'New' Dems to Candidates: Expand Message

W A S H I N G T O N, May 21 -- Democratic candidates need to expand their campaigns beyond the needs of "soccer moms" to include "office park dads" if they are to beat out Republicans targeting marginal districts, a top pollster said today.

Democratic pollster Mark Penn advised Democrats to woo blocks of undecided voters with a campaign emphasizing security and economic opportunity.

Speaking at the New Democrat Network Political Action Committee spring conference, Pennsaid candidates should be appealing to "office park dads." "They're the spouses of the soccer moms," he said, "and they've been left out of the debate."

Penn said his data showed these fathers represent about 15 percent of the electorate, are generally 25 to 50 years old, are rarely union members and tend to split their ticket when voting.

However, he said such people had more recently aligned with Republican interests and threw their support toward President Bush in the final days of the 2000 election.

But on several key issues, they are eager to embrace New Democrat proposals, Penn said.

The best way to do this, said Penn, is to shed rhetoric aimed at convincing workers they are part of an us-vs.-them world, and appeal to more middle-class concerns of economic opportunity.

A Message of Economic Security

This is not a new theme for Penn, a pollster for former President Clinton. It's an issue that has haunted the Democratic Party as it struggled to appeal to an economically prosperous electorate that responds unfavorably to class-based rhetoric.

"The Democratic Party has to speak to both halves of the household and not just one half," Penn said.

"Where soccer moms are oriented toward, 'Well, what do we have for the children?,' office park dads are oriented toward, 'What am I bringing home or how am I going to provide for the family?" Penn said.

Policies that speak directly to their concerns, Penn said, include new accounting rules to shield workers from criminal mismanagement of their finances and laws guaranteeing basic health insurance when people change jobs.