'New' Dems to Candidates: Expand Message

W A S H I N G T O N, May 21, 2002 -- 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.

Speaking to candidates, congressional aides and policy formulators at the conference, Sens. John Kerry and Joseph Lieberman offered pointed criticism of the Bush administration's management of American national security.

"The Republicans have no affirmative agenda," said Kerry, D-Mass.

He told Democrats to link security abroad to bread-and-butter issues at home, much like he said the party did "under the leadership of President Clinton." Kerry said the party "should have earned a much longer tenure" in office than it had.

He said the Bush administration was doing its best to narrow the range of acceptable policy choices, leaving Democrats in a netherworld of worrying how to attack a popular wartime president.

The New Old Lieberman

Lieberman, was criticized by Democrats and Republicans alike for appearing to allow the failed presidential campaign of Vice President Al Gore to pursue a populist approach. Lieberman, D-Conn., was Gore's running mate in the 2000 presidential election.

But Lieberman was back on message today, urging candidates to revive the progressive impulse in American politics and break from party orthodoxy when the truth demanded it.

"We must do what New Democrats have always done and that is to move forward with new ideas that embrace our traditional values in this country," he said.

Lieberman said the "particular mission" of New Democrats was to put forth a foreign policy alternative to Republican orthodoxy.

He said he supports overthrowing Iraq's Saddam Hussein, but said America should export its values to other countries that support terrorism, like Iran and Syria.

Support for a strong and efficient military is critical, he said.

"I think we have to be outspoken in making clear to this administration, that as effective as our military is at … draining the swamp, it's also important, as we try to avoid the civilizational struggle between the Islamic world and the rest of the world, that we spend some of our time and resources seeding the ground," Lieberman said.

Courting Hispanic Voters

Concerns that the president and Republicans have been gaining support from Hispanic voters are unfounded, according to the Democrats assembled.

Rep. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., said that while Hispanics gave Bush a high approval rating, they still preferred Democrats on nearly every issue.

"The Republicans have all the disadvantages on the issues and all the popularity of the president.," Menendez said.

Menendez urged Hispanics to focus on Republican congressional votes on key areas of concern.

Though Lieberman and Kerry didn't mention their presidential aspirations, they both dropped hints about 2004, and at times, appeared to be courting the politically active and powerful New Democrats at the conference.

And since neither of them spoke while the other was there, both of them made the same joke after they were introduced.

"Thank you for the nomination. I accept," Kerry had said after Washington state Rep. Adam Smith's glowing introduction.

"I feel like I should say I accept your nomination," Lieberman joked to the speaker who preceded him, California Rep. Cal Dooley.

The New Democrat Network PAC has given millions to centrist Democratic candidates since it was founded in 1996.