As I've been reading posts on various progressive blogs lately, I've found myself thinking, "What a great idea! Are our candidates reading this? Why aren't I hearing them say these things in public?"
I know that Kos is not a consultant, but the purpose of the site is to elect democrats. So to help in that regard, I thought I would compile a list of posts that give advice on how to win elections.
You will notice a bias toward thereisnospoon, but only because I believe he has a lot of great things to say about Democratic messaging, and I was thrilled to see that he, bonddad, and Chris Bowers are starting the
NRRSC. Like TINS, I'm tired of losing.
This post isn't about specific issues. Candidates should decide for themselves which issues are important to them and their constituents. This post is only about how we talk about those issues.
People who frequent this site have seen these posts and discussed them extensively, but the idea is to put them all in one place in the hopes that our candidates will see them and read them in the larger context of winning elections.
Methods
So let's start with the way in which we talk about the issues.
1. First a diary from TINS on the need for Democrats to take a stand.
2. Then a diary from TRex at Firedoglake about the need to attack instead of defend. An excellent example of this was posted today by Kos about Jim Webb.
3. Another diary from TINS about the Overton Window.
4. This diary at Firedoglake by Peterr is about religion, but it speaks to the larger issue of finding mutual understanding with people who don't necessarily agree with us.
Framing
Framing is an important part of the process, and I might even argue that it's the most important part -- Republican ideas suck, and yet they manage to frame them in such a way that they appeal to voters. Here are a few examples of large, overarching ways to frame our ideas and those of our opponents.
1. It's not incompetance, it's conversativism, as explained by TINS and more recently by George Lakoff.
2. Matt O's suggested slogan, "It's time for America to get real.
3. Steve Soto's security frame.
------------------------------------------------------------
That's all I have for now, so please tell me what I'm missing. If enough people comment, I would love to post updates and expand the number of links. If it gets big enough, maybe the title "Netroots Progressive Playbook" can really mean something.