I commend the 200,000 Delaware Democrats who sat out the last election
The “I abstain” vote currently doesn’t hurt the right people (Tom Carper and John Carney) but sooner or later it will. We Democrats just have to keep shunning the politics of GOP-lite.
Here is what Celia Cohen wrote on her blog:
Ken Simpler should probably credit about 200,000 Democratic voters for making him the Republican state treasurer.
They did him a big favor. They stayed home on Election Day.
Excellent news. The Tom Carper product was vetoed by underwhelmed Democrats in search of a Democratic candidate.
Their civic disengagement all but obliterated the structural advantage that belongs to the Democrats in statewide voting here in Delaware.
Such is the inescapable conclusion to be drawn from a new statistical report released last week by the state election commissioner’s office, detailing the Election Day turnout in 2014.
It shows that in a really abominable year for voter participation, the Democrats were even more abysmal than the Republicans. As for the other voters who register so they have nothing to do with the two major parties, just forget about them. It seems they were similarly inclined to have nothing to do with the election, either.
Who may I high five for this lesson in what happens when the Democratic Party runs as a dead husk? How about Pete Schwartzkopf?
In sum, the Republicans made a comeback from virtual irrelevancy, and the Democrats had nobody to blame but their own kind.
“Democrats lost, because the turnout was so low.
Let’s face it, we did not have the most exciting of candidates, not that you wanted to get off your couch and vote for,” said Pete Schwartzkopf, the Democratic speaker.
What a joke. Throwing Brenda Mayrack under the bus is shameful. He is blaming the people worked their assess off to try and offset the debilitating handicap of being part of a political party with no message and a leadership that recruits candidates FROM THE OTHER FUCKING PARTY!!
Schwartzkopf is the worst. This clinches it.
Jason, Bruh…. do you really think that C.C.C group will interpret this as not being Democratic enough? Im willing to bet my hat (it’s a really cool hat) that Carper thinks this means Delaware voters didn’t feel he was being “bipartisan enough”.
I dont really know if there is a solution other than to let the GOP take control of Delaware long enough for the current dynasty ot all go away and get replaced with a slightly less impotent political machine.
Sigh
It would be brutal medicine, but letting the GOP take control of Delaware and the Nation long enough for the current dynasty to all go away is the path forward. The Democratic Party, as it stands, is less than worthless. It is an obstacle to progress.
BTW – Schwartzkopf is the worst. Throwing Brenda Mayrack under the bus is shameful. Just wanted to say that again.
This reality sickens me because I took nothing but grief in my early blogging about the need for both increasing Dem. voter registration and gotv efforts. But I’ve seen the same scenario in statewide Texas politics with declining and abysmal voter turnout (in their case, the worst in the nation); Dems dominate there in the urban centers, but lose statewide with the suburban, ex-urban and rural vote. The scenario is even more alarming here re: turnout in the urban center.
My volunteer work this last cycle gave me a birds eye view of a pathetic turnout process and apparatus.
More alarming yet is the non-existent party messaging component. And conventions only every four years? How can a party build engagement with such infrequent gatherings of the faithful? And It appears that less than a dozen, closer to a half dozen HD’s meet with regularity and actually do things to engage people?
But, who am I to question a little State that produced a sitting V.P. The tail wags the dog.
The Party leadership doesn’t give a fuck because the important guys (Carper, Carney and Coons) will win no matter what.
“I commend the 200,000 Delaware Democrats who sat out the last election”
Because they’re dead…
If you were going for funny… I don’t get it. I’ll use your comment as a chance to post once more: Schwartzkopf is the worst. What kind of “leader” ducks personal responsibility for failure so shamelessly and blames the powerless victim of his own incompetence?
Republicans are all message, democrats are all about “me” (the candidate).
D’s are so f-ing obsessed with being a big tent that they fear the plank and any efforts towards messaging. And even if there is a message many candidates opt-out without any ramifications.
Pete can blame the candidates all he wants, the fish rots from the head down. What were his big accomplishments that everyone could tout? About as popular as the governors and C.C.C.’s.
The D’s have lost their way, the just don’t know it yet at the levers of power while the masses scramble to run against R’s whackadoo candidates instead of running for something. This is not a long term sustainable strategy and Simpler is proof of that.
Very well put. And while Coons, Carper and Carney continue to put up gaudy numbers nobody at Del Dem headquarters is incentivized to give a fuck.
My prediction for 2016. Because it is a Presidential year some of the 200,000 abstaining Dems will come back and Schwartzkopf will credit his genius.