While the final election post-mortems are not yet in, some interesting preliminary conclusions are now available. See the following articles by Ruy Teixeira:
http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=246518
and Steve Soto:
http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/003240.html#more
Quotes and my own comments below the fold.
Here are the money quotes, first from Ruy:
"Given this sense of cultural alienation, it must be questioned whether candidates like Gore or Kerry can ever really be viable with these voters. Democrats may have to choose candidates in the future who do not so easily evoke this sense of cultural alienation and who can connect in a genuine fashion with these voters. I come to this conclusion reluctantly because I had thought that an effective campaign could overcome this obstacle by, in effect, using wedge Democratic issues such as health care and jobs to build support among this group. But the messenger appears to matter a great deal, just as having a message does (see point number two, above). The Democrats in the future will have to pay attention to both, I think."
and from Steve:
"This information indicates that Kerry lost this race due to a better, church-based turnout effort from the GOP, and more effective (and legally questionable) tactics and messages from the GOP, but not because of an absent youth vote or because of a "values deficit" on the part of the Democrats."
Especially striking was the decline in Dem support among white women of all stripes and the continuing decline of support among working-class whites, who used to be the core constituency of the Democratic Party. This implies that the very people who would benefit the most from Democratic economic policy are so alienated culturally that they are voting against their own interests.
Is this a case, as the many Lakoff advocates here maintain, where the Dems message is 'bouncing off' these voters because they are not 'framed' correctly, or is it a simple case of Democratic organizing incompetence combined with a messageless candidate and a superior Rove ground game? This is a question Dems should answer for themselves in a hurry before beginning the next election cycle.
I am working on a series of diary entries that will present some concrete proposals on economic security, defusing the social issues, reforming the Democratic Party image, and taking back power in government. All ideas will be mostly stolen from deeper thinkers than I, but Kossacks need to start coming up with concrete proposals that are practical and appealing.