to 49.22% of the registered voters participating.
National Democrats have failed to craft a coherent message concerning health care, the minimum wage, education and Veterans issues to resonate with voters in the south and the flyover states. In Kentucky the ACA or Obamacare is wildly unpopular. However, a poll found that a majority of Kentucky voters liked Kentucky Connect which is essentially the same as Obamacare.
Part of this lack of coherent messaging is due to lack of crafting a message and sending out spokespersons to the Ohio Valley and the South.
I have been a fan of President Obama since he ran in 2008. However, he has not been to Kentucky other than a brief stop Louisville and the Cincinnati Airport which is located in Northern Kentucky in more than eight years. Vice President Joe Biden has made two trips to Kentucky one to Louisville and one to Ft. Campbell. National Democratic leaders need to be seen in all parts of the nation especially in those places where the ACA and other policies they support would be of particular assistance to those populations.
For the sake of the long-term health of the national Democratic Party, national Democrats need to do some retail politicking in places like Pikeville, Harlan, Hazard, and Paducah on a regular basis. It should be noted that Bill Clinton during both his 1992 and 1996 campaigns made a last minute stop in Paducah. Paducah TV news covers not only Western Kentucky but southwest Indiana, southern Illinois, southeast Missouri, northeast Arkansas and northwest Tennessee.
This failure of national Democrats to appear in the small towns of Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri and Alabama as well as other states allows conservative talk radio to dominate opinions of the citizens who live in these regions of the country. On any a given afternoon there is no talk-radio alternative to Rush Limbaugh if you drive 500 miles in any direction. Ed Schultz would be a great radio spokesman if they could get him on the radio in places like Hazard, Harlan, Lexington and Knoxville. Other Democrats should be regular call-in fixtures on regional morning talk radio shows in Huntington, WV, Cincinnati, Lexington, Knoxville, Nashville, Louisville, and Evansville. It is harder to talk bad about someone and their policy positions if they have been to your town or on your radio show.
The national Democratic Party seems to have no strategic interest in state and local elections south of the Ohio River except when it comes to raising money to take back to Washington, D.C. In small low income states like Kentucky, local party organizations are without the funding and resources to counter the message communicated by Republicans and their Tea Party allies. It is impossible to find a national Democratic Official or pundit to come to Kentucky to assist a local county organization in raising funds unless you are from Louisville or Lexington or have contributed thousands dollars to the national Democratic Party or national candidates.
The Democratic Party has an opportunity to regain the legislatures in Wisconsin, Ohio and Michigan. There are better opportunities to regain the governorships in those states as well. However, the national Democratic Party and the Presidential nominee of the Democratic Party should make sure they help the local candidates as well as themselves when running in those states in November 2016.
National Democrats need to be on the phone to assist local Democrats in Kentucky in keeping the KY House Democratic. (KY has the only legislature between Canada and the Gulf of Mexico in which the House is controlled by Democrats). They should also be helping find a viable candidate to oppose Senator Rand Paul. There are people out there like former Lt. Governor Daniel Mongiardo, Auditor Adam Edelen and Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer. All three gentlemen are good retail campaigners with statewide name recognition.
In the long run, national Democrats need to look at working with local Democratic campaign organizations and local elections in order to communicate the Democratic positions in a way that resonates that resonates with working class Americans in the fly-over states.
PAUL L. WHALEN, Chair
Campbell County Democratic Party
plwhalen@gmail.com