The New York Times had a very interesting article recently detailing how Democrats have made the conscious choice to avoid town hall style meetings in recent and future Congressional recesses. Traditionally, these times were great opportunities for representatives and senators to return home to their respective districts and states to get intimate contact with voters and gauge the mood of the public. Yet, Democratic politicians know exactly what awaits them when they return: anger. Voter anger and frustration has been mounting all across the political spectrum from right-wing activists, expressed in Tea Party movement, infuriated by the massive government run health care plan and subsequent tax increases to come to independents worried about the crescendoing burden of budget deficits coupled with a weak and tenuous job market. During the past summer, these town hall meetings erupted into massive shout-fests caught on YouTube, with confused a
nd socially awkward politicians stammering for adequate responses to the crowd. There will be no more of that this summer.
According to the Times’ sources, Democratic political advisors have asked candidates to stick to “events in controlled settings — a bank or credit union, for example — or tour local businesses or participate in community service projects.” Maryland Congressman Frank Kratovil for example stuck to a quick reception where “a round of applause was followed by a glass of chilled wine, a plate of crackers and crudités as he mingled with an invitation-only audience at the Point Breeze Credit Union, a vastly different scene than last year’s wide-open televised free-for-alls.” For a party which increasingly prides itself on being in touch with the voters on Main Street, protecting the little guy against a barrage of forces that include defense contractors, oil companies and Wall Street, this is a largely disgraceful act. While concerns that the town halls would be hijacked by Tea Party activists and exploited by conservative strategists are probably legitimate, given the Republicans’ strategy of blocking Democratic initiatives, these concerns are no excuse to forgo the voice of the people. If the Democrats continue to attempt to shut out the voices on Main Street in the run up to the November elections and hide in their cocktail receptions within the safe and cozy confines of labor union interests, it will spell electoral disaster.
For example, both Representatives Paul Hodes and Carol Shea-Porter of New Hampshire, electedin the Democratic wave of 2006, have not so accidentally avoided all direct voter contact during the recent Congressional recess. Congresswoman Shea-Porter, running for reelection, and Congressman Hodes, running for the Senate, both rode into office promising a new generation of leadership that would buck the interests of the Washington political circle in favor of local New Hampshire voters. Yet, by conspicuously circumventing the voters, both representatives will only be portrayed mroe and more as out of touch political elites, a reputation that the Democratic Party has been trying to shed and pin on its Republican counterparts. Says the conservative New Hampshire Union-Leader, “After assuring us that they would be independent voices for New Hampshire down in Washington, Hodes and Shea-Porter have spent the past three years voting as Nancy Pelosi has told them to vote.” Unfortunately for both politicians, whose election prospects are bleak at the moment, such attacks are damaging and will be used to against them in the upcoming election, unless the Democrats make a firm stand for distancing themselves from special interests and Washington politicians.
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