Myself and fellow Drake Democrats have been essentially blessed to have had the opportunity to host or meet two 2008 Democratic Presidential candidates in a 24 hour period. Yesterday afternoon, Senator Joe Biden and Congressman Leonard Boswell held a townhall discussion on college affordability with about 100 students. This afternoon, former governor of Virginia Mark Waner attended an event for Secretary of State Candidate Mike Mauro. About 60 people attended the event at The Plaza in Des Moines, mostly folks outside of the college age.
Both Governor Warner and Senator Biden were quite receptive to the students and the audiences at their events and were able to hold the attention of the audiences quite well. Senator Biden stayed for almost an hour after Congressman Boswell left for another event to get to know students and to keep answering their questions. I think he was able to really impress the students with his talk about education particularly, and then his knowledge on foreign affairs always impresses folks. He unequivocally stated that he was running (putting him as the only officially declared candidate or exploratory candidate beyond Christopher Dodd and Mike Gravel) and talked as if he were pretty sure that he would get the Democratic nomination for president.
Governor Warner on the other hand wasn’t so enthusiastic or strong in his talk about his potential run in 2008, but make no doubt about it, he’s going to run in 2008 and wants to be the candidate who unites all Americans — Republicans and Democrats — beyond a message of working for progress for the future. That’s how he frames the policy debates we’ll be having, as the past versus the future. And he points out that every time that has been the situation in previous times, the Democratic Party has been the party to step up and lead us into the future. He again re-emphasized his support for redeployment of forces in Iraq but only did so in passing. Iraq wasn’t his focus, but he made sure to mention the failures of Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense.
The one thing that still irks me about Mark Warner is that when he talks about his plan to unite us to fight for the future, he points out that, according to him, Democrats only are good at criticizing what Republicans and Bush have done but haven’t offered a plan. I think that’s wrong of him to do, particularly since he’s offering somewhat of a plan for unity and fighting for the future. Why not just talk about what you can do instead of accusing your party of failure? It is what gets us articles like this from Mike Glover of the AP (and then picked up in the Washington Post) where it seems like all Warner is doing is criticizing the party that he wants to lead. Now, I’m frustrated by Glover’s title and the theme of the piece which isn’t an overall criticism of the party but Warner attacking the 16-state strategy used in 2004. Warner supports the 50-state strategy of Howard Dean and that’s been amazing for the party across the country.
I think Governor Warner should work on looking at the 6 for 06 Plan released by the House Democrats and, if he wants, mention a past inability to talk about offering solutions and plans, but hype the fact that we have one today and it is being spread across the country by our congressional leaders and passed out at events across the country. He’s got the potential if he quits bashing the party he supposedly loves and wants to lead.
Warner’s criticism of the Democratic Party is relective of his overall strategy, which I think is quite good. (I must admit I did not see his DSM event, but I have seen his stump speech and several interviews.) I agree with you that he is trying to position himself as the candidate who is above the fray and will unite people from both parties. You cannot appear above the fray if you only criticize one party. The other reason for his criticism is that most of his projected opponents for the Democratic nomination come from the Hill. This is just an early jab that we will see more of in the months to come (as we all know). I feel this is a good way to create the image he wants to present to voters. Whether you think this is a good image is up to you. I think it is.
On Biden- I was impressed with the event. He is clearly a better speaker than most. I learned some things about him that I did not know, such as bills that he has sponsored. He was frank in his answers, as well. I am no longer apt to dismiss him right off the bat.
Chris,
Being a regular reader of your IDP-seal-of-approval blog, I can see why you would call Warner “bashing” his own party. I was there today. Where I’m coming from, his statements were far from bashing. They are just observations, and in my opinion those observations are right on the mark. If you can’t make honest, sometimes critical observations about your own, we are in deep shit.
As I’ve said before, I believe Warner offers exactly the kind of leadership this country is hungry for. His greatest challenge will be to get the nomination in today’s highly polarized atmosphere. In the general election, he would likely be GOP’s worst nightmare, as some conservative observers have noted.
I think Mitch is right about Warner’s strategy. If in November Lieberman wins and/or D gains are not as significant as expected, someone like Warner could get an incredible boost.
BTW, the D attempts at a unified message (6 for 06 and whatever else has been proposed) have been extremely lame. Who remembers anything about those plans? We are completely lacking great messaging. It seems like D’s are just trying to emulate the Contract with America. It was a unique idea then, it worked, and people still remember it. Maybe we need to hire some R communications people.
Don’t get me wrong — I like Governor Warner and I like his message. What I’m saying is that if you want to seriously help Democrats then you have to talk about what the party is offering as an alternative right now instead of saying ‘we haven’t had one in the past but if you vote for me in two years I’ll give you one.’ The 6 for 06 plan needs to be more widely disseminated but I know there are lots of candidates who are giving out half sheets of cardstock with the message on them — particularly Boswell who has given them out at two events (including Monday’s) as well as Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer. This is something the leadership has rallied behind and so should all Democrats looking for higher office, especially if they’re running with the title of Democrat.
Bashing may not have been the right word choice, but when he continually highlights the past failures instead of hyping and discussing how we’ve changed (ie the 50 state strategy, working to increase turnout, targeting races down the ticket like he and others have been doing) to address past failures, he only brings them back up and provides fodder for news stories to again tout the ineffective Democrats and their lack of plans or ideas. If for one week every Democrat seeking a national seat in this country decided to talk about the 6 for 06 plan wherever they were at — on TV, in person, in letters, on the web, etc. — then we’d have a great and solid message of a plan for leadership, and offer something to build on for 2008.
The 6 for 06 plan is a good one. We’ve got to focus on health care, an improved economy, a strong security policy, affordable and easy to access education, Social Security and retirement protection, and focusing on a way to declare energy independence and invest in renewable fuels. Health care, healthy economy, a plan for real security, affordable education, retirement security, and a strong energy policy. Six things that affect the every day lives of Americans across this country and the Democrats have bills and legislation waiting to be launched in the House when they take over. Do you have the guts to promote these issues as a solid Democratic agenda?
Chris, whether you like it or not, the general feeling among voters, other than hardcore Democrats, is that the Democrats don’t have any ideas.
I was at the Warner event in Ames, and I thought Warner did an excellent job of telling the group where he wanted to take the country, how he wanted to get there and why it hadn’t happened already.
It’s too bad, because he seems like a Democrat I could vote for, or at least not be virently against, like John Kerry, which means there’s no way in hell he’ll get the nomination.
I still like Mark Warner, trust me on this one. The man’s got great potential. I’m just saying that if I were him or one of his advisors and we were serious about helping get Democrats across the country elected first before any 2008 aspirations then I would be hyping the plan that Democrats are offering because it helps them with the electorate and doesn’t get these stories about criticisms instead of your positive ideas or message.
He does have some work to do though. He’s not as smooth as Edwards.
I was for Edwards in 04 and continue to like him, but he may be a bit too smooth. Warner seems more authentic. Also, Warner would more likely carry his own state, and presumably other red states.