GOTV
The Democratic Party has decided it's in trouble. This time the cause is Howard Dean because he hasn't instituted an aggressive enough get out the vote plan for the November elections, or at least that's the complaint coming from incumbents who have just realized that in the last three election cycles not enough Democratic voters actually turned up at the polls on election day. From the Washington Post.
Top Democrats are increasingly concerned that they lack an effective plan to turn out voters this fall, creating tension among party leaders and prompting House Democrats to launch a fundraising effort aimed exclusively at mobilizing Democratic partisans.
...Democrats' organizing has been slowed by a philosophical dispute between Dean, who argues that the party needs to rebuild its long-term infrastructure nationwide while trying to win back the House and Senate, and congressional Democrats, who want to use party resources for an all-out push this fall.
The article itself details the rather intricate mechanics developed by the Republican Party to ensure voter turnout. Data gathering, telephone banking, home visits: all start early in the actual campaign season and culminate during the last hours on election day. Obviously, the Republicans have been effective the last ten to twelve years with this kind of planning. The Democrats are just getting into the game in that respect.
Still, to blame Howard Dean, who said right from the start that the party needed an overhaul of its basic infrastructure in all states for the long term, is somewhat disingenuous. After all, it wasn't Howard Dean who failed to stand firm by way of a filibuster on such issues as the bankruptcy bill, the deeply flawed prescription drug plan, the Supreme Court nominations. Nor was it Howard Dean who stabbed Dick Durbin in the back, forcing him to apologize for remarks he made about the conditions at Guantanamo Bay, or who chastised Russ Feingold for having the audacity to suggest that President Bush should be censured for his lying the country into war and then his trashing the Constitution when it came to spying on Americans.
The Democrats haven't exactly given the party faithful anything to vote for. No clear policy statement of party principles as they apply to the current morass the nation finds itself in has yet to be enunciated. All the phone banking in the world isn't going to get a voter to the polls who doesn't see any clear difference between the parties, who doesn't believe his vote matters to anyone, least of all the candidate.
The blame isn't Howard Dean's. It can be spread around and until the national party takes a long honest look in the mirror, the number of Democratic faithful actually voting won't change.
Top Democrats are increasingly concerned that they lack an effective plan to turn out voters this fall, creating tension among party leaders and prompting House Democrats to launch a fundraising effort aimed exclusively at mobilizing Democratic partisans.
...Democrats' organizing has been slowed by a philosophical dispute between Dean, who argues that the party needs to rebuild its long-term infrastructure nationwide while trying to win back the House and Senate, and congressional Democrats, who want to use party resources for an all-out push this fall.
The article itself details the rather intricate mechanics developed by the Republican Party to ensure voter turnout. Data gathering, telephone banking, home visits: all start early in the actual campaign season and culminate during the last hours on election day. Obviously, the Republicans have been effective the last ten to twelve years with this kind of planning. The Democrats are just getting into the game in that respect.
Still, to blame Howard Dean, who said right from the start that the party needed an overhaul of its basic infrastructure in all states for the long term, is somewhat disingenuous. After all, it wasn't Howard Dean who failed to stand firm by way of a filibuster on such issues as the bankruptcy bill, the deeply flawed prescription drug plan, the Supreme Court nominations. Nor was it Howard Dean who stabbed Dick Durbin in the back, forcing him to apologize for remarks he made about the conditions at Guantanamo Bay, or who chastised Russ Feingold for having the audacity to suggest that President Bush should be censured for his lying the country into war and then his trashing the Constitution when it came to spying on Americans.
The Democrats haven't exactly given the party faithful anything to vote for. No clear policy statement of party principles as they apply to the current morass the nation finds itself in has yet to be enunciated. All the phone banking in the world isn't going to get a voter to the polls who doesn't see any clear difference between the parties, who doesn't believe his vote matters to anyone, least of all the candidate.
The blame isn't Howard Dean's. It can be spread around and until the national party takes a long honest look in the mirror, the number of Democratic faithful actually voting won't change.
posted by Diane at 3:39 AM
1 Comments:
Pfui.
Thees ees just Van De Hei bloviating so he can go home content and rub one out over hees shrine to el Chimperador.
The point ees that the DLC and the DNC are differing een how they weesh to spend capaign dolares, eet ees an old story, weeth an old narrative.
Rinse, repeat, re-wank, no?
so.
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