Columbia, SC — I’m an independent with a Democrat’s heart, which means I believe in the values of the party, but (like many of the 40 percent of the electorate calling themselves independent) I hate partisanship. So I feel the Jim DuPlessis prescription for what ails the party (“Democrats can’t afford to squander opportunity,” Dec. 13) needs one more bullet point: rhetoric matters.

Democrats such as Dick Harpootlian need to understand that much of the electorate does not believe the political process should be a war where the object is to inflict as much damage as possible on the other side, on a battleground where compromise is viewed as a loss, and where the motivation of the leadership is to stay alive and in the saddle.

Neither will I tolerate fear-mongering or politicians exploiting people’s ignorance with10-second sound bites. The candidate who gets my vote has to convince me that he or she sincerely wants to work on the high ground of statesmanship. There are a lot of folks like me out here.

Debbie Yoho

Columbia