Posted on 01/21/2009 12:56:27 PM PST by BGHater
Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, installed Wednesday as the new chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), vowed to aggressively campaign in all 50 states and promised to rely on ideas and not ideology.
“The 50-state strategy is now and forever what Democrats do,” Kaine told DNC members at the party’s winter meeting in Washington, D.C. The plan to seek to compete in all states was put in place by Kaine’s successor, Howard Dean.
“The results speak for themselves. I’ll oversimplify: everybody matters. Every state, every region, every community matters,” Kaine said. However, he also warned Democrats to not simply trust that strategies that worked last year would also work in the future.
Dean had earlier defended the strategy in a valedictory speech before Kaine’s election as chairman.
“We cannot appear complacent,” Dean told party members. “We need to keep showing up, keep asking people for their vote, or we can lose their votes just as quickly as we gained them.”
Kaine set high expectations in the speech by repeatedly referencing the electoral successes enjoyed by the DNC under Dean, though he promised to continue the efforts credited with helping Democrats reclaim the presidency and both houses of Congress. Kaine said following Dean made him “nervous.”
The Virginia governor also argued that a less ideological approach would help the DNC continue its winning streak.
“Our elections in 2008 proved that Americans want leaders that are about solutions, not ideology,” he said. “We’re the problem solvers, not the ideologues ... In Virginia, our political success has been directly related to the success we’ve made in governance.”
Kaine sought to reach out to Hispanic voters in particular. He said, speaking in Spanish, that he learned important lessons while working as a young missionary in Honduras, and that the DNC would work to build strong relationships with the Hispanic community under his tenure.
Kaine was appointed by President Obama to succeed Dean at the DNC.
Almost a Checkmate. Hard for the GOP; when you are getting outbred.
“Hard for the GOP; when you are getting outbred. “
You mean the GOP that tried to outspend the Dems?
The Dems may be corrupt but that doesn't mean they are incompetent.
However, he also warned Democrats to not simply trust that strategies that worked last year would also work in the future.
Incoherence on parade.
if the gop doesnt find a way to win a sizable share of the hispanic vote, it will be a permanently minority party. the investment needs to be made. i think hispanics would be very open to a conservative message - we just need to make sure the message gets there.
The Democrats are going to contest every state?
LOL
The Democrats will never be able to win Florida, Colorado, Nevada, North Carolina, Virginia and Indiana!
/sarcasm
No time better than the present to abolish open primaries. No longer should Democrats or anyone other than registered Republicans try to pick our candidates or upset our nominating process.
At least Operation Chaos was a success.
If the GOP can not begin to make progress among Hispanics, Texas will become a Democratic State by 2020 if not sooner. That would be a game ender.
I'm sure this is the biggest fear of the Democrats right now. A fair number of their voters are lazy, and were only whipped into action as a result of a) their hatred of Bush, and b) the candidacy of Obama. But Bush is gone and Obama has been elected, so much of the momentum of the past couple of election cycles is bound to dissipate rapidly. I doubt that the GOP can take back Congress in the next election cycle, but they should be able to make some gains if Dems do enough to tick off the rank-and-file of the GOP. Simply put, there should be much more motivation on the part of the R's, provided the elected R's don't destroy that momentum by sucking up to Dems.
How was operation chaos a success? We could have gotten an american woman as president, instead we got a man with no experience with ties to terrorists, I dont understand how it was a success. Not that Im a clinton supporter or anything.
“...promised to rely on ideas and not ideology”....that doesn’t even make sense, but I suppose to the ignorant masses it sounds good.
““Our elections in 2008 proved that Americans want leaders that are about solutions, not ideology,” he said. “We’re the problem solvers, not the ideologues ... In Virginia, our political success has been directly related to the success we’ve made in governance.””
This makes sense in a warped, depraved way. Since we have moved so far away from the spirit/ideology of the revolution that founded this country, it is reasonable that we would move toward a bright, shining, european kind of squishy socialism.
Still trying to find out why we need leaders as opposed to conservators of our precious liberties.
ruefully
It must be difficult for Kaine to contain his crowing, since the GOP provides so little competition.
The Texans of Hispanic origin that I know are very conservative but some still vote for the democrat party out of habit and family unity issues (the older ones vote D, the younger ones do also out of respect). However, they are not as lock-step as blacks so it should be easier to appeal to them.
In Texas, if one can marginalize Austin and a few border counties, the GPO should be solid here.
Ah, but just wait for amnesty and instant citizenship for untold millions of Mexicans and others, who will (continue to) pour across our border, eager for whatever handout the government (taxpayers) will give them. We will never recover.
Plans can be made, but unplanned events have a way of mucking up everything.
They were talking this smack right after Clinton won too.
“speaking in Spanish”
How insulting to our nation! I have nothing against Hispanics, but, we are an ENGLISH speaking nation! I would expect our government officials, when they are addressing our nation, to speak in ENGLISH.
There is nothing wrong with speaking more languages than English, but on official government business, I believe it should all be done in English.
The liberals want to impose bilingualism on our government, education and daily lives. I’m sorry, but I shouldn’t have to speak Spanish, just because some people think that they can get by in this country without speaking English. THAT CANNOT BE ALLOWED!!!!!!
We should make it to where all immigrants are forced to learn English when they come to live in this country. My ancestors came from Germany and they assimilated and learned English. All immigrants should do the same.
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