Rather than trying to squeeze voters out of the “moral/religious” phalanx, I propose to focus our efforts on the vast number of “idiotes”. The Greeks called “idiotes” those who did not participate in the affairs of the “polis”, those who did not vote.
Much has been said about the numerous reasons for Kerry&'s defeat in this forum. It is quite possible that all these reasons mentioned may be true to some degree. But the one and only proximate cause is that Bush got more votes than Kerry.
Many pundits now suggest that Democrats should cozy up to the “religious” voter. That by moving to the “right” votes may be flipped somehow.
A strategy based on a party wide swing towards Republican positions seems hypocritical to say the least. Any votes thus gained from the other side would probably be accompanied by lost votes in the base.
This 40% of the electorate may be more reachable than current Bush voters. 40% represents about 90-100 million potential voters. We need to focus on the demographics of these people, their reasons for not voting, their hopes, and their circumstances. We need to get inside their heads.
I propose the formation of a study group on “idiotes”. Let’s call it; “Nonvoter liberation” or something catchy. This group may be quite fragmented and each sub-group may require a different approach
If we start now we can beat Rove to this untapped reservoir.
Any volunteers?
Initial Googled sources for “non-voter” “demographic”:
Nonvoters: America's No-Shows by Jack C. Doppelt, Ellen Shearer
Electoral participation and non-voter segmentation in the UK
Participation and Voting PowerPoint 1999 USA