DEMOCRATS should be more sophisticated and compete to win both here locally and nationally.
Nationally, the Dems should learn from the 2000 and 2004 elections that they are not a popularity contest but an electoral contest. That means a candidate like John Edwards from a red state like North Carolina or a Bill Richardson again from a red state like New Mexico are better suited to turn one red state to blue in ’08. It is by no means automatic that just because you are from a red state and you are a Democrat, you will carry it.
Ask Al Gore who didn’t carry his home state of Tennessee in ’00. Candidates like Hillary (who is running to clear her tarnished name and to get even with Republican) and Obama, while popular, already come from traditional blue-leaning states such as New York and Illinois. So they don’t bring anything extra to the electoral map, unless if they get so dramatic which I don’t see or folks in red states get so disgusted with Republicans, no matter who carries the GOP banner, which I can see somewhat. (The only “state” Republicans should win is Guam. We can give them that.)
Locally, the Dems here must know that if the 2Ks, Klitzkie and Kasperbauer, ran in ’06, they probably would have won and left the Dems with only five seats. Folks here do not vote for the party but for the individuals.
But make no mistake. There was a reason why Speaker Forbes was dancing on KUAM (or trying to show Clint Ridgell how to dance) on election night. The GOP candidates are vetted and they will get the best out there to run under their farmer. (Nationally, the GOP gets football players and coaches to run. Because Republicans love football?)
You have to have a certain appeal, be clean-cut, polished, with a technical background, if possible. (It is almost like the Al-Qaida recruiting profile.) What I mean by that is not ANYONE can go run under that Republican banner. You can but you are not going to win. So the message to the Dems is, you can say you are the big-tent party and that is true but you must recruit the candidates with the best chance of making top 15 by looking at head-to-dead matchups with the Republicans.
There is reason why the GOP does not care about the primary, besides the obvious saving up for the general. They believe in quality, not quantity.

MATT PHILIPS
Mangilao, Guam