Rendell: 'Tepid' Support Good Enough for Democrats

In this Jan. 7 file photo, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell speaks during a news conference at the Capitol in Harrisburg, Pa. (AP Photo)

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell had a piece of advice Sunday for Democratic strategists trying to lure the "liberal" base out to the polls -- voters don't have to like the party's candidates, they just have to vote for them.

The Democratic governor stressed the importance of get-out-the-vote efforts in the final weeks of the midterm election campaigns. He said Democrats need to stress that the alternative of a Republican-led Congress is "bad" for voters -- even if those voters aren't wild about the Democratic candidates.

"Our job in the next four weeks is to tell our base, our liberal friends, this is a choice. And the other choice is starkly bad for America and for the things you believe in," Rendell said on CBS' "Face the Nation." "And remember, there's an old political adage. All we have got to do is get them to the polls because a tepid vote counts the same as a wildly enthusiastic vote."

The comments come amid some Democratic bickering over the enthusiasm gap between the GOP and Democratic bases. Far more Republicans have voted in the primaries than Democrats, and President Obama said in an interview published last week that Democratic voters need to get off the "sidelines" - he called Democratic apathy "inexcusable" in the midterm election.

Democratic New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson on Sunday agreed that the party needs to "energize" the base, calling President Obama and Vice President Biden the best people to do that.

But he said Democrats need to connect better with voters "emotionally" and urged the party to stop criticizing itself.

"If there's one message that I want to send, is that we should stop firing at each other. We've got enough people, the Republicans, firing at us already. ... We don't need these divisions in the party," Richardson said on "Face the Nation."