Hit 'Em Where It Hurts: How to Save Democracy by Beating Republicans at Their Own Game, by Rachel Bitecofer, with Aaron Murphy (Editor)

 

Available Feb. 6, 2023

I debated taking this to review. I made the mistake of looking at the one then available review and it was scathing. Still, I was curious. Some others commented on the review that the reviewer had mis-read. I decided to ask to review it. While it certainly isn't soothing reading, I'm glad I opted to read it. The title pretty well says it all as far as the focus, to share tried and true methods developed to elect the candidate of your choice. 

Started prior to the November 8. 2022, election, the author points out what has worked in the past isn't working now. I'm actually seeing the ideas within being utilized more frequently, so someone is obviously listening. I'm not going to share highlights as this is a book that should be read in its entirety, not just grasping onto isolated details/ideas. One builds on another, so to speak, and it'd be doing the book an injustice to share bits and pieces that, in their isolation, might not have the impact desired. Please read the blurb below for a more detailed look. Bitecofer pulls no punches, I will note.

As the author note, this book is for those who are uneasy about politics right now and where the nation is going. It should be in every single election consultant's hands and, quite frankly, should be read by anyone who wants to better visualize the big picture in the political scene. Bitecofer is a political scientist and has been featured on various media sites that are well known and respected. This guide to elections/politics is an excellent roadmap for all, candidates, election coordinators, and the public. Thank you #NetGalley and #CrownPublishing for making it available. I only wish it were available sooner. 

Publisher Blurb:

"A radical, urgent plan for how the Democratic Party and its supporters can maintain power at one of the most pivotal moments in the history of our nation’s democracy

Why do Democrats fail to win voters to their side, and what can they do to develop new winning political strategies—especially as the very fate of democracy hangs in the balance in 2024? Too often the carefully constructed, rationally minded arguments of the Left meet a grisly fate at the polls, where voters are instead swayed by Republican candidates hawking anger, fear, and resentment. Only when Democrats are handed an overwhelming motivational issue—like the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade>/i> —have they found a way to counter this effect. 
 

Political scientist and strategist Rachel Bitecofer came to prominence after predicting to the seat the size of the Democrats' rare Blue Wave in the 2018 midterms. At the heart of her prediction lay a powerful concept—negative partisanship, or the idea that voters, even most so-called independents, don’t vote for their candidate so much as they vote against their candidate’s opponent. Seen through this lens, Hit ‘Em Where It Hurts is a deep dive into the Republicans’ own playbook, sharing how Democrats can turn the Right’s own tactics against them. The way for Democrats to wage—and win—electoral war, Bitecofer writes, is to present themselves as “brand ambassadors for freedom, health, wealth, safety, and common sense,” the very opposite of the extremist, freedom-fearing Right. This is a last-ditch effort to armor democracy while there is still time to save it and strengthen it so it can never again be hijacked by a small minority of ideologues.

As America careens into the election cycle that determines its democratic future Hit ‘Em Where It Hurts is the book for any Democrat who has ever banged their head against a wall when obvious rational arguments failed to sway voters over to their side. This guide is a lifeline to save American democracy in its own darkest hour.'"