John Podhoretz Quotes

Memo to White House: Calling voters stupid is not a winning strategy.

Of course we are looking to win support across every section of society. We win support by speaking to voters on the issues they most care about.

The Republicans need to work on registration and getting out their vote and their early voters and absentees. Grassroots stuff.

It's about going to where your voters are.

We need candidates who are able to reach out to young voters, women voters.

Simply because you're a Democrat doesn't mean you can't speak to these issues in language that appeals to voters, particularly independent voters.

I had this notion that I could convince people who were skeptical of national Democrats to vote for me because I could bring home the bacon, or because I could find some personal pitch to them.

Nobody understood better than Mr. Lincoln the obvious truth that in politics it does not suffice merely to nominate candidates. Something must also be done to elect them.

It does no good to be a conservative if you can't sell a conservative message in a general election.

Klandidate

We'll get out the [black] vote, but we need the white vote to win.

How can you challenge an incumbent and not be divisive?

You can't win an election with money alone.

You can't win an election unless you have a message.

You have to knock doors, make calls, and build a relationship with voters long before Election Day.

Democrats fell in love with the idea that winning elections was a matter of talking to voters about the one issue we think impacts them, instead of our plan to move the country forward as a whole.

After Mitt Romney's defeat, the RNC released its official assessment of what happened - a failure to reach younger voters, nonwhite voters, women - but was met with a counter-narrative that, in fact, it was Romney's failure to be conservative enough that led to a depressed Republican base.

Influencing voters is the crux of all poll campaigns.

I know what it takes to win. I know a general election is going to come down to not only Republican voters but my ability to connect with independent and women voters.

The basic job of any campaign is to translate grassroots energy into turnout.

I think, at the end of the day, if voters don't see the substance and the merit of the policies you're advocating, it won't matter what you do on social media.

I'm well aware of the dynamics of turnout and measuring enthusiasm and identifying and turning out voters. That's something I'm cognizant of in running a successful campaign.

We fail to continue to talk to, to court, to engage our voters. And then we look up and expect our nominees to look up and go from 0 to 100 in a matter of two months to try to secure a victory.

That's the trouble with trying to influence an undecided voter. First you have to find one.

Elections are about the future. And the GOP will not win a campaign focused on the past.