How do Democrats increase midterm turnout?

[Citizen Hats]

social issues shouldn't be avoided like the plague, as one poster put it. But, at this point, the General public isn't really motivated by them, and unless the Republicans really do say something reprehensible, you're only turning out the particulars, and if they do something reprehensible it will speak for itself.

what needs to happen is focus on the issues that matter to the largest chunks of the population - a shifting cocktail of the economy, education, and national security, and in broad strokes, health.  Every things else is a motivating issue for increasingly tiny slices of the electorate who can be messaged in the small scale. 

[Citizen Hats]

Running candidates that actually excite the base is necessary to increase turnout. Take Georgia for example. Who the fuck honestly was *excited* when they heard Jason Carter and Michelle Nunn were running. Michelle Nunn.

There is no "base"

The Democratic party is not the Republican Party. There is no hard core of voters committed to a rather particular vision of the country, rather a coalition of different, narrow issues and interests.