Wednesday, November 05, 2008

TDP, part III

But not from me, I want you to read Aunt B.'s take on why the TDP was whipped like a red-headed stepchild last night. I may not agree with all of it, but much of it I do.

1 comment:

dwayne said...

Actually the house has gone Republican before. In 1968 the split was 49-49 and one independent. The independent was a Repub in disguise in a normally Democratic district.

A Republican speaker was elected but the Dems came back in 1970. They almost lost it again 1972 with a 51-48 split. They came back strong in 1974 and held it till yesterday.

I agree with Jackson and Aunt B. The Dems statewide have become lackluster and too status quo oriented. Naifeh should have been replaced several years ago just like Wilder. If we are to be a majority party again in any way, we need to have the newer (not necessarily young) Dems to come in with imaginative ideas and great marketing skills to be able to raise funds and to present a message that will resonate to our targeted constituencies (and not necessarily the same ones we’ve always gone to). We can’t rely on the old pros and their offspring to run the party any longer.

The rise of the Nashville suburbs is the prime reason for the State going Republican. As far as I know, no one has figured out how to curb that tide so far. Upper East TN has shown signs of breaking from their traditional republicanism from time to time, but our Party has never quite figured how to capitalize on that trend.

Finally, the Dems in the Legislature need to learn how to be an effective opposition. One good source is to learn from Newt Gingrich’s playbook (it worked for them, why not us). Now we can see how the Repubs handle balancing a barebones budget with an antiquated tax system that they so love. Will they continue to bow to the road building lobbyists? Our guys need to be right there pointing out their inadequacies. If our delegation can’t revert to this new role, it probably will be a permanent minority.