RealClearPolitics points to an article suggesting that at least a few Democrats have a clue, i.e., that they need to be more “inclusive,” to attract “values” voters in order to win elections.
Brad Ellsworth likes to hunt, opposes abortion and says he’ll put his “family values up against anybody.” He may be the Democrats’ new dream candidate.
The 47-year-old Ellsworth, an Indiana sheriff, is one of a number of Democrats running for the U.S. Congress whose positions on social issues deviate from the national party’s. His candidacy follows a presidential election the Democrats lost partly because they failed to win over “values voters,” according to polls and party strategists.
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Other Democratic recruits who sound more like traditional Republicans on social issues include former Minnesota Transportation Commissioner Elwyn Tinklenberg, who is anti-abortion, and former professional football player Heath Shuler, an avid hunter from North Carolina who opposes abortion and gun controls.
In Pennsylvania, Senate candidate and state Treasurer Bob Casey, who opposes abortion rights, led abortion foe Sen. Rick Santorum, a Republican, by 12 points in a Quinnipiac poll last month. In Montana, Monica Lindeen, a pro-gun state representative, is challenging incumbent Republican Denny Rehberg for the state’s only seat in the House of Representatives.
“This is a much larger field than it’s been in the past,” Bill Burton, spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said of the anti-abortion and pro-gun candidates. “We have folks in that group who aren’t necessarily with the national party on every single issue but do reflect the makeup of the congressional district.”
In addition, in Virginia Tim Kaine, the Democrat who was just elected governor, is a Catholic who “personally” opposes abortion and ran away from the national party on social issues. The Democratic candidate for attorney general, Creigh Deeds, was actually endorsed by the NRA and came within a hair’s breadth of winning the closest election in modern Virginia history.
Still, I think Democratic “inclusiveness” goes only so far. Polls consistently show strong majorities opposing racial preferences; virtually (maybe literally) all Democrats support them; and Republicans never seem to mention them. Certainly in Virginia, Jerry Kilgore, the Republican nominee who did much worse than anyone expected, never raised racial preferences as a serious issue in his campaign.
Maybe there’s a lesson there for other Republicans facing “inclusive” Democrats.
