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Andy Schmookler: A political strategy for Democrats in the Sixth District

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andy schmooklerI’ve got some ideas about what the best political strategy is for Democrats in a District like ours — Virginia’s 6th — and in the next two weeks I will be coming to two of the District’s major cities to talk about what we Democrats can accomplish. I hope you’ll attend.

Our challenge is clear: we live in a District in which the Republicans have a roughly 2:1 advantage, and in which Republican politicians like Bob Goodlatte can count on the votes of a whole lot of people whose minds are closed and whose politics are rigid.

That sounds like a terrible problem, right? Well, at one level it is.

But I’m going to show how this also gives us a great opportunity.

Particularly in these times when America’s biggest problem is the political toxicity and paralysis that prevents us from addressing constructively all our other problems, we in the 6th District have an opportunity to make an important contribution.

What’s necessary, I will try to explain, is that we think rightly about the larger politicalbattle and our place in it, and that we wage it with a well-chosen strategy.

I will be proposing such a way of thinking, and such a strategy.

The first of these talks will be in Harrisonburg on the evening of Thursday, April 18, at 7 PM. The location will be at Adona Music, at 34 South Main Street.

The second will be a week later in Lynchburg. That one will be on the evening ofThursday, April 25, at 7 PM, at the Main Branch of the Lynchburg Public Library at 2315 Memorial Avenue.

I intend to talk for about 20 minutes, and then open it up for discussion.

I hope you will attend. And I hope you will bring others.

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