LEWISTON – Democrats have got to learn to say what they mean and mean what they say, according to five panelists who examined the party’s present status and future prospects in a Bates College presentation Thursday night.
Two Bates students, an educator, a longtime Democratic activist and the chairman of the Maine Democratic Party offered their perspectives on what lies ahead for the Democratic Party and ways the party might return to the majority in national politics.
Brendan Jarboe, a first-year Bates student from Medfield, Mass., said President Bush’s biggest advantage over Democrats is his sincerity in his public talks.
“We need to state our beliefs frankly and boldly,” he said.
Jarboe told the audience he believes Al Gore’s principal failing was that “he tried to be everything to everyone.” Sen. John Kerry’s campaign suffered because Kerry felt he could win “if he could just explain himself enough,” Jarboe said.
Democrats must learn to speak succinctly and with conviction, he concluded.
Among politicians who are able to do that, Jarboe named President Bush, Sen. John McCain, Howard Dean and Sen. Barack Obama.
Student Aislinn Hougham said she feels Democrats need to move more toward the center. She rated fiscal responsibility as the most important issue the party should address.
Hougham, of the Class of 2007, also said Democrats need to communicate with the public more effectively. She worked for America Coming Together in the 2004 presidential campaign, and she is currently an intern for U.S. Rep. Michael Michaud.
John Baughman, an assistant professor of political science at Bates, told the audience that one of the Democratic Party’s current advantages is that “Bush is already a lame duck.” He added that there is no clear Republican successor on the horizon.
Pat Colwell, former speaker of the Maine House of Representatives and chairman of the Maine Democratic Party, said, “We have got to stop talking their language.”
Colwell declared that the Democratic Party in Maine is strong and, with a record number of 4,000 volunteers working on the last election, the party is well on its way to future success.
Don Nicoll compared political situations of the 1950s and 1960s with the party’s recent defeats.
“We’ve been there before. Don’t get discouraged,” he said.
Nicoll became Maine’s first full-time paid party director in the 1950s and was part of a group, along with Bates graduates Edmund S. Muskie and Frank M. Coffin, that led the resurgence of the Democrats in Maine.
Nicoll encouraged party members to focus on basic principles and to enlist help from all.
“Don’t forget the goal, but don’t insist that there is only one way to get there,” Nicoll said.
He also emphasized that campaigns have changed because of the news media.
In questions that followed from the audience, panelists expressed views on the effect of funds raised and spent by organizations other than the national parties.
Tom Lapointe of Portland said he believes Republicans were better coordinated in the use of such organizations and their funds.
Rich Pelletier-Simpson, who was state director of ACT and now works for Colwell, said he thinks such peripheral organizations will wane.
Another member of the audience told of campaigning door-to-door for the Democrats and finding that he was expected to talk with people about inconsequential issues.
Colwell commented, “If you’re explaining, you’re losing.”
About 50 members of the public and the college community attended the event, which sponsored by Bates Democrats. The group’s adviser, Chris Beam, was moderator.
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