Do not expect the Democrats to panic until it is too late.

‘Too late’ being defined in terms of what I would find amusing or seemly, of course. And the reason for this is simple: the Democratic party’s propagandists – both official and unofficial – are no longer dedicated to winning the 2014 election cycle.  What they’re dedicated to right now is the task of keeping their base from panicking.

I could have sworn that I made this analysis before, but I can’t find it, so I guess that I’ll just have to repeat the thought from memory: the 2009 gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia demonstrate why panic is bad for a political party.  In Virginia: the, well, hapless candidate (Creigh Deeds) was widely considered to be DOOMed a month before the election.  And the Democrats abandoned him in a panic… and in the process also abandoned all the other candidates, which is one reason why in 2009 state Democrats got decimated in the General Assembly* and lost all three statewide positions. Contrariwise, New Jersey Democrats refused to panic, and they ended up with a situation where Chris Christie won election handily, yet failed to supply coat-tails for pretty much anybody else.

The lessons there should be obvious – and are obvious, alas: the Democrats are going to do everything in their power to keep their base from freaking out until after Election Day.  Not because they think that doing this will keep them the Senate.  They’re already writing off the Senate.  What they don’t want to do is write off races like New Mexico or Rhode Island or Hawaii.  Or even have to fight in them; because that would mean that they’re already past ‘disaster’ and into ‘Twilight of the Gods’ territory.

So… best face forward, and if that means lying to their own base – and getting their money in the process – so be it.  After all, what can the Democratic base do in response?  Vote Republican?

Moe Lane

*The Democrats also lost seats in the 2013 Virginia elections, which was the same year that Democrats swept all three statewide positions. Then again, the GOP didn’t panic that year, either: they fought it out, and if we had had one more week… ach, well, ask for me anything but time, as Napoleon once said.

One thought on “Do not expect the Democrats to panic until it is too late.”

Comments are closed.