
	Where results make sense

Topic: Electable mainstream

	CampusProgress.org \| Zesty, Sporty... Electable?
		But I suspect the mainstream media were listening in to that debate, picked up the term, and associated it with Gore’s persona of 2000 (yes, yes, he’s a much more dynamic speaker now, but I’m talking about back then).
		At the most basic level, after all, asking "Who is electable?" is really just another way of asking "Who’s going to get elected on election day?" — a question that most of us (save perhaps for the good people over at Fox News) aren’t able to predict with certainty until the voting has actually happened.
		While the term “electability” may not have sullied the English language much before 2003, the idea of “picking a winner” is a time honored (if not especially reputable) facet of any electoral contest.
	campusprogress.org /features/957/zesty-sporty-electable (1736 words)

	This Is Not An Endorsement, by The Plaid Adder - Democratic Underground
		Second, the obsession with 'electability' short-circuits discussions of the issues by trapping the entire debate inside the repeating loop of a maddeningly self-fulfilling prophecy.
		'Electability' does not reside in a candidate's hairstyle, biography, accent, or platform; it is an airy nothing formed of pure perception which then becomes incarnated in reality because no matter how much we may criticize the national media we are all still their creatures.
		Voting 'electability' is a concession to that logic: it's an admission that what you want above all is to be on the winning side, which in our system is (or at least is supposed to be) the side with the most people.
	www.democraticunderground.com /plaidder/04/10.html (1698 words)

	The Poor Man Institute » Electable
		I happen to think that she is more electable than her two main rivals, and if I hear another Progressive sneer at the importance of a candidate’s being electable I’ll bite their head off.
		So electable he lost to an opponent who’d lost the previous election, attained office via a judicial mudslide, and of whom it was openly speculated he had to be wired for sound to make at east a semi-intelligent impression during the debates.
		Electability grants primacy to a supposed relationship between the electorate and a candidate almost totally divorced from consideration of policies that candidate might profess.
	www.thepoorman.net /2007/03/31/electable (11057 words)

	What they really mean by "electability"
		To them, an "electable" candidate tailors their positions to be as close to the Republicans as possible, in order to appeal to conservative "swing voters." The party’s voting base may like a more liberal appeal, goes the reasoning, but they will vote Democratic no matter what.
		Perhaps the true measure of Dean’s "radicalism" has been his response to the talk about "electability." Rather than defend his campaign and his criticisms of the Bush administration, Dean has tried to promote a kinder, gentler image of himself, while stressing that he is the toughest fiscal conservative among the contenders.
		The talk about "electability" is an acknowledgement of all this--that the Democrats are likely to choose a presidential candidate that millions of the party’s most loyal voters will have to hold their nose to vote for.
	www.socialistworker.org /2004-1/484/484_08_Electability.shtml (1822 words)

	<sussman>
		Such a fate befell Howard Dean (doomed to have the media make sport of his every misstep and characterize him as the candidate who couldn’t control his temper) in 2004 and the mainstream media may now be dragging Connecticut Senate hopeful Ned Lamont down a similar path.
		Most of the mainstream media, like the LA Times, have declared a “rift” among Democrats because of this race, as though challengers like Lamont were the sole impediment to party solidarity.
		To understand just how averse the mainstream media is to the sort of change that Lamont represents, one needs only to look at the coverage of the debate between the two candidates that occurred on Thursday, 7/6.
	www.mediachannel.org /sussman.htm (733 words)

	The Liquid List: Politics: Electability = Unelectability
		To combat the electability question with an argument as to why your candidate is electable keeps the media focused on process stories about Democrats that tend to reinforce Republican narratives about Democrats.
		The focus on electability is deadly to the national image of the Democratic Party and reinforces basically every narrative about Democrats that Republicans have been trying to spin for decades now..
		Given all of this, I think the only real option for any campaign faced with the electability narrative is to simply cut the story off before it starts, and not give it any room to grow by trying to construct an argument to combat it.
	www.liquidlist.com /2006/03/politics_electability_unelecta.html (765 words)

	WorldNetDaily: Hillary the chameleon (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-04)
		Hillary, in her true skin, is too stridently liberal and unlikable to be electable in a national election.
		Hillary's polarizing nature will energize Republicans to work to defeat her, but it will also motivate Democrats to support her because the qualities that alienate you from your opposition are the same ones that endear you to your own party.
		Yet contrary to the conventional wisdom, mainstream liberals are far less electable than mainstream conservatives in nationwide elections.
	wnd.com /news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=43033 (821 words)

	Consider Magazine
		Yet, like the notion of “leadership”, a word that is categorically different depending on who you talk to, “electability” is not as universal a term for voters as it is for political pundits.
		With that, “mainstream values” and electability come to truly embody what the essence of an election is all about: democracy.
		Electability is a product of flawed American democratic institutions, a myopic view of national politics and policy, a distrust of the American public, and a deep and paralyzing fear of those who currently define the political game.
	www.umich.edu /~uac/consider/archives/electability.htm (1514 words)

	spiked-politics \| Article \| 'Electable' - but what else?
		With the possible exception of the nominations of senior judges, mainstream Democrats have found it hard to articulate a political opposition to Bush.
		Some say he is electable because he was a Vietnam war hero; others because came out against that war.
		But whatever electability means, he apparently has it.
	www.spiked-online.com /Printable/0000000CA480.htm (793 words)

	WorldNetDaily: 3-monkey massacre
		For the last decade, ever since the failed implementation of the Contract With America, Republican moderates, Rockefellerites and the mainstream media have preached that in order to maintain its grasp on the electorate, the Republican Party would have to move to the center and establish a Big Tent.
		The constant substitution of "electable" moderates for principled conservatives is what repeatedly kills the Republican Party and prevents it from ever realizing even a small part of its platform when it is in power.
		Despite that electability, he lost by 220 Electoral College votes to an incumbent who was never popular enough to win a majority of the popular vote.
	www.worldnetdaily.com /news/printer-friendly.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52924 (779 words)

	LexisNexis(TM) Academic - Document
		And yet, when these same voters were asked flat-out which of the candidates had the best chance to beat Bush, their answer came as a disappointment to Reilly and his team: 38 percent said it was Dean, and only 20 percent said it was Gephardt.
		Electability had become a bigger issue, in other words -- but it was breaking Dean's way.
		Reilly said he believed that the electability numbers that favored Dean in his latest poll, while daunting, could still be reversed if the campaign could reinforce precisely the right distinctions between Gephardt and Dean.
	www.dickinson.edu /~rudaleva/iowa_polls_metavoters.htm (4354 words)

	Power Line: From the hot stove league
		McCain, as a centrist, is more electable than Clinton (with all of her baggage) and hence better situated to win the nomination.
		In general, I think electability is overrated as a factor in determining nominees.
		In 2004, electability may well have been a factor in the demise of Howard Dean, but one would be hard-pressed to show that John Kerry was the Dems must electable candidate.
	powerlineblog.com /archives/012875.php (635 words)

	The other party of big business
		And when they talk about selecting an "electable" candidate, they mean finding someone who can compete with Bush on the grounds of "values" or "national security." In other words, they mean trying to find someone as close to Bush as they can get away with.
		So all the talk of "electability" really means that the hobbyhorses of conservatism will drive the Democratic primaries, no matter what other empty promises about health care or Social Security the candidates make.
		It could be no other way, because the legalized bribery that launders corporate and wealthy individuals’ money into the political parties makes sure that no one unacceptable to the ruling class will ever become a nominee.
	www.socialistworker.org /2004-1/484/484_09_OtherParty.shtml (724 words)

	Boston.com / News / Nation / Finishing 5th, Lieberman vows to carry on
		Lieberman, in an interview on CNN after speaking to supporters, said he would travel to some of the seven states holding primary and caucus votes on Feb. 3, including Oklahoma.
		Asked why he didn't think the Massachusetts senator is a mainstream Democrat, Lieberman replied: "Just look at his record and look at what Republicans are already saying about him." That was a reference to GOP charges that Kerry is too liberal.
		Lieberman, the most conservative of the Democratic candidates, promoted himself as the most electable of the field -- maintaining that he would be most likely to attract independents and Republicans in a general election contest.
	www.boston.com /news/nation/articles/2004/01/28/finishing_5th_lieberman_vows_to_carry_on (476 words)

	JoeCitizen.org: Media Calls Another Election (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-04)
		As a result of these mischaracterizations, the leading stories in the mainstream media about Dean have been dominated by the question of whether Dean was simply too angry and too liberal to be electable.
		The claim that Dean was too liberal to be electable was first put forward on GOP talk radio, a venue which it is important to note, has regularly labeled all of the Democratic candidates except Lieberman, as left-wing wackos.
		Added to this mix was the idea put forward by the mainstream media that Dean’s opposition to the war with Iraq was somehow an extremely liberal position, even though polls showed that the majority of Democrats agreed with it.
	www.joecitizen.org /media_vs_dems.html (4870 words)

	Kerry the Un-Electable \| Business solutions from AllBusiness.com
		When John Kerry won the Iowa caucuses on January 19, Democrats bravely told themselves they were voting for electability.
		Crowning Kerry with the virtue of "electability," though, is like a teenage boy telling a young lady she has a "good personality." That usually means you can't think of anything better to say.
		Howard Dean was seen as out of the mainstream on two issues: His venomous opposition to the Iraq war and his early support of civil unions for homosexual couples.
	www.allbusiness.com /specialty-businesses/1106616-1.html (633 words)

	Sending a Message to the Democratic Convention
		But all were grounded in a fundamental challenge to the notion that Kucinich was not electable.
		Today, I will write from the opposite premise, assuming that most people are right for a moment: Kucinich is not electable this year, even if we love him and what he stands for.
		It was precisely the combination of his perceived electability AND his anti-war stance and progressive rhetoric that got people excited.
	www.opednews.com /dinan0204_progressive_message.htm (2037 words)

	ZNet Commentary
		While there is a fair amount of grumbling about soft and hard money and the essentiality of big bucks for election status, the mainstream media normalize this and accept the process as entirely legitimate.
		Of course, the rest of the mainstream media did the same as the Times, producing a self-fulfilling prophecy of lack of mass support by marginalization and some degree of trashing.
		Voting for Milosevic would be tough because his badness has been driven home thousands of times, with photos of streams of refugees, women and children in pain, dead bodies, and supportive analyses, accusations, and war crimes tribunal indictments.
	www.zmag.org /ZSustainers/ZDaily/2000-09/13herman.htm (1910 words)

	Power Line: From the hot stove league
		McCain, as a centrist, is more electable than Clinton (with all of her baggage) and hence better situated to win the nomination.
		In general, I think electability is overrated as a factor in determining nominees.
		In 2004, electability may well have been a factor in the demise of Howard Dean, but one would be hard-pressed to show that John Kerry was the Dems must electable candidate.
	www.powerlineblog.com /archives/012875.php (635 words)

	AEI - Short Publications
		Kerry's perceived electability is at the heart of his support.
		It's rare to find that kind of fixation on electability, but Democrats are experiencing a rare bout of powerlessness.
		Republicans hope to expose Kerry as another Massachusetts liberal whose values are outside the mainstream.
	www.aei.org /publications/filter.all,pubID.19850/pub_detail.asp (873 words)

	David Limbaugh
		Hillary, in her true skin, is too stridently liberal and unlikable to be electable in a national election.
		Hillary's polarizing nature will energize Republicans to work to defeat her, but it will also motivate Democrats to support her because the qualities that alienate you from your opposition are the same ones that endear you to your own party.
		Yet contrary to the conventional wisdom, mainstream liberals are far less electable than mainstream conservatives in nationwide elections.
	www.davidlimbaugh.com /022505.htm (820 words)

	The New Hampshire - The problem with politics (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-04)
		People say he isn't electable, he hasn't raised enough money, he is too far left, but I disagree.
		The only reason he isn't "electable" is simply because he hasn't raised a lot of money, which is only because he refused to accept it from corporate sponsors, unlike any of the other candidates, including Howard Dean.
		Of the people who actually have heard of him and do like what he has to say, a lot of them will be voting for Dean just because he is more "electable." To those people I can only say this: now is not the time for worrying about electability.
	www.tnhonline.com /home/index.cfm?event=displayArticlePrinterFriendly&uStory_id=78286b3a-35db-4599-942e-458a1eab521e (598 words)

	The Yale Herald - Oct 15, 2004 - Ralph Nader: Dangerously out of touch with reality (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-04)
		Throughout his speech, Nader repeatedly described Kerry supporters as "anybody-but-Bush voters," picking the electable "Kerry" over the candidate with real liberal ideals.
		Most mainstream Democrats have realized the infeasibility of a living wage, and have sought other ways to help our nation's poor.
		There are plenty of reasons not to vote for Nader, without considering the issue of "electability." Nader prides himself on being the "spoiler" of this campaign, but if only he would open his eyes, he might realize that some of his ideas are just plain rotten.
	www.yaleherald.com /article-p.php?Article=3586 (802 words)

	.::critical mass::.
		The doctrine of electability has two founding narratives, one of which is the Myth of Clinton, and the other is the Myth of Nader.
		Unbeatable of course, is a synonym for electable.
		When you consider the political landscape within a larger context, it turns out that electability doesn’t matter at all, because anyone who is electable will turn out to not be worth electing anyway.
	www.student.virginia.edu /~critmass/mar04/article5.html (1605 words)

	An Argument for PR from the Left
		Despite wishful thinking, noth- ing electable ever emerges on the leftist front, and in 1994 many progressives didn't even bother to vote unless it was to oppose some Republican or regressive initiative or referendum.
		It is nearly impossible for progressive candidates -- or any other third party or minority candidate -- to win a seat under a winner-take-all voting system, since by virtue of being a minority progressives cannot attract a majority of votes.
		A majority of votes is a heck of a lot of votes to win, requiring a lot of campaign money and candidates to "mainstream" themselves -- running on safe, usually conservative issues like law and order, crime, deficits and cutting taxes and government spending.
	www.mtholyoke.edu /acad/polit/damy/articles/an_argument_for_pr_from_the_left.htm (843 words)

	Center for Voting and Democracy
		But scholars who specialize in the dry mechanics of electoral systems and voter-choice theory have a different take on the vote: A two-stage, multicandidate contest failed to impose discipline on voters and thus did not demonstrate the public's preference.
		French voters, it is said, vote with their hearts in the first round, and with their heads in the second.
		Tudor were decisively rejected by voters, as politicians of the large mainstream parties united to stop them.
	www.fairvote.org /op_eds/washtimes042902.htm (1629 words)

	Centerfield: The Electable Democrat
		If people support Kerry because they think he's electable, he goes up in the polls, which makes him look more electable.
		The best way to filter out this distortion is to focus on the voters least likely to make their decisions in November based on electability.
		They are not idiots, they know that is what electability depends on.
	www.centristcoalition.com /blog/archives/000332.html (1764 words)

	Online NewsHour: Republican Divide -- February 21, 1996
		Buchanan is the other, the other side of the coin, you might say right now, and he's the person to take that on, but--that he has new ideas, and Dole does not, and that's a part of his overall position, although I doubt if he expects Dole to get out of the race.
		STONE: Well, the mainstream of the party, all the surveys show, are basically very fiscal and defense conservative, but on social issues, more moderated.
		But Pat Buchanan is definitely not the mainstream of the party, and for that reason, he won't get the nomination, and for that reason, he definitely would not be electable.
	www.pbs.org /newshour/bb/election/divide_2-21.html (2622 words)

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