The problem is even if the Democrats do show up at Nascar it can almost be counted upon that the leftwing activists will have it protested with some sort of Cindy Sheehan demostration , booing of the boy scouts or other famously idiotic tactics guaranteed (not) to win over the audience.

The only way the Democrats are ever going to see the light of day again is to rebuild precinct by precint - without the leftwing activists that represent 15% of the voting public on a good day. In terms of party leadership, Nancy Pelosi and Howard Dean need to be given a one-way bus ticket to a new career and replaced with people who can stand for something besides every unsavory social issue from abortion to gay marriage, or otherwise blather about rebuilding the party without a single VIABLE idea of how to do so.

Therefore, as things stand, articles such as this is merely talking to hear ourselves talk as the Republicans operate ever more arrogantly with no checks and balances and the country slips ever further down the slipperly slopes toward Hell. It's quite painful to watch and I suspect I may speak for many Dems when I say I resent enormously the left's audicity to try to blame it on elected Democrats that 90% of the time have managed to get elected despite rather than because of the far left.

Thank you, Mr. MacGregor, for elegantly stating exactly what this racefan (yes folks, that's one word, just like racecar) and incessantly frustrated Democrat feels about my party's awkward stumbling from one overly nuanced position to another. Your essay identifies precisely why the Democrats (to use a mixed sports metaphor), given an underhand slow pitch, could not hit the ball out of the park in 2004.

When I go to a race, and I look at the sea of faces in the grandstands, I do not see 75,000 Bubbas, worthy only of contempt, and whose opinions can be ignored because they don't have college educations. I see good, honest, hard-working Americans, the kind of Americans celebrated (as the author noted) by Walt Whitman and, more recently, by noted Democrat Bruce Springsteen. The kind of Americans that voted for FDR, and Harry Truman, and JFK, and LBJ, and Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton in the hope that these men-in-suits would make their lives a little easier than the other side's men-in-suits. The fact that my party now thinks that an aloof northeastern blue-blood like John Kerry or a cold, snooty, lawyerly type like Hillary Clinton can be successfully sold to the NASCAR crowd would be laughable if it weren't so sad.

Please don't take this as yet another call for the Democratic Party to take another lurch toward the right in a desparate attempt to win the presidency. Hardly. In fact, I don't think it really matters much where exactly on that self-limiting continuum a particular candidate falls. A "liberal" Democrat could appeal to the NASCAR crowd just as easily as a "moderate" Democrat can, as long as that candidate has the proper "He's one of us" packaging that the Republicans seem to have down pat. Besides, we Democrats know in our hearts what the core values of the Democratic Party are (and will not be convinced otherwise by the likes of Limbaugh and O'Reilly), and we should simply let our Democratic candidates be true to these core values instead of forcing them to pay homage to each and every one of our pet issues, thus draining them of their ability to gain mass appeal and their potential to rise to the sort of mythic status that the author refers to in his essay.

God, I agree. Last election, I wanted to shake the Democratic Party like a British nanny and shout "Stand for something! ANYTHING!" Instead it's all fuzzy feelings and focus groups and won't tread on anyone's toes and, quite frankly, people *hate* that. The reason Bush captures his voters is he, at least, seems to stand for something (whether we think it's right or not) whereas Dems are so busy explaining and nuancing and "I voted for it before I voted against it"ing that everyone changes the channel.

But then you see what the Democratic leadership does to a "balls-out" candidate like Major Paul Hackett. How can you drive when your own pit crew pours sand in your gas-tank?

Speaking of Mark Warner, this article from the Weekly Standard, on his campaign, should be required reading for Democrats:

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/005/716psthq.asp

Let us assume that the Democratic leaders obsessively read Salon.com and actually take its articles to heart. Let us further assume that they go and change and be like Dale Earnhardt, presenting a "balls-out" image to crowds of "middle-brow white America", ready-made for ravenous consumption. Let's keep assuming and pretend that it's worked.

Now what?

With all the talk about how "the Democrats need to win", it appears to me that everyone is losing sight about exactly WHY we want them to win. And that is because we have an administration that is incompetent and corrupt, driving out nation steadily towards ruin. We want an administration which is competent and honest (as far as an administration can be honest), which will coax our nation into prosperity in this rapidly changing world. Yes. Now tell me, how would an image of "balls-out" Democrats achieve this end? We will have a party in charge that is good at presenting themselves to the "middle-brow" public and cultivating an engaging image, sure. Don't we have a party like that in charge right now? Or perhaps everyone is convinced that simply because they are Democrats, they will make everything better and all they have to do is get elected?

Image is nice, yet I've a sneaky suspicion that the Democrats are not simply "losing the middle America"; our entire political system (Democrats, Republicans, etc.) has lost its mojo. It does not take politicians long to figure out that even in a democracy power can be abused and personal gain extracted from it. These days, extracting personal gain is all our politicians do... or did you forget why the Republicans gained so much power only ten years ago? Do you expect that the "culture of corruption" has disappeared from the Democratic ranks in that time? They merely haven't wielded enough influence to make it show, is all.

We don't need a particular party in power, ladies and gentlemen. We need professional politicians who are more motivated to keep our country going than lining their pockets. Fat chance on getting that in the next election. Instead, we'll most probably get some Democratic leaders pretending to "listen to middle America", getting elected, and doing more of the same. Because they can. Because we re-elect the members of Congress 96% of the time.