The Real Reasons She Lost

This is a time when Democrats need to regroup and look forward to next year’s midterm elections. Instead, Hillary Clinton has grabbed the spotlight with her book that rehashes last year’s debacle. To be fair, I haven’t read it. From what I have heard, it is a laundry list of excuses that pointed in every direction but her and her staff.

Donald Trump was the most unpopular person ever to run for president. I was (and still am) convinced that he was unelectable. The Democrats came through for him with a bad candidate and a worse campaign strategy. Of the main reasons she lost, the only thing out of their control was the rise of Bernie Sanders. Their missteps include:

1.      An unattractive candidate – Bill Clinton is one of the best campaigners in the last quarter century and she is one of the worst. She made no attempt to really connect with the American people.

2.      Lots of baggage – Hillary Clinton had to cope with a mountain of scandal. By the time the Russians got involved, people had already decided whether or not these scandals would keep them from voting for her.

3.      Lack of purpose – Every successful candidate must offer a compelling reason why people should vote for them. It was clear that personal ambition was the reason she was running.

4.      Politics of division – Like it or not, negative campaigning can work. However, the nonstop demonization of Trump and the Republicans got old in a hurry.

5.      Taking states for granted – Losing Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania cost her the election. The campaign did very little in Wisconsin and not much more in Michigan.

6.      Interest group focus – The campaign focused almost exclusively on attracting liberals and people that perceived themselves as victims of evil Republicans. The biggest mistake they made was to ignore the blue collar vote. This is the traditional base of the party.
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Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton presided over the rapid decline of the party. Party leaders would be well advised not to listen to those that caused the problem in the first place.
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