Alan Draper, the Michael W. Ranger and Virginia R. Ranger Professor of Government, recently penned an op-ed published by Newsday about what plays the Democrats could borrow from the 1960 New York Yankees' playbook as they look to the 2020 presidential election.
Draper notes in his piece, titled "Learn from Dem Yankees," that the team owned nearly every statistical category that mattered in the World Series, yet still lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates - a similar fate Democrats have faced when their presidential candidate has won the popular vote but lost the election in the Electoral College.
He writes, "Complaining about the rules distracts from organizing to win within them. It absolves the Democrats of coming up with strategies and programs that are appropriate to the rules they face. The tilt in U.S. rules, the biases built into the Senate and the Electoral College, require Democrats to appeal to rural voters in smaller states that tend to be more conservative than the rest of the country. But rather than change their strategy and program to fit the rules, Democrats choose instead to condemn them. Instead of broadening their appeal, which is in their purview and is politically possible, they propose changing the rules, which is not."
Draper's work covers American political development, labor history, and the civil rights movement. He is a two-time U.S. Fulbright Scholar Award recipient and has published op-eds in the New York Times, USA TODAY, and other newspapers, and has been the author and co-author of several publications.
Learn more about St. Lawrence’s Department of Government.
