Even though today is a new day and this time is a new time, Democratic pundits and loyalists continue to suggest using the same losing election strategies, the same political resources and the same losing political consultants and political staffers will guide them to election victories in 2020.
Almost victories by Stacey Abrams, Andrew Gillum and others are in fact losses! No political party can expect to win in 2020 with tactics used in campaigns in 1920 or even 1060!
Well, how can Democrats win in 2020? They can identify their election problems, decide what can be done to fix problems and hire the consultants with the talent, skills and voter influence that can deliver the votes needed to win.
Democrats didn’t just lose on Election Day, they lost almost every day! I know you don’t like for me to say that, but it’s true.
Democrats lost in free media, paid media, absentee voting, targeting, mailing, robo-calling and in many other ways, in most cases.
The people don’t know but the DNC and RNC (Democratic and Republican National Committees) run campaigns like overseers ran plantations! If candidates don’t do what they are told to do, hire who they are told to hire and contract who they are told to spend money with they are threatened and told they will lose Democratic support.
The Republican “base” gets jobs, get contracts, get appointments and gets a lot of love from the Party.
What does the Democratic Party’s most loyal base, the Black bloc voters, get in election times, Blacks get talk about the love of Martin Luther King and of HBCUs, they get menial work like putting flyers on windshields or door knocking opportunities and if they’re lucky they might get an afternoon in late October where they can dine on a free piece of mullet fish or chicken and a cheap beer!
If there are Black candidates qualified to run for political office, there are Black political professionals qualified to guide candidates to victories
Now you, Stacey, Andrew or anybody else please tell me why the white man’s or woman’s political ice is colder than the Black man’s ice or the Hispanic man’s or the Native American’s ice?
It is not!
If a political party gets around 90% of all Black votes cast and says it is not worthwhile to spend at least money collected from Black PACs, Black labor unions, Black organizations and Black individual donors with Black consultants, Black media, Black pollsters, Black printers, Black caterers, Black mailers and other Black businesses, it should tell you something.
And, if the Black candidates that lost elections that you love don’t think it’s a good idea to have Blacks in campaign decision making positions what does that behavior tell you?
It should tell you the people that get paid during a campaign are the people that will get paid afterwards!
So what can Democrats do to win in 2020?
To win, Democratic officials and candidates can respect all voters, especially the most loyal and most frequent Democratic voters who happen to be Black.
Democrats can dismiss their historic assumption that “any Negro will do” and seek to utilize the talents and influence of Blacks that have a history of political experience and winning campaign successes.
Democrats can reject the descriptions that news networks give voters. Truth is, for instance, “urban” is Black and also “suburban” is Black, perhaps more Black than some gentrified neighborhoods in big cities like Atlanta’s West End, Fourth Ward and East Lake-Kirkwood communities.
Democrats must hire consultants that understand political timing. Even when Democrats do right things, when they do things at the wrong time the results can be politically disastrous. Spending millions in advertising in white media outlets, for instance, six months before election and thousands in minority media outlets six days before an election is a waste of dollars and has the appearance of “hush money”!
I could go on and on but Democrats need candidates and consultants that can deliver Election Day wins! Hiring losing consultants every year and expecting winning outcomes is political insanity!
The GOP will hire anybody, of any political party, of any race and any philosophy that will help them win elections. Democrats like to hire, and pay, Democratic politicians and Democratic operatives that they can control despite their political inexperience or ineffectiveness.
The people want good government. The people want political change. People historically shut out of government, like Black and other women, want political opportunities.
And, Black businesses and Black political professionals want to get paid! They don’t want government jobs, political appointments, appearances on cable news shows or promises, hope and dreams.
Read recent election articles at politico.com. Don’t take my word for it, now more than ever before, the Democratic Party needs qualified and experienced professional consultants to assist a diverse group of candidates win elections in 2020!
Democrats need to understand that politics is war and to win a political battle you have to fight for votes in enemy territory!
God always sends Democratic candidates, like Stacey and Andrew, political soul mates but they are never considered, never recognized and never utilized!
Lucius is a contributing columnist to NNPA newspapers around the nation, and the author of “Beast Too: Dead Man Writing,” available on Amazon.com and from bookstores everywhere.