Winning Tips from a Red County Dem

ILLUSTRATED: If you believe in our message, and present yourself well, we can win anywhere.
Ed Fleming, who has been successful at electing Democrats in heavily GOP counties in California has some tips:
-Focus on winning elections first. Once you are in power, then deal with the issues. Issue formulation in the campaign is geared toward, and subordinate to, winning the election.
-Rural areas have houses far apart with long driveways. He doesn't care! We have to talk to people.
-Even in non-partisan local elections must be won. Not only get build a farm team. Getting a seat at the table means that you can gain information about everything going on in your city.
-When you go door to door, don't start with policy initiative. Start with PERSONAL CONNECTIONS.
-A great bumper sticker in a rural area is "I'm a Gun-Owning Christian Democrat"
-When Wal-Mart wants to come to town, remind Republicans that most of their goods are from China, a communist country with a forced abortion policy.

It takes all types to make the Democratic Party

ILLUSTRATED: A party is not an interest group, embrace different types of Democrats.
This week's announcements about which Democratic Senators are voting for Roberts, reminds us to the value of the moderate pragmatists as well as the liberal idealists. The first type often infuriate the activist base, compromising on principles. But their value shows at times like these when Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Joe Biden vote against Roberts. These senators have credibility with Republicans. Particularly if the O'Connor replacement is an ideologue, the credibility of these "sellout centrists" will be needed to sway those Northeaster GOP moderates.
As for the other wing, they are needed to keep the flame alive. Their articulation of the important decisions on the Commerce Clause, Due Process, and Privacy are needed to keep the debate going in public discourse and as a campaign issue in 2006 and 2008. They also give us an identity that enriches us. The media won't discuss these issues without prodding from the "loony left".
Remember, a party is not a special interest group. It is a pluralistic coalition of constituencies trying to gain control of the government. On the right side of this blog is a list of principles to unite us thematically and rhetorically. But we need to appreciate the value of the different factions of our party.

Presentation (and the Nash Equilibrium of Political Meetups)

ILLUSTATED: We are the part of honest government for the public interest. So dress like it.
Presentation is the dirty little secret of politics. It’s the touchiest issue to talk about, yet it is crucial. Whether you are a candidate or a volunteer canvassing, you must be cognizant of how you present yourself. Your attire, your demeanor, the tone of your language, even your accent represents a certain theme to other people.
Hopefully you present well, meaning that others can identity with you and you are not threatening to their way of life. This means you see campaigns as a means of relating policies to the populace. Unfortunately, many candidates and volunteers come across as shrill. These people generally see campaigns as opportunities to express their own personal passions and agendas.
In other words, it’s not about you the candidate/volunteer, it’s about the populace.
When you go out and canvass, (assuming the candidate is seriously in to win, and not to raise issues) think of the theme and image of the candidate. Volunteers must represent that image in how they carry themselves.
Do not wear multiple campaign buttons, or t-shirts that scream “I Hate Republicans”. It’s shrill and in high profile elections, it turns off four voters for every one it attracts.

In the movie A Beautiful Mind Russell Crowe plays the great mathematician John Nash who contributed much to game theory. There is a scene in which Nash and his buddies are in a bar when a beautiful woman and her not so good looking friends walk in. Nash’s friends want to court the gorgeous one but then the light bulb went off. If all the guys went after the beauty, the four others would be turned off, and the beauty would leave them with her friends. The guys would have nothing. But the optimal strategy for all was to go after the average lookers. The theory applies to economics and biology (according to the movie).
In politics, the rabid passionate 2% are the analogue to the beautiful woman. If your campaign appeals to them, you turn off 80% of the general population. In a big election, your Meetups, speeches, and canvassers should be toned down to the average person who cares about elections every four years. That is the “Equilibrium”.
Meetups and campaigns that focus on proselytizing may get a buzz at first but cannot win a big election. It may work in a small town election by making a lot of noise in the town square and where only 25% vote. But in the big leagues, you must be professional.

So before you go out canvassing in tie-dye and six liberal campaign buttons, remember the motto of Gene McCarty’s antiwar campaign in 1968 (to the hippies): “get clean for Gene.” Think about that.

North Korea Deal (China's win, not Bush's)

ILLUSTRATED: Bush is still failing us on North Korea
First of all, North Korea's gesture to stop their nuclear program for energy and weapons is a good thing...for now. But this was NOT a victory for the Bush Administration. In fact, they were about to walk out the the six-party talks yesterday. This was a victory for China, seeking to be the dominant power in East Asia.
Also, since we did not engage in the bi-lateral, face to face talks that had worked in 1994, this deal could been struck years ago. In the preceding years, the North Koreans learned that much more knowledge. This knowledge can now be sold to other countries and terrorist groups.
So again, b/c Bush refused bilateral talks, we let China take the leadership role. We also let the North Koreans get that much more dangerous technology.

Sneakers = Jurisprudence II (Roberts Hearing)

ILLUSTRATED: Hey frustrated Democratic lawyers, when you're done writing that pro bono voting rights brief, go knock on your neighbors' doors.
In a follow up to the previous post below, at John Roberts' hearing, GOP Senator Lindsay Graham had this quote: "To me, the central issue before the Senate is whether or not the Senate will allow President Bush to fulfill his campaign promise to appoint a well- qualified, strict constructionist to the Supreme Court and, in this case, to appoint a chief justice to the Supreme Court in the mold of Justice Rehnquist.
He's been elected president twice. He has not hidden from the public what his view of a Supreme Court justice should be and the philosophy that they should embrace."
Buy new sneakers and start walking precincts!!!

Sneakers = Jurisprudence (Rehnquist's passing)

Click on "April Archives" or the links on the right for Talking Points on the Supreme Court.
Constitutional Law is about to change for the worse. We can't forget that judges are picked by presidents who are elected by voters whose doors must be knocked on. If you want Constitutional Law to become more progressive, buy a new pair of sneakers and start walking!

Democrats post 9/11 and Katrina

ILLUSTRATED: "At home and abroad, government is for the public interest, not special interests."
OK Democrats, 9/11 woke us up to the realization that, for federal offices, National Security is at the top of the agenda. Even the locals better be competent on homeland security.
With Hurricane Katrina, we must resist the temptation to call the troops home and focus inward. I fear that some in our party will resort to focusing only on Health, Education, and Welfare. That would be a mistake.
What 9/11 and Katrina have in common is that they are both about the governemnt failing to physically protect people. Emergency services and the military were the central players in the recoveries. We must become, in the public's perception, identified with both the military and the emergency services.
Most conservatives and believe in the "Night Watchman Theory" that government only exists to protect. Liberals usually are "Nanny Staters" who mostly think about spending tax money educating and medicating. Either way, you can agree with this slogan:
"At home and abroad, government is for the public interest, not special interests."
A Democrat who runs on that theme can win. It envolopes 1) an integrated homeland security, 2) quality public education, 3) stewardship of nature, 4) access to justice, 5) equal economic opportunity, 6) and most importantly the ethic that government is supposed to take care of its most vulnerable.

If I were Howard Dean for a Day (or 5 steps to save the Democrats)

7:00-8:00 Breakfast Meeting with the full DNC. Announce the "Business Management Initiative" to staff each state's party office with Executive Directors who have real business management experience. This will build into assigning 100 key field offices in 2008 with solid managers. The organizational culture of the Democratic Party will change to be more businesslike, not a Kumbayah management style. This will cost $5 Million or $100,000 per state.

8:30-9:30 Meet with select volunteer coordinators, and experienced organizers to plan a 3 hour grassroots training workshop that will be given several times a year in every state. This is to share campaign skills with everyone.

10:00-3:00 Hold a National Conference Call on Messaging. Invite Bill Clinton, Gary Hart, Tony Coelho, Mario Cuomo, Jennifer Granholm, Janet Napolitano, John Edwards, Brian Sweitzer, and James Carville. Hit National Security, Economics, and Social Policy. Then get specific with Judges, Iraq, Terrorism, Education, Healthcare, Guns, Religion, and Taxes. Take good notes and then write a final script for all Democrats; Presidential candidates to Dog Catcher candidates: This is what to say, and this is how to say it.

3:30-3:45 Have a short, to the point conference call with all 50 state chairs. Demand, in 60 days, a plan from each of them on designing precinct captain programs everywhere. There will be an allotment of $10,000 per Congressional District.

4:30 Board a plane for Alabama.

7:00 Alabama Party Dinner. Follow Willie Brown's advice. A $5 Million effort to register every African and Hispanic American in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana...And turn them out on election day. Not only would all of those states go Blue for the Electoral College, but among the three states, a black Democratic Senator could emerge.

8:30 Black church. Speak to the members about the lessons of Katrina that government is to serve the public interest, not special interests. From the Jim Crow era, that courts are there for all to get access to justice. The lesson of Iraq, that America is stronger working with the world, not against it.

10:00 Go to bed knowing you just put the party back on track to regain majority status.