After the 2004 election, a number of hard-line Democrats complained they’d never win again unless the party “returned to its base.”
Go left, in other words. Democrats should stop trying to act like Republicans, the argument went. To heck with the Clintonesque “third way”; forget moderation and accommodation.
Now we’re hearing similar noise from the right. The Republicans have taken “a thumpin’,” as the president articulated it, in the 2006 elections. And so now there’s a clamor, offstage right, to take a harder line.
Colorado’s own James Dobson says Republicans have betrayed “values voters,” and those voters “are not going to carry the water for the Republican Party if it ignores their deeply held convictions and beliefs.”
The message is virtually the same. Beware bipartisanship! Moderation is abomination!
But if anything should be clear from the elections just passed, it’s the opposite of this argument. Democrats didn’t win because they swerved left; they won with candidates who offered non-threatening centrist positions.
Colorado offers a fine, if imperfect, example. Democrats won the governorship, increased their majorities in the legislature and turned what had been a 5-2 Republican congressional delegation barely two years ago into a 4-3 Democratic majority.
Conservatism asserted itself, though, in several ballot issues and in the easy victories for Doug Lamborn in the 5th Congressional District and Tom Tancredo in the 4th. They, together with Marilyn Musgrave – who barely won re-election in the 4th – comprise a far-right delegation that will be thoroughly marginalized in the new Democratic Congress.
Overall, this was a difficult year for even the most moderate of Republicans. The scarlet “R” was not a good letter to display at the voting booth, including in many of the redder states. Weary of an ineptly waged war and festering blemishes of corruption in Congress, voters wanted change. They were eager to throw the rascals out, not listen to excuses and promises of better behavior next time around.
If the Republicans do decide to return to their base, they also must figure out to which base they should return. Is it the social agenda the religious conservatives want, or is it the small-government model the fiscal conservatives demand?
Both parties have their fundamentalists, those to whom the opposition is not just mistaken but beneath contempt.
Unfortunately, these people drive the nominating process. And they will continue to do so until there are fewer “safe” districts where winning the fringe-driven primary is tantamount to winning the election.
To reform the redistricting process, it must be taken away from those who have a personal stake in the outcome. In other words, don’t let politicians do it.
For all the tactic’s shortcomings, this is one area where a citizen initiative is justified. A constitutional amendment in 1974 took legislative redistricting out of the legislature’s hands and turned it over to a bipartisan commission. It hasn’t worked perfectly, but it’s a great deal better than the highly partisan job done by legislators.
The legislature still does congressional redistricting and has set a particularly bad recent example. Colorado Republicans in 2003 tried to re-district for a second time in two years, to give themselves more than just three safe seats. Their blatant power grab contributed to their losing control of both chambers in 2004.
House Speaker Andrew Romanoff promises that any such attempt by Democrats, now that they control the governor’s office too, won’t get past his desk.
This is wise. In its post-election analysis, the centrist Democratic Leadership Council said Democrats should exercise self-restraint and avoid the temptation to gloat. They won’t hold their majority, the DLC said, “by insisting on ideological unity and ignoring parts of the country or parts of the party – e.g., “red states” – that call for a more diverse and inclusive message.”
In short, stick to the middle of the road or risk driving into a ditch.
Fred Brown (punditfwb@aol.com), retired Capitol Bureau chief for The Denver Post, is also a political analyst for 9News.
