| In 2006 the Hunterdon Democracy for America essentially managed the Hunterdon County part of the campaign, rallying volunteers and building support in the most difficult area of the district. Blue 7th (aka Dump Mike) raised thousands of dollars, got scores of letters to the editor published, recruited volunteers and kept the energy up. The netroots - led by the Corzine for Governor campaign's new media consultant Matt Stoller in conjunction with Blue Jersey founder Juan Melli - raised more than $60,000 for Stender and publicized her efforts among progressive Democrats across the country. Her campaign was managed by Stender's Assembly Chief of Staff Ed Oatman and the field was run by Union County native Nick Fixmer.
But in 2008 the campaign brought in the Washington folks, relying on the party apparatus and Emily's List consultants to run the show. The outside campaign staff had no experience with NJ7, had nothing to do with the near-win in 2006, and totally blew off the local grassroots and netroots. They tried to win by outspending and out-advertising and out-phoning and out-celebritying the Lance team. They tried to win by running an issue campaign primarily on reproductive rights, and when they stepped into other territory it was to blame Lance for legislative issues of spending and taxes that could have been used against Stender, too.
The electorate and grass/netroots supporters were never certain why Linda Stender was running for Congress, aside from the obvious advantage to the District, the state and the House of having another representative with a D after her name. If she had a mission, a drive to accomplish something specific in Washington, we did not see it, and we suspect most of the voters did not see it.
Running on the protection of women's reproductive freedom, while certainly the right position - and by the way, the law of the land - was not enough to light up this electorate. Pro-choice Republicans and undeclareds never saw choice as an issue because they were confident Obama would be elected President and the Democrats would keep the Congress. Since choice was not at risk for most voters, it was not an issue that could move voters. Add that to Lance's pro-choice position and it was a loser.
We saw that so clearly, and wonder why her campaign did not. Demonizing Lance was not enough, particularly with silly cartoon ads (produced by DCCC) showing her opponent dancing past problems, or calling to mind Trenton spending which could have been used against Stender too. That was just tone-deaf, and more than a little bit insulting to voters inspired by the more measured and meaty campaign being led by Barack Obama at the top of her ticket.
You'd think Stender, leading on of the most watched congressional campaigns in the country, would have grasped several weeks ago that choice was not getting traction and that the voters wanted to hear about the economy and how Stender was going to fix it. But without having grass/netroots folks in and around that message didn't get through.
Back in 2005 when the grass/netroots first started talking about how to win the 7th district after a depressing 2004 general election we figured it was going to be a two-race effort. In 2006 we would build the local support an in 2008 we would marry it with national support. At a DFA candidate forum at the Raritan Valley Community College in Somerset County someone asked Linda if she was willing to commit to running twice to take the seat. She said, and rightly so, that she intended to win in 2006.
But as soon as the race was over in November, Stender announce she was running again. She kept on her finance officer and began building connections with Washington to set herself up for 2008. The connections paid off in early fundraisers, money and support. Washington assigned Abby Curran to be the campaign manager, and she made it clear that the new campaign would be exactly that - a new campaign.
Those who had worked so hard in 2005 and 2006, who had suffered and volunteered and built organizations and raised money and ran the campaign were marginalized or ignored. Phone calls were not returned, suggestions were ignored, support was turned down. Blue 7th went away in 2007, but Democracy for America - an early endorser of the 2006 effort - was given short shrift.
Word is that Curran once intimated that if the grass/netroots had been so helpful in 2006 then Stender would have won instead of just coming close.
Yet performance fell seven points between 2006 with the grass/netroots and 2008 without them.
The point here is not to suggest that the DCCC, Emily's List and the rest of the Washington establishment should not be involved or even take the lead. We were all thrilled at the early money and support, at the assignment of additional resources and personnel for the campaign. They made the right choice in coming in to NJ7, and we think they made the right choice of candidate as well. Linda Stender could have been an excellent candidate and a fantastic member of Congress.
The point is that the DCCC, Emily's List and the rest of the Washington establishment needs to learn to work with the local grass/netroots cooperatively. In many cases the grass/netroots are the people who have been trying to win the district for decades or more.
The same mistake was made in 2000 where local volunteers beat back local party approved and DCCC endorsed candidate Mike Lapolla in a shocking win for another Fanwood mayor, Maryanne Connelly. Then the establishment party swept in and swept out the existing campaign structure, and Connelly lost to Mike Ferguson in a district that included Democratic powerhouses Plainfield and Franklin.
In the case of NJ7 it means that the Washington folks should have built on the success of 2006 instead of starting from scratch. It should have been cooperative, with the Washington people in the lead on most of the campaign. They are the experts on running a campaign, but the grass/netroots are the experts on the local area. The two together - professionals who can put the campaign structure and work the nuts and bolts and locals who can find the pockets and niche locations where the margin of victory comes from - can make a real difference in tough districts.
It worked in New Hampshire with Carol Shea-Porter who kept her seat. The locals won a seat against incumbent Jeb Bradley (R) in 2006, and then worked with the national party structure to keep it into 2008.
But here in NJ7 the decision was made to keep only one thing from 2006 - the candidate. Everything else was tossed out the window.
And so was the election. |
