Talk to blue collar tradesmen everywhere.  Ask them what worries them.  Here's a big one: the aging workforce in the skilled trades.  Folks that have invested their lives mastering their craft.  Now they want to give back - pass their decades of acquired knowledge to a new generation.  But when they look around there's no one who doesn't have gray in their hair.  It's distressing and demoralizing.  It's no wonder that these folks are worried about the country's future, and rightly so.  Building iPhone apps is all well and good, but someone still needs to keep the water flowing and lights on.

Want a winning issue to talk about?  There you go.  Propose some real solutions.  Partner with industry on training programs. Military transition to trades.  High tech integration careers.

How about this?  Anyone who goes through an apprenticeship program in critical trades is 100% tax exempt for the first 3 years of work.  Same for senior mentors.  

Make this a dominant plank in your program.