Blog For Arizona

Colorado May Be Blueprint for Democrats

The victory in CO of both Salazar brothers in the Senate and House, paired with Democrats retaking both State houses for the first time since 1960 shows the power of pairing progressive politics with a hearthfelt articulation of religious and ethical values. Both Salazar brothers opposed the hot-button issues of the religious right - they support abortion rights and oppose constitutional amendments to restrict marriage to heteros - and yet they spoke to values voters about their Catholic backgrounds and values. They connected with the populist leanings of evangelical and other 'values voters' without compromising their political convictions. The result is their surprising victories and the long coat-tails they demonstrated down-ticket in CO.

The Salazar brothers in many ways mirror Kerry's views and religious heritage, but they won their races. The difference is at least in part the opponents they faced, a neo-phyte tycoon and lobbyist, neither an incumbent, but maybe some portion of their margin can be attributed to their talking frequently and openly about their background and faith. If Kerry had done so more often, and more sincerely, perhaps he would have fared a little better with 'values voters' in close swing states - perhaps well enough to have claimed the POTUS.

'Values voters' may be the most overplayed story of the post-election news cycle, but it does have a few instructive nuggets embedded in the vast quantity of absolute bullshit being cranked out on the subject: the need for Democrats to embrace an ethical dialectic and not to shy away from speaking about religion sincerely is one such nugget.

posted by Michael Bryan @ 11/13/2004 07:21:00 PM