He notes the following about Jim Kyle:
For Kyle, the reality is that he simply couldn’t raise enough money fast enough. Sure, he raised a sight more than most, but even back when he visited Drinking Liberally in the summer there were questions about his ability to raise money, or have a big enough stockpile to last through session. That’s just reality.Yes, that's true, but I agree with Kleinheider here:
I must say, I don’t really see why. He has as good a chance at the nomination now as he did when he got in — maybe more. Nothing has really changed. Everything he cited in his press release he knew long ago.So, I'm not necessarily buying this. You see, I personally like all of the candidates, they have been gracious and kind and nicer to this crazy blogger than I had any right to expect.
My problem is that the primary is BIG for people like me. HERE, and not in the general, is where we get to have our voices heard, where we can determine which candidate is closer to our liberal line than the others, which one we can truly support before they have to go all mealy-mouthed in the general. (Note to Goopers, Haslam is going to do you like Bredesen did Democrats, now's your chance to do something about it).
Kyle gave us RED MEAT, not inoffensive, aw-shucks patter. He would have been a LEADER, not a manager, as Steve Cohen once said of Phil Bredesen (and was he ever right about that). While I will vote for whomever comes out of the Primary, unless they show me something between now and August, I'm not too damned excited about it.
And, as President Obama could tell you from last year (but, due to his botching of things, will likely never see again), EXCITEMENT MATTERS AND DRIVES TURNOUT.
Now, Ross drills home the point that our problems are Party-wide:
Do we face a lot of challenges going into November? Absolutely. Republican candidates have raised a lot more money than the Democrats. The state is teetering further and further to the right as the Democratic Party becomes more fractured on many levels, one of the biggest of these being the rural/urban divide, which is second only to a lack of a clear and concisely stated Democratic vision and leadership from all quarters within the party establishment.
There’s a lot of suffering out there in the state, and while Tennesseans are a proud, stubborn people, the overriding sentiment is that our government has forgotten about the regular folk out there just trying to make a life in this crazy world of ours. In order to win, we have to demonstrate how we intend to positively impact their lives and instill hope in them that this is not only possible, but our number one priority.
If we can do this, we have a damn good shot at winning in November, but we all have to quit with the pity party, and get to work. Use whatever metric you want to choose your preferred candidate, but remember, at the end of the day, our job is to elect A DEMOCRAT, because as Democrats we believe that ANY Democrat is a sight better than even the most moderate Republican.
Go back and read that part about "a clear and concisely stated Democratic vision and leadership from all quarters within the party establishment." BINGO. These folks are still living off 1992 when it's 2010. They cannot figure out that a clear message defining who we are and what we're about can win, because, in their hearts, I don't think they believe it themselves, and that's the damn problem.
Yet, when those of us in the blogosphere, who have been on the ground for campaigns, suggest something new, they recoil from us and call us a bunch of dirty f-ing hippies. When we can solve THAT problem, I'll feel better about things, and not before.
Rant over.
