I love Arianna. I voted for her for Governor of CA.

She's exactly right, as well. The Dems lost this election by trying to move to the center and then a little bit to the right in order to get the undecideds. In the meantime, they lost their message and lost the support of their base.

And then they showed up in the summer of 2004 to say "Hey! Minorities and Unions! Go vote for us!" and it was way too little, way too late.

Forget the undecideds. You have no agenda when in pursuit of them above and beyond all else. Kerry, almost across the board, got a majority of independents state after state among the battlegrounds and it got him nothing. Ohio was ripe for the picking and he didn't win it.

Mobilize your base. The Dems base is organized labor. I don't much like unions, as I personally feel a great many are archaic and bloated masses that impede upon progress. But the Dems need em. They're already organized. They're already politicized. They already lean Dem. Now just get them out to the polls for you. Quit ignoring them. Mobilize your unions and your minorities and the progressive movement will actually have a message that'll in turn filter through to the rest of the people you need in your camp to win.