The Democratic Party's 2020 strategy involves addressing the critical errors made during Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign, focusing primarily on significant battleground states like Wisconsin. The party recognized that Hillary Clinton’s failure was not due to a major defection to the Republicans but rather a lack of voter turnout among Democrats, particularly the Obama supporters. With the pandemic serving as a unique challenge and opportunity, the shift in campaigning strategies have included virtual meetings and emphasizing safe voting to re-engage the electorate.

Amidst the 2020 Democratic National Convention, a greater emphasis was placed on delivering messages that resonate with everyday challenges faced by citizens, rather than simply criticizing Trump. The party has been pushing for conversations on crucial topics such as healthcare, racial and social justice, and economic policy. Additionally, enthusiasm among Democratic voters, including African Americans, appears to be stronger as they rally behind the leadership of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, despite some initial reservations within the party.

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Key Vocabularies and Common Phrases:

1. emblematic [ɪmˈblæmətɪk] - (adjective) - Symbolic or representative of something else, particularly a situation or group of people. - Synonyms: (symbolic, representative, indicative)

Wisconsin became emblematic of Hillary Clinton's failure in 2016.

2. defected [dɪˈfɛktɪd] - (verb) - Left or abandoned allegiance to a cause or party. - Synonyms: (deserted, abandoned, renounced)

not because large numbers of Democrats defected.

3. enthusiasm [ɪnˈθjuːzɪæzəm] - (noun) - Intense and eager enjoyment, interest, or approval. - Synonyms: (eagerness, zeal, fervor)

At the county Democratic Party headquarters, they think the enthusiasm is back.

4. sincere [sɪnˈsɪr] - (adjective) - Free from pretense or deceit; honest. - Synonyms: (genuine, honest, heartfelt)

And we have to be sincere.

5. relevant [ˈreləvənt] - (adjective) - Closely connected or appropriate to the matter at hand. - Synonyms: (pertinent, applicable, appropriate)

but they weren't sufficiently relevant to the lives of the folks we were trying to reach.

6. spectacle [ˈspɛktəkəl] - (noun) - A visually striking performance or display. - Synonyms: (display, pageant, show)

It was spectacle.

7. amends [əˈmɛndz] - (noun) - Reparation or compensation for a loss or injury. - Synonyms: (reparation, compensation, redress)

They are trying to make amends.

8. tangible [ˈtænʤəbəl] - (adjective) - Perceptible by touch; clear and definite; real. - Synonyms: (concrete, palpable, material)

And so that's, that, that's a real thing for people, a real tangible thing.

9. inspired [ɪnˈspaɪərd] - (adjective) - Of extraordinary quality, as if arising from some external creative impulse. - Synonyms: (stimulated, motivated, driven)

We don't have that, that inspiration that's going to lead us.

10. momentum [moʊˈmentəm] - (noun) - The driving force gained by the development of a process or course of events. - Synonyms: (impetus, energy, drive)

We take nothing for granted, but I make the counterargument on Wisconsin. Yes, we lost Wisconsin in 2016, but then Wisconsin came roaring back.

US Election 2020 - What is the Democratic strategy? - BBC Newsnight

This is no one's idea of a party convention. There's no energy, there's no networking. There are no people. But there was a reason the Democrats chose this city and this state for their convention. They are trying to make amends. Wisconsin became emblematic of Hillary Clinton's failure in 2016. She didn't come to Wisconsin to campaign here, and there are many people who never forgave her for that. She could have come to Wisconsin, come to places like Winnebago county, come to places like Milwaukee, and asked us to get people out to vote for.

The Democrat party's strategy this time around starts with this simple fact. They believe that Hillary Clinton failed to win Wisconsin and other crucial battleground states, not because large numbers of Democrats defected. The Republican Party. No, they believe they lost because large numbers of Democrats just didn't vote at all. Across this state, a quarter of a million Obama Democrats failed to show up for Hillary Clinton, 4000 of them here in Columbia county. Twice Columbia voted for Obama and then on a reduced turnout for Donald Trump.

At the county Democratic Party headquarters, they think the enthusiasm is back, but admit it's hard to measure during the pandemic. We're not meeting in person at all. We're doing our meetings by Zoom, but we find that people are very excited about. We have more requests for yard signs earlier this year than we did in 2016, that's for sure. Mary says that one thing that's definitely changed is that many Democrats are now willing to accept a candidate who may not have been their first choice.

So now on Facebook, when people talk about, well, you know, Joe this, Joe that, but I'm going to vote for him, you know, that's pretty much it. You know, I wish Bernie were the guy, but okay, I'll vote for Joe this time. I think people understand what's at stake. Supreme Moor Omakunde was a Bernie Sanders delegate at the last convention four years ago. He's now standing for the Wisconsin State assembly to represent Milwaukee, a racially mixed area where huge numbers of african american voters abandoned the party in 2016. He says it would be a mistake to assume that those voters are in the bag this time.

We can't rely on Trump sucking so badly that we'll just. We'll put all our cards or all our eggs in that basket, if you will. We have to come out and convey a message that meets people at their level on their everyday needs. We need to talk about healthcare. We need to talk about climate change. We need to talk about economic equity. We need to talk about social justice. And racial justice. And we have to be sincere.

African american voters will come out and vote for Biden. I think that him being the first african american president's vice president serves him well. However, he needs to talk about some of the successes that he had during that presidency and also some of the things that they did wrong. That's one thing that democrats realized too late, that Trump bashing alone won't work in huge swathes of America. Four years ago, I was helping a super PAC whose job it was to run negative ads on Donald Trump, and we ran $190 million worth of ads. They were great, but they were all focused on Trump's character.

They weren't false, they weren't unfair, but they weren't sufficiently relevant to the lives of the folks we were trying to reach. I didn't connect up to people. Why Trump's piggish personal behavior could have consequences for a farmer in Wisconsin or an office worker in Michigan or retiree in Pennsylvania. That's on me and my fellow Democrats. I had many sleepless nights.

Paul Begala used to work for President Clinton. He's written a book on how the party can now beat Trump. The pandemic, he believes, changes everything. One of the things Trump did, and this is genius, was he convinced a lot of people that politics was just theater. It was spectacle. It was show business for ugly people. So whether Trump had a spat with Nancy Pelosi over the budget or a Twitter war with Chrissy Teigen, the model, it didn't really matter in my life.

Well, now, Covid changes that. People have to vote in America like their life depends on it, because it does. Welcome to the 2020 Democratic National Convention. So this week's convention is hammering home the same message again and again. Not about Russia or collusion or impeachment or emoluments or any of the other scandals that have consumed the last four years, they just talk about Trump's leadership.

At a time like this, the Oval Office should be a command center. Instead, it's a storm center. There's only chaos. Just one thing never changes. His determination to deny responsibility and shift the blame. But there's a danger for the Democrats in simply concentrating on Covid. Here. In many rural counties, the virus has hardly hit at all. There have been just two deaths in Columbia county since the start of the pandemic.

Jess King is running for Congress for this part of Wisconsin. She says despite the small number of deaths, voters are still very much hard hit by Covid-19 here we are hurting, you know, we're hurting emotionally. Financially. And we're starting to see the layoffs in the service industry and in the public sector. And so that's, that, that's a real thing for people, a real tangible thing. And I, and we need to restore that confidence in, for citizens that they can participate in the economy in a safe way.

And unfortunately, in the United States, we don't have that common plan. We don't have that, that inspiration that's going to lead us, you know, to really resolve the consequences of this pandemic. And we're looking for that kind of leadership. DOnaLd J Trump the question is, who do voters blame for the economic damage? Donald Trump, who paid a flying visit to Wisconsin this week, says it's all the fault of the Democrats for exaggerating the virus in order to hurt him.

This will be a large scale scale, very large scale Venezuela if they win. But it's not these voters who Democrats have to convince. In fact, the party believes they can win Wisconsin and America, perhaps without even persuading a single Trump voter to change their minds. David Grossman well, before we came on air, I spoke to one of the candidates Joe Biden beat for the Democrat nomination, Senator Amy Klobuchar. She is a Democrat senator from Minnesota, the state next door to Wisconsin.

I began by asking her whether it really was enough for Democrats to win without changing the minds of a single Trump voter. I want to win big. KERSHIEF and that is a combination of bringing in people that didnt vote before. And I believe this ticket. And the fact that Donald Trump, in his words, said it is what it is about all the deaths weve seen from the pandemic in America. I think that is going to motivate people to vote in a big way.

But I think theres something else, and that is that there are people that voted for Donald Trump, including in my state. And the polls back this up, who have just about had it. They want to have competence in the White House. We dont have that right now. We dont have a major testing regime thats going on across the country. They want to stop the dividend. And the fact that weve got a president that puts wedges between people all the time.

Thats how he basically gets his people going. And the third thing is they want heart and compassion. And that was on full display at our convention the last few days, including one of my favorite things, the roll call of state, where you saw the diversity of America as it is, not the America that Donald Trump wants to believe.

AMY but they want to see policies, too. And our reporter has been in Wisconsin and said that action actually, you risk losing voters to apathy. That actually it builds on the fact that Hillary Clinton wasn't in Wisconsin in 2016. Donald Trump has been there this week. He's been in Minnesota, which is obviously your state number one target. And actually what you have to do is get out and campaign. You can't be on phone banks. You can't be on Zoom. You have to get out there boots on the ground.

I think that the polls show whos winning here and it is Joe Biden. We take nothing for granted, but I make the counterargument on Wisconsin. Yes, we lost Wisconsin in 2016, but then Wisconsin came roaring back. Theres now a democratic governor, Tammy Baldwin won her reelection. And we have four former governor Scott Walker, who was once considered a presidential candidate. So Wisconsin has been turning more and more blue.

And my plan is to build a big blue wall of democratic votes around these states and make Donald Trump pay for it. Robert well, senator, don't you have to get out there? And the problem is that you have Joe Biden essentially still in Delaware, stuck in Delaware, and yet his USP is meant to be to get out and connect with working class voters. And it's not going to be enough for African Americans just simply to say he was Barack Obama's VPN.

Oh, I just disagree with this premise because african american voters are psyched up. They've been voting in the primaries and Joe Biden is ahead in the polls. And yeah, Donald Trump came to my state, but because of the pandemic, it's not like he is out there walking around. It's not like he's out there at big rallies like he used to have. He is constrained himself. He's going to airports, right, and standing and talking to the press. So I just don't buy this premise. Joe Biden is reaching out in every single way.

He does interviews all the time. The convention, I thought more people could access it. You had more people that could get on during primetime tv than you have during a normal convention. How about the woman from Arizona who lost her dad from COVID In her words, his only preexisting condition was that he trusted Donald Trump and he paid for it with his life.

These are people that might not normally come and speak on a convention floor. And we were able to reach them virtually. You have to suppose to bring Democrats who are naturally split over certain things together. So they might be split about the economic justice or how to address that racial justice, defunding the police with our own platform and that platform does not call for defunding the police. It calls for police reform and criminal justice reform, which there's widespread agreement on in America.

We call for a public option. That's what I believe we should do, universal health care for all. We just have different ways to get there. And all you have to do is listen to Bernie Sanders. And he was so clear. He directly addressed his supporters and said that we cannot mess around and they have to vote for Joe Biden.

Listen to Michelle Obama in this one grand moment where she says, let me be clear. And you think its going to be rosy rhetoric. Instead, she says, if you think it cant get worse, it can. People are being very direct with their supporters here and asking them to vote for Joe Biden. And the polls show that its working, I guess. One more thing I want to say about the amazing thing about this convention, you have never seen such an array of Republicans coming out and speaking out against their existing president.

You have the secretary of state under George Bush, Colin Powell, coming out and speaking for Joe Biden, Cindy McCain, the wife of the former republican nominee, John McCain, narrating a video for Joe Biden. You have Republicans from all over the country that are coming forward and speaking at the democratic convention.

I dont think this should be lost on anyone all over the world. That this is a unique circumstance in terms of Joe Bidens ability to bring people in is an issue. And, of course, as you will very well know, there's been a lot of republican attack ads on Joe Biden's cognitive decline, as they would put it. But the fact is that it's Bill Clinton's 74th birthday today. He stopped being president 19 years ago. If Joe Biden wins, he'll be 78.

Now. Is it an issue that he's not absolutely in his prime? I think, first of all, the primary voters decided that, as you know, I was running and I was out there. And I think theres a lot of, a lot of voters voted for experience, and they voted for someone that they knew and believed in. And that was important to them because they saw who was on the opposite side. That was Donald Trump.

You have young people voting. They voted in the midterms. Theyre voting again. Look at last night. It wasnt just Bill Clinton. We had a lot of young leaders, including Stacey Abrams in my state.

I asked Melvin Carter, our young mayor or African American from St. Paul, to join with me in announcing the roll call. There were young leaders on display, AOC there were young leaders all the time on display. The young people are with the Democrats. They're not with Donald Trump.

But, Senator, do you think now that there's a question over the three debates, will Joe Biden debate with Donald Trump in the three debates? I think that they have committed to doing debates with Donald Trump. I know they're working out the details of that. And you talk about unity and you talk about the canker, as it were. That's been Donald Trump, you would say, but isn't it more than just to be negative? You have to have a positive picture. You have to have a positive program.

It's not enough to be negative against Trump. Well, I think that Joe Biden has that. That's what build back better is about. You're not just voting against Donald Trump. You're voting for change and you're voting for things like increasing the minimum wage, doing something about climate change reform, fixing this pandemic, getting the vaccines out. Thats what youre voting for.

And all through the summer, hes been laying out an economic plan for this country. And by the way, we had in America, because I was part of nearly every single debate, we had major debates about policies going forward and what I call now the day after tomorrow, because after Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are able to get us back to normal when it comes to this pandemic, then weve got to work on all those long term problems for our country. And we will, but only if they winden.

Politics, Leadership, Motivation, Democratic Party, Voter Engagement, Wisconsin, Bbc Newsnight