Don’t forget the lesson of 2002

Trust Your Gut

Too many Beltway Dems assumed that voting against war and denouncing the Bush tax cut wouldn’t play with regular voters.

They didn’t trust that voters would respect them for standing on principle and making their case.

They didn’t trust their own instincts. They were afraid to take a risk.

And the party paid a price for it. At the polls. In the fundraising coffers. And in public opinion generally.

And don’t forget Florida in 2002.

A lot of folks thought Bill McBride was the most electable choice to beat Gov. Jeb Bush, and that Janet Reno was a sure loser.

Maybe Reno would have lost too. We’ll never know.

But just because McBride made sense on paper didn’t mean he was a lock.

Every Dem wants to put up the best candidate, the most electable candidate.

But we won’t get that if we don’t trust ourselves and trust our own judgments.

Kerry made an important point on Face The Nation this Sunday: “The South is not a foreign country.”

Now, the electability discussion is not just a North-South matter.

But Kerry’s point is: we’re all people, with similar, basic goals and desires, and similar human reactions.

If a candidate makes a connection with you, it’s more likely that candidate will connect with others.

You can’t know everything, and you can’t predict everything.

At the last moment, all you have is your gut.

Trust it, and you’ll feel good walking out of that voting booth.

el -how much is this a cheer for losing candidates and how much is this a reasonable strategy?