Oklahoma Democrats

[lawpoke87]

Were the party of power in Oklahoma during my youth. They controlled both the House and the Senate as well as most of the State offices. Oklahoma as far back as I can remember voted conservative/Republican in national elections but the Oklahoma Blue Dog Dems ran on conservative principals which resinated with the voters. We've had some darn good Democrats elected here in Oklahoma over the years.

Republicans now control both the State House and Senate as well as all major state offices, both Senators and all House seats. Looking at the upcoming mid-terms the Dems are barely fielding candidates in most races and those candidates are largely weak with little funding. I can't recall a time when the state Democratic party was in worse shape. Is there hope for the party? Can they regain some of their lost stature?

 

[rabidTU]

The obvious answer imo is that the democrats at the national level no longer represent the views of the average Oklahoman. So the dems have lost touch with the common hard working man in this state.

But I think a lot of it stems from internet sites like this, cable tv news and radio. At one time, people were not able to get the vast amount of news so quickly and a lot of Okies were not as engaged because they didn't have the time. The fall of newspapers and rise of cable news and the internet have allowed people to freely express their views and listen to others - that has never occurred before to such a degree. And imo, the views of some of those on the left are repugnant to everything the average Oklahoman believes. Under Obama, his radical views are so crystal clear and his intent so obvious that even a person who is moderate has seen the light of his hope and change agenda. His popularity has declined from 67% (real clear politics) to about 41%. That is a huge decline - almost Nixon-like. And in the state, he hasn't won a single county - including in district 1 that was a democratic stronghold for many decades. You can fool some of the people all the time - but not many in this state.

imo