They will try to Wellstone Ted Kennedy. Don't let them.

by: Rosi Efthim

Fri Aug 28, 2009 at 03:45:14 PM EDT

That struck me. I count two things as the engines behind everything I'm doing in politics right now. Howard Dean's What I want to know ... speech. And the massive arena celebration of the lives of Paul & Sheila Wellstone. Sen. Wellstone was not perfect; he was not angelic. But what he was, was brave. An ordinary, everyday guy with a Minnesota Senate seat.

Ted Kennedy was a very different guy. Tried most of his life to connect with the ordinary. And you bet there's going to be an effort to remind grieving congressional Democrats that health care was the cause of Kennedy's life. They'd better damn well pass it. And there's no way the right will not challenge that.

The answer to that question - How long? - is now. Today, Rush Limbaugh ridiculed Wellstone's memorial, that arena brimming with people who knew early that change was coming, and there was work to be done. Forward-thinkers, progressives, and fearless local organizers. There was more loss, and backlash, before there was winning. But that memorial - those people, those speeches - meant everything to me. And I can't just sit and listen to what was just said on the radio, without saying this:

Paul Wellstone didn't die. Not like they wanted him to.

He's now called Wellstone Action.
He's called Democracy for America.
You can call him the 2008 Senate, House & White House, if progressive.
He's called Barack Obama. Called Michelle Obama. Aim higher, he'd say.
He is called first-time voters, and change.
Canvasser. Phonebanker. Local organizer.
He's called Organizing for America. PDA.
Union.
They call him janitor, and educator, and factory worker. New immigrant.
He is called the Congressional Black Caucus, and Progressive Caucus.
He's the survivors of Hurricane Katrina, and those who didn't made it.
He's a first-time candidate, who thinks politics isn't about winning, it's about improving people's lives.
He's not going to let up on Marriage Equality.
He demands the public option.
He's called the Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party.
And he's called 50-State Strategy.
He is called Loretta Weinberg.
Paul Wellstone is called Senator Al Franken now.

And he's called Blue Jersey.

Take that, Rush Limbaugh. You disrespectful son of a bitch.

50 State Strategy in Your Neighborhood

by: Jorge C. Santos

Tue Feb 12, 2008 at 03:37:36 PM EST

As New Jersey's Super Tuesday results showed, big-time, voters from both red and blue parts of the state are participating at record levels. And we have a bumper-crop of hundreds of thousands of new Democrats.  But all this phenomenal participatory democracy needs local leadership to follow-up and keep it hot. DNC Chair Howard Dean's 50 State Strategy has been a fight-everywhere movement to recognize and give tools to grassroots power. And in that spirit, I want to let you know about a program that the DNC is putting into place with the NJ
Democratic State Committee.

It's designed to put the 50-State Strategy right into your own hands, and in your own neighborhood. This is a direct invitation to all active Democrats. We're hoping you can help us build something extraordinary.

It's called the Neighborhood Leader Program.  The work of Neighborhood Leaders is simple - they'll each talk to 25 voters at least three times before Election Day 2008, and they'll recruit two more people to become Neighborhood Leaders as well. It's very doable and we can walk you through it.

The success of the Neighborhood Leader Program lies directly in the method of voter contact - direct, personal conversations with voters at the door or on the phone.  Every campaign knows that these are the most effective ways of communicating with and persuading swing voters. Personal communication works better than TV ads, better than mailers, better than robocalls - it's the essence of grassroots politics.

Democratic Party staffers, like me, are working across the country organizing house parties and meet ups to train local activists in the program.  By Election Day, there will be tens if not hundreds of thousands of these Neighborhood Leaders across the country with a big chunk right here in the Garden State.

This is designed so that you can have maximum impact in your own neighborhood, with no time wasted. As a Neighborhood Leader, you agree to be the Democratic contact for your little group of target voters, and - this is important - it will also work the other way around, so that you're representing those voters to the Democratic Party. You agree to reach out to your voter group three times between now and Election Day- the time commitment is about an hour week for three weeks spread over the course of the 2008 campaign.  In some cases, you will be the only contact these voters have with the Democratic Party.  You will be helping the entire slate of Democratic candidates in your area from President to Senate to Congress and the local level.

Lists, lit pieces, scripts and other materials will be sent out from the NJ DSC and you can always call or email with any questions you might have about the program.

I hope to hear from you soon!

Jorge Santos
NJ Democratic State Committee
609.392.3367
jsantos@njdems.org

Howard Dean is coming for breakfast

by: Rosi Efthim

Tue Sep 18, 2007 at 05:00:27 PM EDT

Chairman Dean

Dean's faced down criticism from 2006 DCCC Chair Rep. Rahm Emanuel, and a howling call for his resignation from the DNC Chairmanship from (Hillary Clinton supporter) James Carville. In his paradigm-shifting 50-State Strategy, which shifts money and power out of the beltway over to state and local organizing, Dean's found his first line of defense in the netroots and in the grassroots. And 50-State Strategy means something in New Jersey.

This is breakfast. For $35 bucks, with the money going to NJSDC. Event details here.

Politics Ain't Baseball - Not Entirely

by: Thurman Hart

Thu Aug 23, 2007 at 02:48:55 PM EDT

The big news is that the Texas Rangers scored 30 runs in a single game against the Baltimore Orioles.  So I guess there's hope for the country because the Rangers have apparently done better since George W. Bush is no longer a partner in that enterprise.  But I digress -

Howard Dean's strategy of fighting for political wins in all fifty states took a big hit from the Washington Establishment because they would rather sink money into five or ten targeted seats each election cycle than to try and compete everywhere everytime the polls open.  I have to admit I go back and forth on it because doing so sometimes starves competitive races for badly needed resources.  That sort of thinking is needed for the final few months of an election cycle, but early on, everything needs to be on the table.  Every seat, every election, every single county, city, school board, and dog-catcher race.

It is even more important this year, but you'll have to make the jump.

50-State Strategy kicks ass in Flemington, NJ.

by: Rosi Efthim

Fri Feb 16, 2007 at 02:17:26 AM EST

Our secret weapons were two young women in sneakers and blue jeans who pounded out our GOTV program over a sleepless two days in the inadequately-heated Hunterdon County Dem HQ. It was more efficient, more productive and frankly, one hell of a lot more fun than anything we have ever done. The Republicans didn't know what hit them. And it drove the win. 

One of the fundamentals of Gov. Howard Dean's 50-State Strategy is Show up everywhere. And that doesn't mean just mayor's races in Salt Lake City, state contests in Alaska or gaining ground in the Show-Me State. For this to work it also has to mean that we concede no vote even in the most crimson portions of very blue states. Places like Hunterdon County. 50-State Strategy = 21-County Strategy.

So here's the thing: Next time you hear some self-serving dinosaur like James Carville spin bullshit about replacing Howard Dean as DNC Chair, remember the paradigm shift Dean presides over. Money lifts from the hands of Beltway consultants, and pays for organizers like Mary Campbell and Colleen Montgomery who fan out and help generate victories powered by us. Boom. Out of those victories emerge better government and better direction.

We won in Flemington tonight. If James Carville or Rahm Emanuel or anybody else wants to take down Howard Dean, they have to knock me down first. And I'm in a feisty mood. Did I mention we won?


UPDATE & Postscript, later that same year: On the night of this victory, our next candidate stood on a chair and announced that she was running next: Linda Mastellone, the first-ever candidate to emerge directly out of Hunterdon DFA. We won that race too, in a blitz of DFA-intensive work. And with Linda's win, the Democrats took control here, here in this town where Republicans outnumber Democrats two-to-one. Boom! - - Rosi