50-State Strategy kicks ass in Flemington, NJ.

Woohoo! (0.00 / 0)

a little groundgame goes a long way in any state and every county. oh yeah, and on every level.  i mean, let's face it, the original election was a one vote differential.  this second time seems kinda like a landslide!

activist for hire.

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by: Jay Lassiter @ Fri Feb 16, 2007 at 18:47:21 PM UTC

You got that right! (0.00 / 0)

Congratulations! Howard Dean was the inspiration for so many of us. That spark that Dean gave us was THE motivation to do just that and was literally the beginning of successes like these.

I used to like Carville, until that slam on Dean.  Does Carville even understand the major shift the Party has undergone?  He used to be funny, now he's just cranky.

If they want to replace Dean, they'll have to knock me down first too.

One Vote.  Yours.  It really does matter.

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by: carolh @ Fri Feb 16, 2007 at 19:56:57 PM UTC

Now he's just cranky (0.00 / 0)

Look who he married... wouldn't you be cranky?

Seriously... Rosi, that is a great story, with a great lesson to be learned!

Babs

"Discrimination caused by ignorance and fear is a tax on human progress" - Barbra Casbar Siperstein

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by: Babs NJSD @ Fri Feb 16, 2007 at 21:12:54 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Way to go! (0.00 / 0)

Congrats to all involved--including Rosi (of course) and Howard Dean!  Elections are won one vote at a time in one place at a time--not just by big-bucks TV ads but by boots on the ground everywhere.  "All politics" isn't local--honest--but we have to start where we are, and move from there, and not stop moving! 

"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."  (Teddy Roosevelt)

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by: DottieG @ Fri Feb 16, 2007 at 21:01:18 PM UTC

Let This Be a Lesson... (0.00 / 0)

...to all of us throughout the state.

This is what democracy looks like! 

Congratulations to Mark Legato and a hearty thanks to Mary Campbell and Colleen Montgomery and Rosi for all the great work! 

People power CAN overcome "entrenched" incumbents who are out of touch with their constituents...and there are all too many office holders in this state who are arrogantly just "coasting" along. 

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by: Nick Lento @ Fri Feb 16, 2007 at 22:37:41 PM UTC

NJ State Democratic Party Website (0.00 / 0)

"Those great people included Mary Campbell and Colleen Montgomery from our team here at the State Party, as well as a dedicated group of volunteers from the Princeton University Democrats. Great work, everyone!"

Yeah, we put that together in just about 2 days.

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by: Scott Weingart @ Sat Feb 17, 2007 at 04:17:12 AM UTC

Congrats and good work! (0.00 / 0)

Congratulations to Rosi, Mary and Colleen and anyone else who helped.  Rosi, I came out to your area from Union County to canvass for Linda Stender last year, and here you are still doing it.  Great job and thank you!  Good to see the Princeton Dem club coming out to help.  Way to go and thank you!

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by: tracey @ Sat Feb 17, 2007 at 05:30:09 AM UTC

Hey (0.00 / 0)

Thank you Tracey!

It's not a particularly snappy signature, but here's what I think we need in the next NJ Democratic State Chair.  

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by: Rosi Efthim @ Sun Feb 18, 2007 at 22:48:36 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Scott, were you here? (0.00 / 0)

I was out of the HQ challenging the entire time the Princeton Dems were in town. But I heard tales....

The Princeton Dems were mighty and awesome. At a certain time in election day, you need people who can hit the streets running. It means so much that you came running, all the way from Mercer County.

Princeton Dems rock. Thank you so much.

It's not a particularly snappy signature, but here's what I think we need in the next NJ Democratic State Chair.  

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by: Rosi Efthim @ Sat Feb 17, 2007 at 15:19:02 PM UTC

I organized it n/t (4.00 / 1)

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by: Scott Weingart @ Mon Feb 19, 2007 at 05:18:36 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Wonderful! (0.00 / 0)

I send my congratulations as well.  I am thrilled to know we continue to win, and I am especially thrilled that Mark Legato won.  Although I don't know him, I do know that he comes from a great family! 

Now, how about Howard Dean breaking his promise and running again for the presidency?  The time is right for him this time.  He is not appreciated at the DNC, but "We The People" appreciate him enormously, and we need him.  Since Gore says he will definitely not be running, we need someone like Dean to save us from Clinton, and I fear the others don't have enough "heft" to win.

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by: krose @ Sun Feb 18, 2007 at 18:05:58 PM UTC

DNC loves Dean (0.00 / 0)

I'll say this:  while we might still hear some grousing from the DC insiders and big-time donors (esp. Hillary's camp), everyone else is thrilled with Dean and the 50 state strategy.  Whether the Rural council, or the keynote speeches, or the Presidential speeches, or the DNC audience reaction, everything I saw at the DNC winter meeting showed that. 


Frank LoBiondo Record and Jon Runyan Watch

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by: Hopeful @ Sun Feb 18, 2007 at 18:19:24 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Dean and DNC (4.00 / 1)

Yeah, Hopeful is right. Dean's election as DNC Chair was unanimous. The problem isn't the DNC, it's the DCCC (Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee), run last cycle by Rep. Rahm Emanuel (and now by Rep. Chris Van Hollen) and the DSCC (substitute Senatorial for Congressional), still run by Sen. Chuck Schumer.

In the last cycle the two battled Dean over the DNC's funds, which they both wanted Dean to put under their control to be used as they saw fit for key Congressional races. But Dean's view of DNC's mission is to build the national party, and assist the states in building their local parties. So he was spending DNC's money on things like DNC organizers like Colleen Montgomery and Mary Campbell, who are paid and trained by DNC. So he largely resisted Emanuel and Schumer's urgent demands. 

The divide got pretty ugly. Washington Post reported an incident of Emanuel coming up to Dean's 3rd floor office and screaming at Dean in front of his staff. Emanuel, for all his skills, sometimes displays little class, but the great news is that Dean was unmoved by Emanuel's little drama.

You see echoes of this kind of thing in James Carville's disparaging of Howard Dean. Carville serves the Clintons and their choice for DNC Chair (Harold Ickes) was not chosen, so there's some sour grapes. Further, Hillary's campaign Chair Terry McAuliffe was a key player in the Democratic undermining of the Dean presidential campaign, while McAuliffe was still DNC Chair. And that is yet one more reason why Hillary Clinton has an uphill climb with the roots, of course.

It's not a particularly snappy signature, but here's what I think we need in the next NJ Democratic State Chair.  

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by: Rosi Efthim @ Sun Feb 18, 2007 at 22:33:21 PM UTC

Dean's Beltway Critics (0.00 / 0)

I recently got in the middle of flap in which some Democratic consultants and an ex DNC employee were really spinning some stories to undermine Howard Dean.

Facts were clearly distorted and the irony is that they could have brought up things to factually criticize and chose not to do so! Go figya. I've been told that some of these folks are angry because Dean is spending less on consulting fees and spending more on actual outreach! The "noive" of him!

If these so called clever Democratic consultants can't find the "weak" spots internally, how do they expect to find the weak spots to criticize the Repugs?

One of things about Chairman Dean that I admire is that he hasn't been afraid to acknowledge a mistake, and is willing to work the DNC bureaucracy and its affilates (DCCC, DSCC, DLC) to correct and "modernize" policies of his predecessors.

Babs Casbar

"Discrimination caused by ignorance and fear is a tax on human progress" - Barbra Casbar Siperstein

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by: Babs NJSD @ Wed Feb 21, 2007 at 06:47:18 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Cannibals are SO 2004 (0.00 / 0)

Some Democrats don't quite grasp that it's time to stop biting at our own and continue to chow down on destructive, war-mongering, deficit-zooming political opponents who will sell out the country before breakfast -  if we let them -  to make sure their rich friends can always belly up to the caviar banquet. Oh, I need lunch.

I don't care if somebody has legitimate criticisms of Howard Dean. Have at him. I agree with Babs that he's available to criticism and course correction. But too much of what gets flung at Dean is driven by the self-interest of the flingers.

Not too surprising when you consider that a lot of what Dean is doing at DNC represents a risky shift in who gets to do what (a welcome shift, as far as I see). And that Howard Dean is a pretty high-profile target.

It's not a particularly snappy signature, but here's what I think we need in the next NJ Democratic State Chair.  

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by: Rosi Efthim @ Wed Feb 21, 2007 at 17:02:15 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

"consultants" (0.00 / 0)

As someone who has worked both in the Fortune 500 corporate world AND for government at the state, county, and local levels, I gotta tell ya, the word "consultant" makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand straight up.  They often have an inflated sense of self importance (someone get me a pin!) to go with their inflated price.  I also say this as a consulting engineer myself.  They often don't know as much as the rank and file where they are sent and have to be educated by folks who get a fraction of their pay.  If I was Howard Dean, I would march in there too and do a MAJOR housecleaning. The first ones to go would absolutely be high priced "consultants".  Howard Dean isn't hurting the DNC, he is saving them lots of money by getting rid of unnecessary self-important, expensive hangers-on.  There I said it. My apologies to consultants out there, but you know which ones I am talking about.

The government is about ten years behind the corporate world on this one.  They will find out, just like corporate America did in the 90's that it is better to run "lean and mean" than to have a self-serving entourage of "consultants" hanging on.

One Vote.  Yours.  It really does matter.

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by: carolh @ Wed Feb 21, 2007 at 18:28:24 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

It was quite a Day! (0.00 / 0)

I just want to add my own first-hand experience of the day.  Gigantic thanks to Colleen and Mary for their organizational skills. I was a poll-watcher from 6-7 am and they had my materials ready to go. At 7, I had to go to work.  But here's the larger point--everyone did what they could on and before election day.  I couldn't stay, but I did take the first, brutal hour.  Organization is part of the 50 State Strategy.  But Showing Up is the the other.  Take advantage of the opportunities to show up!!

Victory is sweet!  I was at HQ when the final count came in and Mark won!!!  What a great moment!

So, Woo-Hoo to Mary and Colleen!!  And to Howard Dean (who shook my hand once)!!! And to Rosi Efthim, our Fearless Leader in Flemington!!! 
 

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by: the pollster @ Sun Feb 18, 2007 at 23:02:18 PM UTC

Kicking ass and taking names, indeed (4.00 / 1)

This is what Democracy for America is all about -- going out and making a difference, not just sitting by and whining. Dean has been saying all along that since only half the people even bother to vote, we have to work twice as hard. And here in Flemington, where Repugs outnumber Dems 5 to 2, we have to work twice as hard as *that*.

Last year, we won the Borough for Linda Stender using our shoe leather, we also won it for Brooke Liebowitz for Council, and now we did it again for Mark. Woody Allen was right: half of success is simply showing up.

Now that we know we can do it, we aim to win again this November. All 3 Repugs on the Council are up for election, so we only need to win 1 of 3 races to gain majority. And I think we can even win 2 of the 3 races.

Si, se puede. Si, los hicimos.

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by: tunghoy @ Mon Feb 19, 2007 at 01:10:56 AM UTC

Well, I worked the polls from 6 AM to 8:30 PM (0.00 / 0)

in November, 2006, in Berkeley Heights, and we received NO HELP from the Dems at all!  In fact we had a fraudulent election which I witnessed, and the Democratic Board of Elections were nowhere in sight, and did not help us at all!  So, I am thrilled for you all, but there are still "Crooked Democrats," which I assume Dean doesn't know about, and a lot of them are in Union County!  I love Howard Dean, having met him once at a House Party in Plainfield.  I still wish he would run for the Presidency, because I don't think anyone now running is electable.  We Democrats, unfortunately, have a lot of "house-cleaning" to do, however.  Although we are a great group of people in general, we are far from perfect, (present company excepted), and we cannot "throw the bums out," until we clean up our own act!

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by: krose @ Mon Feb 19, 2007 at 04:56:02 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

To Krose (0.00 / 0)

The strength of the Party will be the boots on the ground. And if there's trouble in the Party leadership, use those boots to nudge them back to what's right or use those boots to kick them out.

This is what democracy looks like.

I don't know your situation; I wouldn't presume to take a position. But New Jersey party politics are a challenge, in both blue and red counties. Though, I secretly think you in the cobalt counties have higher hurdles than we do in the crimson outposts.

I'll tell you this, though: You have more friends in that frustration, and in that struggle, than you know.

It's not a particularly snappy signature, but here's what I think we need in the next NJ Democratic State Chair.  

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by: Rosi Efthim @ Mon Feb 19, 2007 at 09:30:06 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Legato's Flemington Win: Work of the Regional Community. (4.00 / 1)

  A significant number of feet, brains and voices from outside of Flemington showed to deliver the Legato vote for our county seat through the coldest, most icey days yet of '07. Our congrssional candidate walked with Mark. Thank you Linda Stender!
  We showed up because strong relationships have been forged and maintained. We showed up in reaction to local R's slimey dirty tricks. We showed up because of the dignity, credibility and competence of our candidates and staff. We showed up because the community does not need the big box stores (the R's facilitated) that will clog the transportation arteries to our regional hospital. We showed up because here, DFA knits local and regional activists together. 

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by: regnig @ Mon Feb 19, 2007 at 16:33:01 PM UTC

DFA always shows up here. (4.00 / 1)

Excellent point, regnig. The fight to keep the seat that Mark Legato won fairly in November, won again in the recount and won hands-down in the Thursday re-vote, was a county-wide and regional DFA priority, because its members made it one. It's simply extraordinary how many DFA people showed up. Not only on election day, but for lonely cold canvasses going back weeks.

But DFA always shows up in Hunterdon; it has become a home for progressives and activists who used to feel more isolated here. We call ourselves a permanent progressive community where it's least expected and we mean it. We don't mind flying under the radar, but we are not going away.

We're also the drive behind much of the Democratic organizing that has gone on in Hunterdon the last few years. In 2006, DFA people drove the 9% momentum shift uptick over the 2004 congressional race numbers in the Hunterdon part of NJ-7. We did it working with remarkable, committed (enthused, incredible) Democratic volunteers of all kinds who walked in the door every day ready to pound out work to elect Linda Stender.

And she showed up for us too, door-knocking with Legato to talk to voters. Rep. Rush Holt helped, too. These are two superb allies, for which we are so grateful. 

Consider yourself invited: DFA meets first Wednesday of every month here in Flemington.

It's not a particularly snappy signature, but here's what I think we need in the next NJ Democratic State Chair.  

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by: Rosi Efthim @ Mon Feb 19, 2007 at 23:48:26 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

DFA is everywhere we need them (0.00 / 0)

Rosi, you've shown up here too.  It is comforting to know we have DFA friends all over the state.  It is mightily appreciated.  You and Jeff are a great inspiration for us up here in Bergen.  DFA has been there for us in the 5th races, when no one else was.

One Vote.  Yours.  It really does matter.

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by: carolh @ Tue Feb 20, 2007 at 01:36:23 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Maybe: DFA can help us root out the corruptive forces of the Dem"machine" (0.00 / 0)

here in Union County.  We have the ability, within the structure of the "Progressive Democrats of Union County" to do that.  It will be a lot of work, however, because the MACHINE is well-entrenched.  Is anyone interested?

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by: krose @ Tue Feb 20, 2007 at 16:44:28 PM UTC