N.J. and Democrats:

Losers together?

By ALAN GUENTHER, Courier-Post Staff, November 4, 2004

As a state, we once again backed the loser -- not that there's anything wrong with that.

We feel differently about social issues than most of the rest of America. -Polls consistently show we're liberal. -The majority of us believe in abortion rights.

Elsewhere in the country, 11 states approved measures that would prohibit gay marriage.

But in New Jersey, more than half of us told pollsters our governor shouldn't have resigned, even though he admitted having an extramarital affair with a man.

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry was in tune with us -- and that's a sure sign of trouble in today's America. He did well here, carrying New Jersey by 7 percentage points, one of his widest margins of victory in the country.

It's been eight years now since we were on the winning team, eight years since Democrat Bill Clinton - a popular, Bible-quoting womanizer - carried our state and the rest of the country.

Somehow, to win the White House, Democrats need to figure out how they can talk to the entire middle of the country again.

"Attention Democrats: You need to nominate a moderate presidential candidate who is not from the Northeast or California," said national political analyst Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia.

In addition to being characterized as liberal on social issues, Democrats have another image to combat, said Sabato: They come across as weak.

"Republicans are the tough, defense-oriented, masculine party," he said. "The Democrats have a more feminine image. They are the caring party. But they're just not tough."

Once they find a Southern or Midwestern candidate, other analysts say Democrats should get back to some of their basic issues, like the environment and abortion rights.

The argument about abortion should be kept simple, said Glassboro resident Elizabeth Volz, president of New Jersey's chapter of the National Organization for Women.

Polls show most people don't want abortion to be outlawed. People don't want to go back to the era of back-alley abortions, she said.

"Conservative politicians realize they can't win," she said, as long as the fight is strictly about whether abortion should legal.

"So they have changed the questions," she said. Democrats have allowed themselves to be "get side-tracked."

Today, the arguments are about so-called partial birth abortions.

Others argue about whether parents should be notified before their 13-year-old daughter has an abortion.

Republican analyst Stephen Salmore said people discuss these restrictions on abortion rights for a good reason. Their attitudes are changing. They support limits on abortion, Salmore said.

New Jersey isn't a liberal island, Salmore argued.

"It is slowly becoming more like the rest of the country," he said. Democrat Al Gore won the state by a 16-percent margin in 2000. Kerry's margin was nine points less.

Jeff Tittel, director of New Jersey's Sierra Club, disagreed and said there's no drift to conservative values in New Jersey.

Instead, he argued, Kerry was an ineffective candidate.

As a state, we tell pollsters we're for a cleaner environment.

But that message has been turned against Democrats.

Republicans have made Democrats seem like they're in favor of cumbersome government regulations that inhibit business growth.

"Bush has been very smart in packaging his attacks on the environment," said Tittel.

When Bush relaxed regulations to allow more emissions from coal-burning power plants in Ohio, he called it his "Clear Skies" legislation, Tittel said. "We called it 'Clear Lies.' "

But instead of championing environmental issues that play well with women and families, instead of stressing a clean environment as part of a terror-free world, Kerry only reacted to Bush's charges, Tittel complained.

Whether it was on the Swift Boats controversy -- where veterans attacked Kerry's military record -- or Bush's charges that Kerry's "flip-flopped" on issues, Tittel said Kerry allowed Bush to define him.

"They responded to Republican attacks," said Tittel. "They never got in front of the issues and said who they were."

Ingrid Reed, director of the Rutgers' Eagleton Institute of Politics, had a simple challenge to all those who are assessing this campaign. Think about Kerry's message, she said. And then answer: What was it?

In contrast, Bush's message, she said, was simple: "He's fighting terrorism and he's for freedom."

Democrats need something that concise, she said.

But unless Democrats come up a better way of marketing their message, Reed said, they may remain confident in their views. They may be comfortable with their convictions. And we in New Jersey will still like them.

And we'll stay losers together.

Reach Alan Guenther at (856) 317-7871 or aguenther@courierpostonline.com