Like we discussed yesterday, we at Delaware Liberal are offering absolutely free advice to Chris Coons in his Senate run against Mike Castle. Unlike a lot of people, I believe Castle is beatable. In fact, I think Coons could be in a great position if he plays his cards right. Castle is the de facto incumbent in an anti-incumbent year. Coons can run as a Washington outsider and as a man who understands the needs of Delaware. It should be simple to paint Castle as a long-time Washington insider who votes with his party above his state and who doesn’t understand the issues facing Delaware.
I know there’s a lot of concern about Coons turning off independents by looking too partisan. However the problem I see is that a significant portion of Castle’s support comes from Democrats. Coons is going to have to woo back and excite Democrats if he wants to win. So, how will he do that?
First I think he needs an energized base. As we discussed yesterday, the netroots is a subset of the base, but with high influence. In my opinion, Coons should try to energize the netroots, then energize the base and then appeal to independents. The base is where you get the volunteers you need to win the election. So, what issues excite the base?
Health Care Reform
Coons should have a clearly articulated position on health care reform. In fact, I think there is absolutely no penalty on Coons to come out in favor a public option and Medicare buy-in. Both programs are very popular with the public at large and even though Coons won’t be voting on the package now, hopefully Democrats will pass some kind of reform. Coons can discuss how he would fix the reform for the better.
Senate Dysfunction
This is a fairly new issue but is a hot topic in most of the netroots right now. The Senate is completely dysfunctional because even with a 19-seat majority, Democrats can hardly get any legislation through Congress. A bill sponsored by Senator Harkin has been proposed to kill the filibuster. So, although I doubt this bill would ever be enacted Coons should come out in favor of filibuster reform and should be able to discuss this issue. It’s an important issue because Mike Castle would become part of the do-nothing Republican voting bloc.
Bipartisanship
I’ll admit that I want to spit every time I hear this term. It seems to be a religion among conservaDems and Washington pundits. I do know that the vague concept of “bipartisan” is something that appeals to swing voters and independents but it is not something that will excite the base. Coons needs to find a way to reassure the base that bipartisanship for its own sake is his goal, but that he’s not driven completely by ideology. One formulation I’ve seen of this dilemma is one the Obama uses – he’s open to anyone with ideas that work.
Iraq/Afghanistan
Among most of the U.S. the popular position is to end our involvement in those conflicts as soon as we can, while keeping our national security as the first consideration.
One issue that I don’t think appeals to the base is debt and deficit, although it is an important issue to right-leaning swing voters and independents. Again, I think there is a fine line to walk to reassure the base you’re not going with the Republican talking points of cut taxes for the rich and cut Social Security and Medicare. The way to formulate this, IMO, is that modest fixes are needed for Social Security (removing the income cap from the payroll tax) and that the best way to fix Medicare is to fix health care in America. The best way to deal with the deficit is to improve the economy and yes, use PAYGO rules for new programs (including defense spending).
The floor is yours. What issues should Chris Coons focus on to excite the base? What issues are full of traps?