Last week, I wrote about how it was clear that Obama was winning this election, and how we should be using that point to get people to jump on board the Obama train. Now, lots of people here get nervous when you say you are winning the election. They fear that it is premature, that people will get complacent, and that a surprise will be in store on Election Day. Fair enough...I get it.
But the reality is staring us in the face at this point. Obama is going to win the election. All the polls are showing that no candidate in at least the past two election cycles, per the polls, is better positioned to do so. You simply can't compare the numbers to 2000 or 2004 at this point.
But what we can do is ensure a really BIG win, a mandate kind of win.
This is something Democrats have been bad about for years. We never saw our national election chances in terms of garnering a mandate. Half the time, it had to do with the fact that the numbers were against us. The other half of the time, strategists were too bogged down with just winning "enough" states and seats to merely win.
Meanwhile, Republicans didn't want to just win, they wanted to crush. Hence all that talk about a "permenant majority" in Congress (oops). Well, the way things are lining up, we are staring a mandate election right in the face, and we can seize upon this opportunity here and now to make it happen.
Mandate elections are important. True mandates give you carte blanche to enact your agenda. And really, does anyone doubt that Obama is going to need all the help he can get once elected? He faces incredibly mammoth challenges, from the economy to Iraq to health care to energy independence. Bless him for wanting the job...I think 99% of us would crawl in a fetal position in the White House facing that kind pressure.
But with a mandate, it gets a hell of lot easier. A real mandate, too, not a 2004 Bush type of mandate wherein he had all that "political capital" to spend. (HAH!).
No we are talking a 300+ electoral vote, 5 point plus national popular vote, adding many more seats to the House and Senate kind of mandate. Sort of like Labour in Britain in 1997 did with Tony Blair and gang. That kind of mandate.
So while we hear that this election is "over" for all intents and purposes, and it probably is too late for McCain to win this thing, it ISN'T over in terms of gaining the mandate that we are going to need and seek. We need to run up the score.
Now, running up the score DOESN'T just mean for Obama. It means getting out there and electing our Dems for the House and Senate, too.
It's a challenge we face right here in my home state of Maryland. Nobody doubts that Obama is going to win Maryland at least 60%-40%. So our good vols are running to help out Obama in VA and PA, as they should be.
But as we get closer to Election Day, let's remember some of those close Congressional races too. For instance, here in Maryland, Frank Kratovil is very close to flipping a Republican seat. The latest internal poll from the DCCC had it a dead heat, something somewhat unexpected given the Republican performance in MD-01 over the past 20 years.
As an Obama rout becomes more evident, folks need to pitch in for these House and Senate candidates as well, because Obama's coattails plus a concerted effort to increase our margins in the Congress will give us a mandate.
And once we have that, it will equal a tremendous amount of power in Washington. Something the Republicans know very well, as they built their agenda on the Reagan mandate of the 1980s.
It's time to seize this opportunity not just for a win...
it's time to go for the jugular.