I have been very concerned lately about some of the top down involvement in local politics. I will just mention two specific instances briefly. One is the IL 6 race with Cegelis and Duckworth. That has been discussed a lot here heatedly.
The other is really worse in a way, because the Florida state party chairman, Karen Thurman, is involved with the DCCC’s Rahm Emanuel in drafting a very wealthy Republican to run in Florida’s District 16. There are two very qualified Democrats in the race already, why not fund them? Why have meetings with a registered Republican instead of supporting the ones in the race? I have been getting some stuff ready for a diary on this issue, but first I decided to reread some sections of Howard Dean’s book.
I have thought a lot about what Howard Dean’s feelings on this top down type of power play might be. He can’t really say it now, you know. In his position as chair, I guess he must be careful. But actually he made some references obliquely to circumstances like this in his book last year called You Have the Power.
“We have to rebuild our grassroots organization.”
From page 155 of the book:
What I didn’t understand was that “You have the power” was a lot more than a rhetorical phrase. It didn’t apply only to people’s power to change a country, it also applied to their ability to direct a campaign.
He further mentions that the idea of a decentralized campaign terrifies most politicians who have grown used to giving out their ideas and letting others respond. He points out that learning to trust the grassroots is not easy, but necessary for the future.
From page 158:
He says we have to put people back at the center of political campaigns, that we must stay centered on our traditional Democratic values, which are about people. He says “the truth is when you trade your values for the hope of winning, you end up losing and having no values–so you keep losing.
We have to reconnect to the base.
In my own opinion this is where the Democratic party has failed us badly. The continuing effort to force picked candidates into races shows that some are not paying attention yet on this.
From page 163:
And I think this would be his answer, if by chance he could even give one in these situations, that we can’t keep “searching for someone to come along and unlock the door…and heal what ails our country.”
From page 187:
If our country’s in trouble, it’s not only because George Bush is an inept president and the Democrats haven’t stood up to him. It’s because we always looking for someone to come along and save us. What I learned during the campaign is that the only way for people for find this kind of salvation is by saving themselves…..by tapping into the power that’s already inside them and figuring how to use that power in the outside world.
Governor Dean may not yet or ever be able to stop the Karen Thurmans and the Rahm Emanuels from going out and recruiting rich Republicans in a race with good Democrats who already qualify…..but at least by posting this I get a sense he would most heartily disapprove. He can’t say it now, but he said it last year.
I guess it has to come from the folks on the ground. A scary thought here since we only find out what is happening after it has happened, and then by reading it in the newspapers.
Thanks for posting this. It goes right along with what I just said in my recent diary post. It comes down to the individual, to us, to do the job. The people paid to do it are not.
I remember watching ‘real’ party conventions when I was younger. There was genuine excitement and a feeling of participation. You knew that there were backroom deals going down. But you still felt that you were watching democracy in action.
Now it is all staged and pre-arranged. It has the excitement of watching paint dry.
Republicans can at least mobilize their adherents through religion or greed. Independents and Democrats are not as easy. It’s more like herding cats.
Governor Dean may not yet or ever be able to stop . . . it has to come from the folks on the ground.
Both correct. But think about a few things we learned this year:
Most important, and I think underreported, is the shift of cash from meta-orgs/parties to individuals: directed contributions. Coupled with the soon-to-come “organic news” across the progressive blogosphere, 2006 may well be remembered as the year the juggernaut turned on a dime.
Rahm, et. al. would be wise to take note.
Could you expand on this? I like it, I think & want to hear more.
In fact his whole comment could be a diary (although I’d hate to lose the context of this one)
Watching the Hackett campaign I was struck by how fast money was raised by online contributors only – primarily through ActBlue. And during the past two months there have been diaries here, on PoliticalCortex, dKos, and MyDD about the need for a coordinated “progressive voice”.
If the last part comes together and ActBlue continues to grow, it would complete a truly flat network capable of supporting any individual candidate in the Country. I think Dean knows – as much as anyone – that the top-down pyramid is beginning to crumble.
That said, I trust BooMan’s judgement. Apparently things may not go smoothly this year.
What Is the address for actblue? Every link I find on search engines fails.
We the people have to repeat this mantra over and over again because this the truth.
Sure they let Dean be elected, but I guess they are doing what they said what they would do to Dean limit his power.
I also think that have a pack with their counter-part, the moderate Repugs, at the Republican Leadership Council. The evidence is all there, funding Democrat-lite Repugs. But this just comes down to, the DLC really do not have the faith of the people. They really do not think that we can organize ourselves and moblize a front, even when there is proof, we are united, we are a force, just look at Paul Hackett’s election. Sure Jean won, but she was expected to win because her district is Republican heavy, but look at what we as a united front did and that no Repug or Repug-lite can take that away from us.
Unless we the people can find a way to cut the power of the DLC, we might as well expect business as usual. And how do we do that, we need to organize the same way that put the fear into the DLC when Dean was elected.
How do you take the big money out of the democratic party? How do you detach from corporate contributions?
IMO that is the heart of the problem. We have been so reliant on big money not only to function as an organization, but to battle against the GOP. And the problem is, they always expect something in return, be it waterdown policies, and if not, they take their marbles and go home in this case, support the other side.
I think the question you raised is a great question and is something, we the people should start figuring out. Until we can come up with a solution, business friendly politicians, regardless of political party, will continue to see us at the bottom of the totem pole.
I am totally sick of millionaires telling regular working people how to live on 30 thousand a year.
What hogwash!
For the Democrats to start winning, they have to start running regular people who can relate to regular people.
Is money so corrupting that EVERYONE exposed to it automatically starts chasing it?
Start an I am not (and never will be) a millionaire slate. (and don’t tell me that a million bucks isn’t what it was. I know that. but believe me, most people are still never going to have that much!)
I wonder what happened to him and the family?
His family stayed here, in their family home. The kids all went to public schools.
He lived in an apartment in Washington, but came home as often as possible.
This was not considered weird at the time.
She did not stand out or lord it over anyone.
If they were rich, they certainly didn’t act like it. They were republicans, but they were regular people.
What happened to that idea.
That’s a great question. Society as a whole is very segregated, racially and economically. I can’t imagine that the wealthiest don’t perceive the danger of a growing underclass.
To hold back that danger, we must fill the papers and airwaves with crap, like Paris Hilton or reality shows. Our cities must “rebuild” themselves with casinos, giving hope to the poor that they too can be rich.
We must continue to prop corporations up with welfare, all while urging all of us to be consumers and put ourselves in debt trying to own as much as we can. Let’s market $200 tennis shoes to poor kids, they’ll buy them and never get ahead.
Sorry about the cynicism.
should be directly tied to Congressional salaries, between four and ten as a multiple.
It would be up to the Congress whether to raise the minimum wage to a level sufficient to purchase the necessities of survival, or reduce their own pay commensurately.
To talking about a Living Wage. The minimum wage is kind of a stupid concept, I think. It means something, to someone, but what, I don’t know.
Living Wage, the meaning is obvious. You can live on it. At least in the city where you live. Let’s admit that some people aren’t making that.
I think that a goal of the Democratic Party should be Health Coverage & a Living Wage for all Americans. And those two things should be protected from taxes. Don’t start paying taxes until you make more than the living wage for your sized family.
Taxes could be easy.
Where do you live. (census keeps pretty close track of cost of living in metro areas)
How many in family (some baseline per person)
How much did you make. (total of all people in household)
Taxes owed.
And start the sliding scale from there.
I think you’re right, but I’d tie the salaries to Living Wage +.
These jerks think other people can live on tiny little wages, but not them.
OOOOhhhh, nnnnoooo — what they do is hard and important.
Working everyday for someone else — that’s easy and dumb.
jerks. all of them.
But to do that, there would first have to BE a Living Wage, which I do not think Congress will enact.
In fact, any candidate who suggested such a thing would be instantly declared “unelectable” and any politician who suggested such a thing would put his career in serious jeopardy, if not the grave.
So my suggestion is somewhat sneaky/snarky, tie minimum wage, which does exist, to their salaries, and poof! A Living Wage becomes present!
A recent study showed that there is no county in the US where is is possible for someone earning minimum wage to purchase housing. The cost of housing is now approaching 4 times the minimum wage, leaving even those who work 80 hours a week priced out. And that is housing only. Not even considering food, transportation, let alone medical treatment.
I noticed in the comments at Kos…that Rahm is apparently making it a habit to run millionaires. Or attempt to do so. I will need to check the thread there, but one is mentioned in CA, one in a southeastern state, one in Florida. He is supporting Christine Jennings again, a millionaire, even though Jan Schneider did well last year against Katherine Harris.. I think Jennings ran last year as well.
Why all the interest in millionaires? I don’t like it.
Did the same thing here in TX. Rahm told Richard Morrison not run against DeLay, even though Morrison almost beat DeLay. Morrison said he would run again, but then out of the blue, Morrison writes his email to his supporters and says he won’t run. I just looked at the email again and Morrison mentions his financial situation. At the time, it didn’t make sense because the DCCC didn’t really help Morrison, it was Dean’s DFA’s Dean’s 12.
The first paragraph of Morrison’s letter.
The paragraph I bolded just is a bunch a crap. Morrison would have won the primary hands down because the people in his district, which I am off by a city block, begged the guy to run. He wouldn’t even have to campaign that hard. But now, on what you just mentioned, it makes perfect sense why he steped down for Lampson. The Burnt Orange Report made a very interesting comment about it:
The comment was once again about his financial situation. Here in Houston, we kind of figured something was up, the week before the DCCC was already talking with Lampson and here is another strange thing. Lampson never lived in DeLay’s district, he has to move if he is going to run.
The DCCC is up to no good.
Don’t know much about Morrison, and apparently it’s too late. Did his people let supporters know what was going on? Ask for funds?
Let’s say, Morrison is playing by the DCCC’s rules. Everything happened just suddenly and I am taking it that even those close to him did’t know what happened, or they too decided to take it to their graves. As for the funds, lets say he had to return a lot of money. It was just too strange and because he has a lot of supporters, they are not going to ask questions as he requested.
Meirda.
I just have trouble with this, and it is very hard getting information on the topic. Here is a statement from Stu Rothenberg about Mahoney, and a dead link to a Palm Beach Post article making it clear it was Rahm and Thurman doing it.
Stu Rothenberg.
http://www.rothenbergpoliticalreport.com/archive/october312005.htm
“The test for the Democrats will be in open seats that lean Republican and in districts where Republican incumbents are seeking re-election – and in those districts, the Democrats’ achievements so far are mixed.
The DCCC can rightly boast about recruits such as Diane Farrell (Connecticut 4th), Lois Murphy (Pennsylvania 6th), Ron Klein (Florida 22nd), Patricia Madrid (New Mexico 1st), and former Reps. Nick Lampson (Texas 22nd) and Baron Hill (Indiana 9th). Each has demonstrated an ability to run a strong campaign, and each has significant personal accomplishments.
But some of those the DCCC is promoting as “strong candidates” have far fewer assets, and much more to prove, before they merit the strong candidate label.
For instance, I met businessman Tim Mahoney, who is challenging Rep. Mark Foley (R) in Florida’s 16th. He’s on the DCCC’s list, but if he’s a top-tier candidate, then I’m Thomas Jefferson. I found Mahoney to be an unpolished second- or third-tier House candidate who is not yet prepared for a U.S. House race. He may have some personal money to put into his race, and he may ultimately become a good candidate. Time will tell. But he isn’t one now.”
And from the Palm Beach Post dead link. I had it saved in my research, saw the link was dead, searched for it, found this at MyDD. Looks like he became a Democrat while they were recruiting him. Karen Thurman is known for being very business friendly, as are all our Florida Democratic leaders. So she and Rahm recruit another millionaire. I feel like saying, so what…what will he do for me? Another millionaire Republican.
“The last few Democratic attempts to unseat U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, R-Jupiter, have been spectacular failures, but some Dems in Washington and Tallahassee still dream of finding a credible challenger.
New Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Karen Thurman and folks at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in D.C. have had serious talks recently with vFinance Inc. Chairman Tim Mahoney, whose business finances high-growth companies and has more than two dozen offices in the United States.
Mahoney, 48, has homes in Palm Beach Gardens and Highlands County, where he has a 100-acre cattle ranch on Fisheating Creek. He hasn’t been politically active and only became a Democrat last month, when he switched his registration from the GOP. But Democratic recruiters like his combination of business and agricultural backgrounds.
< snip >
Foley’s reelection campaign has more than $2.1 million in cash on hand. Sprawling District 16, which comprises parts of eight counties, is roughly 43 percent Republican and 36 percent Democrat. President Bush got about 54 percent there against Democrat John Kerry last year.”
I suspect that the DCCC is recruiting millionaires because the DCCC expects them to put a substantial portion of their own money into the campaign. A money-saver for the DCCC.
And, btw, for those of us who are tech-challenged. How do you get your e-mail addy not to show after your name?
Go to your page, then settings. I just don’t have one displayed there.
then “settings”
under “Displayed Email” delete email addr in the box
then to save this change go to bottom of page to “save preferences”
Thanks for the help.
Test.
of the work of the DCCC, it seems to me it is just as important to defeat their chosen candidates, as it is to defeat the republican candidates.
It seems very clear to me, and more clear everyday, that people-with-money (PWM) think differently than people without (I KNOW there are exceptions). So those of us without money make a very big mistake if we trust PWM to represent our interests.
They seem to think that a single person making 20 thousand is doing just great (HEY, they don’t have kids, do they?)! But, have they ever tried to get by on that? I’d love to sit in on those discussions where they decide the poverty levels. The rich bastards, I hate them.
So, yeh — Defeat those People-With-Money whether they’re recruited by the Republicans, or the DCCC. I’m done with them.