Moving Forward: Democratic and Progressives getting ready for the campaigns ahead.

There has been a marked increase in Democrats rising to declare that they will be candidates for various state and federal-held offices in the next couple of years. That is a good sign considering a lot of these office seekers are challenging in "red" conservative areas. Now, there is no guarantee that Democrats or Progressives are going to win all these races but it is a good sign that they are readopting Howard Dean's 50 state strategy which greatly benefited progressives in both 2006 and 2008 and they will definitely win some and cause the Republicans to shift resources to races that they normally would not have. The issues are on the Progressives side and please remember that conservative positions on issues continually poll poorly. It is just that Republicans, to the fault of the Democrats in 2009 and 2010, were able to swoop into state legislatures and gerrymander a lot of state and congressional seats. Democrats and Progressives need to be mindful when the next census comes around. Another matter that Progressives need to be mindful of is the old adage "Do not let perfection be the enemy of the good." As in the case of the race for the mayor of Omaha and the run off to the congressional seat in Georgia, progressives do not need litmus tests on moderate democrats that are with the party on most of the issues but may be a little conservative on the abortion issue or maybe a little more business friendly than most. Democrats are not going to regain the majority if they do not promote pro-choice sentiments but also proclaim that abortions should be rare and the last resort. They are not going to be a majority party if they do not promote protections, opportunities, and rights for workers, the elderly, and the young but also champion individuality and free enterprise. You can have both and still be progressive. We have to get to come to that realization or it may take longer to become a majority party again.


https://news.vice.com/story/up-to-1000-democratic-candidates-are-about-to-make-the-2018-congressional-primaries-completely-insane

http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/165663

http://www.governing.com/topics/elections/Omaha-Mayoral-Race-Stirs-National-Debate-as-DNC-Endorses-Anti-Abortion-Democrat.html