In November of 2,000 George Bush beat Al Gore 4,242 to 3,389 in the 41st. Four years later, when the truth about Bush’s stupidity and malfeasance were widely known and no Democrat had a legitimate excuse for being a Bush voter, he carried the RD beating John Kerry 5,785 to 3,722.
Think about that for a second. Bush PICKED UP 1,500 votes.
I wish I had blogged on this prior to the election because I could have easily predicted a Hastings blow out. The fact that there are more “registered Democrats” on the 41st, means nothing. Those “Democrats” are the Zell Millers of Delaware politics. They are Dixiecrats.
The fact that they call themselves Democrats has more to do with a fluke of history than it does any coherent political philosophy.
The Democratic Party is the original big tent party of American politics. But the tent is not so endlessly pliable that it can be stretched to cover everyone. At some point the philosophical fabric goes from being thin to transparent to non-existent.
The Democrats lost nothing yesterday. If anything, they won a chance to get it right next time.