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Why Democrats Lose Elections in
Indiana: They aren't dumb. They're asleep.
by Kenn Gividen
WritersBureau.org
http://www.writersbureau.org
Give the GOP credit. Unlike
the Democrats — whose collective IQ seems to register somewhere between a '58
Buick and box of rocks — the Republicans are astutely aware of their political
surroundings. That's why they win and Democrats don't.
In reality, the Democrats aren't dumb.
Anyone who was privileged to bask in the presence of former Gov. Joe Kernan knew
him as a passionate leader who truly cared for Hoosiers. The sharp mind of
former Democratic Party State Chair Kip Tew was an asset to the party. And
former Lt. Kathy Gov. Davis was bright, witty, and personable. In short, they
were a class act.
No, the Democrats aren't dumb. They're asleep.
The GOP, by contrast, paid close attention to the elections in 2003 when
Libertarian Greg Dixon took nearly 15 percent of the vote in his bid for
Indianapolis City Council. That put a sizeable ding in the confidence of his
Republican challenger. More bothersome was the fact that Libertarians proved
they could plan and execute an effective campaign. The GOP took note. The
Democrats snoozed.
That same year the Libertarians' candidate for mayor in Carmel snatched nearly
25 percent of the vote from the Republican incumbent. That was no small task,
considering Hamilton County is a bastion of Republicanism. In nearby
Noblesville, the GOP saw over 40 percent of its vote go to Libertarians in two
of their City Council races. In Wayne County, Susan Bell flat out squashed her
Republican opponent and became the Hoosier state's first Libertarian judge. All
told, twelve Libertarians are holding office across the state.
To the ears of Republicans, the above has the ring of an alarm clock. To the
Democrats it's a lullaby.
Simply said, the GOP gets it. Indiana has three political parties. They are
vulnerable. In 2004 they responded accordingly and won.
The Democrats don't get it. One would think the party of Birch Bayh would have
the good sense to exploit the Republicans' soft spot. Exploit it? They don't
even seem to know it exists.
Consider, for example, the GOP's gubernatorial primary in May of 2004. Eric
Miller, a pro-life, sun-tanned poster child for the religious right, challenged
the man who would ultimately become the next governor. The Republican Party was
divided. To thinking folks, that translated into vulnerability. To the Democrats
— who are not thinking folks — it meant nothing.
While Democrats had no chance of snatching Miller's followers, they did have a
wide-open opportunity to send them to the Libertarian. It would have taken only
8 percent of Miller's supporters to tilt the election in favor of Democrat Joe
Kernan. But the Democrats did nothing. Snore.
The Republicans, meanwhile, did plenty.
For starters, a here-to-fore unknown PAC dumped a ton of cold cash into a direct
mail campaign. The target was Joe Kernan. The beneficiary was the Libertarian
challenger. The result? Kernan lost votes. Those were votes the Republicans
would never have captured. Nice play.
What's more, the Republicans kept close tabs on their Libertarian opponent.
Stuffing his Web site with e-mail addresses, the GOP received the Libertarian's
weekly updates. Any appeal to Miller supporters was noted and challenged. The
risk of losing Miller votes was a chance they would not take. Another nice play.
The Democrats, meanwhile, were sound asleep. One Miller supporter went so far as
to personally appeal to the Democrats for support. A win by Daniels, he knew,
would keep Miller from running in the next election. The election returns proved
the Republicans right and the Democrats to be snoozing.
Another case in point was the defeat of Democratic Congressman Baron Hill by
Republican Mike Sodrel. The margin of victory was less than 2,000 votes. The
Libertarian challenger garnered 4,698 votes. Had the Democrats offered the
Libertarian candidate even a modest amount of support, the election would have
likely tilted toward the Democrat.
The groggy-eyed Democrats, meanwhile, are outside looking in, clueless as to
what happened. But who knows? Maybe between now and 2006 they'll wake up.
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Kenn Gividen is Chair of
the Libertarian Party of Bartholomew County (Columbus), coordinator of the
Writers' Bureau and 2004 gubernatorial candidate.
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