Key to Winning: Showing Up

When I was coaching at Montrose, I would tell my kids that half of winning is just showing up. Show up for the first interp contest of the year, just know your lines and comb your hair, and you're guaranteed to beat at least a couple people.

Maybe the Republicans need to get that message. Mort Kondracke reports that on Super Tuesday alone, Democrats outnumbered Republicans at the polls 14.6 million to 9 million. Kondracke calculates that in all the primaries so far (except for Michigan, where only Clinton was on the ballot), Clinton has received 8,463,780 votes, while Obama has won 8,263,662. By Kondracke's numbers, McCain, Huckabee and the now-quitting Romney combined have received 8,327,627.

In other words, there are as many people excited enough about either Clinton or Obama as have been willing to show up for any of the last big GOP three.

The Dems have found candidates who have excited the electorate. What excitement the GOP candidates have been able to rouse has been the wrong kind, with voters getting all huffy and haughty over one candidate or another not being enough like Reagan or Jesus. And that kind of excitement only makes disgruntled voters stay home in November.

The GOP may hope that Hillary can hang on through March, get the Florida and Michigan delegates seated, and win the nomination so she can scare the GOP fence-sitters to the polls. But as the Dems learned in 2004, you don't win by campaigning against the other guy. People want something -- someone -- to vote for. Clinton and Obama are getting people to show up. McCain, Huckabee, and Romney haven't.

You want to win? You have to show up. And right now, it looks like the Dems are ready to do that. GOP, like it or not, if you want to win, you need to show up.