R.I.P. Electability
Chris Bowers argues (with statistics to back him up) that electability has died as an issue in the Democratic race.
If so, all i can say is it's about f*cking time. Nothing frustrated me more during the 2004 race than hearing democrat after democrat say some variation of, "I like Dean but I think Kerry has a better chance of beating Bush."
We all know how well that worked out.
The simple truth is that electability is a criteria that is credible only as a triage method of weeding out the candidates who have fuck-all chance of actually winning from those who have a reasonable shot at it. Beyond that, anyone who says they know which of any number of top-tier candidates has the best chance of winning in the Fall is simply blowing smoke out their ass.
Besides which, why the hell do voters waste any time thinking about electability anyway? Electability is the kind of thing self-inflated political prognosticators (you know, bloggers like me) allow to consume an inordinate amount of their precious neural processing power. Voters aren't pundits. They aren't politicians. Voters hate politicians.
So why waste time trying to think like them?
Once you've decided that a particular candidate has a reasonable chance of winning in the finals then stop fretting about the possibility of losing and start advocating for the guy or gal that you like. Leave the chart making to aforesaid prognosticators and just get out there and win one for the Gipper <cue college fight theme>.
If so, all i can say is it's about f*cking time. Nothing frustrated me more during the 2004 race than hearing democrat after democrat say some variation of, "I like Dean but I think Kerry has a better chance of beating Bush."
We all know how well that worked out.
The simple truth is that electability is a criteria that is credible only as a triage method of weeding out the candidates who have fuck-all chance of actually winning from those who have a reasonable shot at it. Beyond that, anyone who says they know which of any number of top-tier candidates has the best chance of winning in the Fall is simply blowing smoke out their ass.
Besides which, why the hell do voters waste any time thinking about electability anyway? Electability is the kind of thing self-inflated political prognosticators (you know, bloggers like me) allow to consume an inordinate amount of their precious neural processing power. Voters aren't pundits. They aren't politicians. Voters hate politicians.
So why waste time trying to think like them?
Once you've decided that a particular candidate has a reasonable chance of winning in the finals then stop fretting about the possibility of losing and start advocating for the guy or gal that you like. Leave the chart making to aforesaid prognosticators and just get out there and win one for the Gipper <cue college fight theme>.
posted by Chris Andersen at 1:59 PM
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