Democrats Should Follow Mudcat’s Advice

Virginia political consultant Dave “Mudcat” Saunders has co-written yet another playbook for how Democrats can take back the White House. The title is: “Foxes in the Henhouse: How the Republicans Stole the South and the Heartland and What the Democrats Must Do to Run ‘em Out.”

According to The Roanoke Times, the book recommends Democrats to the following:

Lose “the wuss factor” and bone up on the culture of country people—even if it means forgetting about the women’s studies professors and the gay-rights activists. (They’ll vote for Democrats regardless, the authors argue.)

Instead, concentrate on broadening the base: Show rural people in the South and the heartland that, while you may not personally play the banjo, hunt deer or go to NASCAR races, you appreciate that they do.

If urban areas tend to go Democrat and suburban/exurban areas go Republican, “The swing vote is what’s left, and it lives in rural America,” Saunders says. “These people have been voting Republican, but they’re not really Republicans, and we need to show ‘em why.”

Democrats need to reframe the debate and start talking about what rural Americans really worry about, he says.

I recently reviewed another playbook for taking back the White House, titled Crashing the Gate. As you might have guessed, these two books come to very different conclusions.

Ultimately, I believe Democrats would be much more successful if they were to follow “Mudcat’s” advice. After all, he has had success in helping elect Democrat Mark Warner the governor of Virginia. But (as has been previously discussed here) the money and activists in the Democrat Party all reside on the left.

…Besides, it’s hard to follow a guy named “Mudcat.”