One of Democrats’ biggest complaints about the Kay Hagan campaign of 2014 was that she played it way too safe, running as a mild centrist who appealed to voters on the basis that she was less to the right of her opponent. If Kay Hagan enters the Senate race against Richard Burr, these complaints probably won’t be heard as much. That’s because Kay Hagan 3.0 is going to be much more progressive than her previous iterations.
To some extent, that’s due to the fact that the 2016 electorate will be less conservative than in 2014, allowing Hagan to run to the left with a lot more latitude. But it’s also due to the growing realization of even establishment Democrats that the old DLC strategy of the past just isn’t working like it used to.
Moreover, there’s no need for it anymore. Unlike in the past, ‘liberal’ is no longer a dirty word. In 1988, George H.W. Bush tarred his opponent Michael Dukakis with the l-word to great effect. Jesse Helms did the same thing in each of his campaigns. But now, that strategy isn’t nearly as successful. Polls show liberals making up a greater proportion of the electorate than ever before. To millennials, being a liberal isn’t a scarlet letter but a badge of honor. These voters want candidates who share their values – progressive ones – and aren’t afraid to voice them.
We see that playing out on the national level. Hillary Clinton is running to the left without fear, mostly in order to replicate the Obama coalition by appearing even more progressive than the guy in the White House, but also because the electoral consequences for such a strategy in a general election aren’t as dire. Then you have Bernie Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist who is appealing to a small but vocal segment of the Democratic Party. Being a proud liberal is no longer something confined to the Northeastern wing of the Democratic Party; it’s now pretty much a requisite for any Democrat.
That’s not to say Kay Hagan or other Democrats are going to go around talking about how liberal they are, but the policies they’re going to be campaigning for will reflect the ideology of progressivism. Income inequality, feminism, marriage equality, even racial issues, will be embraced by Democrats running for the U.S. Senate in 2016, including Hagan if she decides to do so. “Triangulation” no longer carries the day, but aggressive liberalism that makes no apology for what it is.
If Hagan runs, then, don’t expect a repeat of 2014, where she distanced herself from President Obama and boasted about how she was the most moderate U.S. Senator. Instead, expect a less kind, less gentle Hagan – one that is much more easily identifiable as a progressive. Republicans might respond by trying to brand her with the ‘L-word’. They could be dismayed when they find it doesn’t work nearly as well as it used to.
Enough Hagan already. We can do better but we’d better hurry.
Towards the end of her campaign, Hagan made a quick address to 130 Dems at Dem party County HQ in [Republican] Hendersonville, NC. She was introduced by the Democratic Mayor of Hendersonville as a conservative. Not as a “moderate democrat” – as a “Conservative”.That was met with a few gasps and a “noooo”. But that was only the second thing. The first thing was, just before her arrival, her front man took our full size cardboards of the President & First Lady out of the Meeting room and put them, face to wall, out of sight in a back room. And lastly, during her 10 minutes she never used the word “Obama”. Not once. Now I don’t know more than that but my guess is that her pitch was indicative of what she used elseware.
She distanced herself from Obama from the start and never supported him, and this in a state that went for Obama. Perhaps she’s ready for the Republican primary.
Behavior like that should disqualify her from ever running for anything ever again. These spineless Dems who run from their own party irritate the living daylights out of me. Please, be gone!!
I think we ought to get a certain fellow who was our House Representative and whose initials are Bob Etheridge to run again. He is far more astute on Washington politics and has the most level head of any NC politician I have met in recent years.
He loves a good cigar to celebrate as win — so is any NC Democrat going to Cuba in the near future for a big box of the best to bring back and woo him back into the political arena???.
Can you spell “blue dog”, or “co-chair of the pitiful Thirdway”? And taking her campaign from NCDP at the instruction of her “daddy”, Jim Hunt, in his ongoing efforts to destroy Voller and defund the NCDP. Her “machine was pitiful if not all too plentiful, and it caused terrible frictions at the county party level. But, who needs parties anyway. And she managed to turn off the black vote single handedly, stiff arming people ready and able to help. She is fundamentally incompetent, either to run or govern. NC does not need her and her hoop dance to show relevance to younger voters. She should go lawyer and bank and screw folks such as those people do.
Oh, so Kay Hagan can be a Progressive because it will be safe for her to do so? Thanks but no thanks. Her voting record proves having her in office is no different than having a Regressive. I still remember the Charlotte Observer cartoon of her as a deer caught in the headlights. So fitting. It will be eons before she grows enough spine to be considered Progressive.
Kay Hagan has shown herself to be either a coward and/ or a hypocrite. How can she think she is going to regain the trust of any true liberal or even moderate Democrat? No Hagan 3, please. How about Hagan Gone.
Hagan will do better if she distances from Clinton.
I think Hagan’s main attraction is that she has an electoral machine and knows how to raise money. I don’t think her record or her political philosophy (I’m being kind) excite many people. She may be a good political operator but those of us with a liberal mindset in NC are desperate for someone they can get behind. I don’t think that’s Kay.
Hagan has to first get through a primary. No easy feat. Second she will have to marshal lots of Democrats to back her. No easy feat. Third she will have to get Democrats and Independents to vote for her in numbers to make her victorious. An impossible feat.
And for the record Kay Hagan is sure as hell no Liberal or Progressive. I recognize them because I am one of them and she is not even close. She is a 90s NC Senate trianglulating corporatist.