Burlington County Democrats: MIA?

by: deciminyan

Fri Nov 05, 2010 at 06:00:00 PM EDT

I have to admit. Up until about a year ago, I've been pretty apolitical. Sure, I got caught up in the Obamamania of 2008 and canvassed door-to-door both here in New Jersey and in Florida. And I vote in every election - usually Democratic - sometimes because I'm for the candidate, but most times because I can't stand the opponent. The only other time I really got involved was in the 1972 presidential campaign for George McGovern, because even then, I knew Nixon was a crook.

Almost a year ago, I started my own blog. After retiring from the military-industrial complex, I needed an outlet for my political rage that had been suppressed in the interest of career advancement. I attended one of Jim Dean's DFA workshops, met Rosi, started writing for Blue Jersey, and was honored when Rosi asked me to be a staff writer. Initially I was reluctant to sign on because I felt that I was not as connected to local politics as my fellow bloggers. But Rosi is persistent, and here I am.

More after the fold...

deciminyan :: Burlington County Democrats: MIA?

I'm happy that many of my friends who read my blog have asked me to run for office, but I won't. Not to offend many of the fine candidates that I have met in the last year, I am not a "glad-handler" and have no desire to put in the hours and hours it takes to run even for the most local office. People like Aimee Belgard and Jay Coultre are heroes to me because they work hard, knowing they are constantly running uphill against the Republican juggernaut.

What I enjoy doing is helping candidates who I believe in. I helped Ed Potosnak in his run for Congress despite the weekly one hour schlep to Woodbridge because I believed in Ed's positions and was angry with my Democratic soon-to-be-ex-Congressman for his swing to the right (but voted for him anyway - for the reason outlined in my first paragraph.) And I still want to help Democrats whose positions align with mine.

I live in Burlington County, and I'm not naïve. I know this is Republican territory, but I don't want it to be a one-party county. So I set off to find out about helping the Dems. Naturally, the first place I went to was their web site. Now I know we are still in the week of the elections, so I can excuse the remnants of the Adler for Congress articles on the site. But when I click on the "volunteer" or "contact" links, all I get is a blank screen. Even more surprising, I also get a blank screen when I click on the "contribute" link. Next, I went to their Twitter account. It's there, but their last tweet was in July, 2009. And their avatar is a big "plus" sign with the caption "Photo". So I tried their Facebook page. Nada. I realize that not everybody uses social media. (Back before I retired, one very young co-worker commented to me, "it's nice to see someone with gray hair like you using Facebook") But if Burlington County Democrats want to capture the younger voters, they need to do better.

So, Burlington County Democratic organization - are you out there? It's not too early to be working on the 2011 campaign. I'm willing to help. But I can't find you!

Tags: Burlington County, Richard Nixon, George McGovern, facebook, Aimee Belgard, Jay Coultre, twitter, Rosi Efthim, Ed Potosnak, (All Tags)

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Burlington County Democrats: MIA? | 4 comments

I have had (4.00 / 1)

some of the same frustrations. For some elections I have been unable to find what candidates are running for local offices. A few years ago the burlcodems website had some information on it. It seems to have received a facelift, but now has no information on it.
I am tired of voting and having every single candidate I vote for defeated. In North Hanover it is so difficult to find news about town council that I think the majority are programmed to vote republican. The current council is all republican. The truth could defeat these guys in a heartbeat, but because there is absolutely no news coverage and the town's website has no information, no agenda's, or minutes on it, nobody knows how incompetent the council is. I'm fortunate that my neighbor ran for council as a dem and I was able to converse with him about the issues.
If Dems are going to win, the burlcodems need better organization

"Only a fool would follow a bully"

by: brendanod @ Sat Nov 06, 2010 at 00:14:38 AM UTC

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Did Adler carry Burlington? (0.00 / 0)

I know that Adler lost Ocean County by 20,000 votes but that Dems had a registration advantage in Burlington. Adler lost by 6000 votes so he must have carried the Camden/Burlco part of the district by 14,000. If that's the case there must be some parts of Burlco that are solidly Dem.

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by: ken bank @ Sat Nov 06, 2010 at 02:21:39 AM UTC

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Adler carried Burlington County (0.00 / 0)

Yes, Adler did carry Burlington County, but not by as much as he did in 2008 when he rode Obama's coattails. Willingboro is very Democratic, and the Adler rally that I covered had a pretty decent turnout. Adler seemed to have won the lawn sign wars here, but I suspect that what success he did have came from the campaign and not the Burlco Dems.

Blog: http://www.deciminyan.org

by: deciminyan @ Sat Nov 06, 2010 at 17:05:43 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Many years ago, (4.00 / 1)

late one summer, I was in Cape May City & came across a guy running for freeholder. He was a Democrat. His name was Jeff Van Drew. There's a hopeless dreamer, I thought. But Van Drew had latched on to a couple of hot local issues the complacent Repug county organization was ignoring, pulled together an odd coalition, & won. Of course, he's something of Blue Dog; he has to be down there. & he also woke up the Repugs. But if it could happen there, it can happen in Burlington.

by: Wesleylake @ Sat Nov 06, 2010 at 02:50:06 AM UTC

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Burlington County Democrats: MIA? | 4 comments