Kerry-Edwards '04,
Inc. Post Election Memo 11-06-04
To: Interested Parties
From: Kerry-Edwards
RE: John Kerry Has Built a Strong
Foundation for the Democratic
Party
John Kerry’s campaign for President made enormous contributions
to the Democratic Party which will benefit the party in the long
run. Some of
these contributions are measurable and others will only become apparent
if the
party builds on the foundation that Kerry established over the course
of his
campaign.
The following are some of the important contributions that John
Kerry’s campaign made to the Democratic Party and the nation.
1. Historic Democratic Vote –
John Kerry’s vote is the second highest total of any candidate for
president in our nation’s history. The importance of having
almost 56 million
Americans vote for the Democratic candidate for president should not be
underestimated.
These voters have established a voting behavior and have in many states
registered as a Democrat and thus can be identified and mobilized in
future
elections. Furthermore, areas of intense Democratic voting can
likewise be
identified and mobilized by the party in future elections to provide an
even
larger base of support than existed in the past. The
establishment of this huge
Democratic vote by Kerry throughout the country in an election where
there was
no net change in the numbers of states won or loss in the previous
campaign is
a significant achievement. Kerry’s popular vote total in aggregate
numbers not only exceeds Al Gore’s popular vote victory in the last
election but also Bill Clinton’s two electoral victories in the
90’s.
John Kerry’s popular vote performance is impressive not only on a
national scale, but it also has important consequences in battleground
states.
For example, John Kerry received 550,000 more votes in Ohio than Al
Gore; 500,000
more votes than Clinton did in winning Ohio in 1996;
and 668,000 more
votes than Clinton won in Ohio in 1992 victory in that state. In
Florida, Kerry
won 500,000 more votes than Gore did in 2000; 1.4 million more than
Clinton won
in 1992 and Kerry further built on that strength in other battleground
states
like Minnesota, where Kerry won 272,000 more votes than Gore in
2000. Maine
became a deeper shade of blue in 2004. Kerry’s margin of victory grew
by
3%, 45,000 more votes in Maine than Gore won in 2000. And in
Oregon, Kerry’s
margin grew from a near tie to a win by 4%. Kerry increased the
Democratic margin
in those two battleground states, making them more difficult for a
Republican
next time. Lastly, Kerry turned around the state of New Hampshire
which would
have swung the election to Gore four years ago.
2. Fundraising – By raising
$249 million in the primary process and leading the party to historic
fundraising
achievements in the general election, John Kerry has helped to
establish a
significant financial base for the Democratic Party which previously
had not
existed. The significance of this achievement in the post
McCain-Feingold world
of fundraising is of great significance. Kerry’s primary
campaign raised
almost a quarter of a billion dollars in “hard dollar”
contributions. These contributions have established a powerful
network for future
fundraising on behalf of Democratic presidential and other party
campaigns.
In addition the unprecedented fundraising on the internet that was
seeded by Governor Dean’s campaign but fully harvested by the efforts
of
John Kerry has also given Democrats the ability to compete with
powerful
special interests that have for many years fueled the Republican
fundraising
machine. This groundbreaking effort by John Kerry and his
campaign (@ JohnKerry.com)
provides Democrats with an opportunity to compete even when they are
out of
power, since so many of the contributions which came to the campaign
were low
dollar contributions. The establishment of internet fundraising
on a massive
national scale gives Democrats an opportunity to begin to take on and
end the
dominance of special interests in Washington, and to effectively
compete
against the advantage the special interests have given Republicans in
electoral
contests.
3. Issue Terrain – John Kerry,
over the course of his campaign for president, established a powerful
issue
terrain for Democrats to use in future elections. A quick review
of the exit
polls shows that the president’s claim “to a mandate” is not
supported by the sentiment of the public. While the president may
have a voting
advantage with respect to issues like “moral values” and “terrorism,”
Kerry dominated other critical issues such as “economy and jobs”
(20% selected that as the issue that mattered most, and by an 80%-18%
margin
they supported Kerry) the “war in Iraq” (15% said it was the issue
that mattered most and by a margin of 73% to 26% voters supported
Kerry) “Healthcare”
(8% said it was most important to them and by 77%-23% they supported
Kerry) and
“Education” (4% said it matted the most and by 73%-26% they
supported Kerry). These core economic issues: jobs and the
economy,
healthcare, education - along with a serious critique of the
administration's
policies in Iraq - provide a solid substantive basis upon which to
challenge
the Republicans in the next administration.
Simply put, the public overwhelming disagrees with the President’s
approach to the economy, healthcare, education, and Iraq, not to
mention Social
Security and Medicare.
4. Conclusion - John Kerry has built
a solid foundation for the Democratic Party to build on – in voters, in
resources and in substance. The party would be well advised to
build on the
foundation, and not turn our back on it.