Ok time for some tough love

[nadinbrzezinski]

Last edited Wed Jun 6, 2012, 05:55 PM - Edit history (1)

You know what the problem of the democratic party is? (And I am sure you are not going to like it)

And I mean the heart of the problem....

Stop the whining and the belly aching and pointing fingers.

Main problem is, the other side IS organized (and has money, that helps)... Dems... not so much...

The Republicans figured this out long ago, you want to control the country, you need to control all from the dog catcher and school district level (where all the local power is), all the way to the WH.

Dems have not figured this out. At least I have yet to see evidence that people understand this... let alone local parties.

Quick, who was running for your local court who was more to your liking? How about the school board? If you happen to have dog catcher, dog catcher. (Yeah, yea, I happen to know and I voted for them)

Local game matters...

Now to work with me...

[tallahasseedem]

1. I completely agree with you...

their organizational effort is outstanding...I hate to say it, but it's true.

[emulatorloo]

2. You are absolutely correct. Thanks for posting. N/t

[cali]

3. do you have any evidence for this?

It's not like dems don't work to get elected for everything from dog catcher on up. where is the evidence that dems don't work in an organized fashion to get elected in every race? Dems also participate in the insane money scramble. and in recent years, they've done quite well on that front. Post CU? Probably not going to do nearly as well, but that's hardly the fault of the dem party.


Local does matter- oh and not every state elects judges.

[RadiationTherapy]

4. I just had this conversation about our Corporation Commission.

I said, "Most people don't think or care about serving on the corporation commission, but you know who does care? CORPORATIONS."

[NC_Nurse]

5. I hate to be the downer here, but I'm fucking sick of working my ass off and so this time I didn't

and I doubt it made any difference. I feel outgunned, outspent, and pretty much outnumbered by those who worship fundamentalist religion, the rich, and corporate power. I and most of my friends could never run for office because we aren't lying jerks who have a perfectly hidden past. Looks like I'll have to wait for the old white repub majority to die off and hope I live long enough to see the younger gen of less religious and bigoted folks come into power.

I don't WANT to have to care who is dogcatcher. If other people aren't interested enough in who is running the show to get informed - it's a losing battle.

Ok, I'm in a bad mood today. I admit it.

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. Alas your republican neighbors care

or the people in charge at their local party do... and have a hell of a ground game and tell their people.

This is coming because I live in a redistricted district... you know how many of my neighbors know? The local democratic party had no money, organization or volunteers. So it feel to a reporter (me) to let the neighbors I know hey, we are no longer in Susan Davis's district These are the people running.

Now the judges I knew them, as in met them in the flesh. I admit, it is easier if you are reporting on races.

Now my REPUBLICAN neighbors knew we lived in a newly born district.

I got some more photos to process.

[cali]

11. actually, my republican neighbors have no ground game and

rarely win anything in this state. Same for many blue states.

[progressoid]

33. As you say below, "all places in this country are not cut out from some cookie cutter."

Unfortunately, a lot of us don't have the luxury of living in a blue state/district.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

63. When Republicans lost, as they did badly in 2006 and 2008, I was amazed.

They didn't give up. They didn't even act as if they'd lost. They doubled down. They never give up, no matter how much they lose or how bad it gets for their side.

I admit that I am incredibly jealous. I so wish the Democrats were like that.

[KurtNYC]

6. They have message discipline

we are a herd of cats organized into daily circular firing squads.

We echo and obsess about Rush and Fox instead of advancing our own talking points and issue frames.

[cali]

9. I think that's more to the point.

we're a diverse party. they're not. easier to keep on message.

[HughBeaumont]

14. Especially when that message is shrouded in hatred and wrapped up in a cross.

They don't brake for THEIR moderates.

[KurtNYC]

32. we have no media

"Liberal" ideas get run through the filter of MSM so there is no chance to frame issues in a way that favors our solutions. Currently the campaign by the RW is to delete labor history from the public view and many here do not understand how a boycott works for example. Many on DU think that you can boycott a TV show, you can't because you aren't the customer.

The RW often defines themselves by what they are NOT. They don't have to offer up solutions, only a vehicle to piss off liberals. They keep it stone simple. We talk about "educating the voters" and call people who don't vote our way "stupid" and that is a mistake. If you have to educate the voter to get them on your side then you have lost because there is no opportunity to educate them (we have no media) plus it is condescending to even think that way.

The voter gets presented with a choice and what they seem to be picking is whichever candidate they hate less or which ever candidate says they will spend less money. The Republicans have mastered this "Dollar Menu" version of politics. The TEA Party was basically the Dollar Menu version of the Republican party.

[Sekhmets Daughter]

54. Agreed.

Democrats are victims of their own hubris. We take pride in being called the "intellectually elite" and routinely claim that conservatives are stupid yet the Republicans have outsmarted us for the past 30+ years. We write books like "What's the Matter with Kansas?" and fail to recognize that there are legitimate (as well as not so legitimate) reasons that some people will vote against their own economic interests...but rather than address those issues we laugh at the good people of Kansas, which only serves to make them defensive and less inclined to vote Democratic. We have allowed the Republicans to control the messaging and our answer to all of it was Bill Freaking Clinton who sold out to Wall St by signing Gramm-Leach-Bliley and NAFTA. I could go on, but I think you get my drift.

[KurtNYC]

74. Welcome to DU.

[nadinbrzezinski]

86. Welcome to DU

and our answer has been to drift right along side, instead of organize, organize, organize

What has worked for them is exactly what I posted in the OP... organize, organize, organize, at the local level and win local levels and take control of the board that way... Tip O'Neil I fear was the last Democrat to understand that.

And hubris, they got it in spades too... but they organize.

[zappaman]

87. "Tip O'Neil I fear was the last Democrat to understand that."

So untrue to actually be hysterically funny!
Thank you for the laugh!

[Scuba]

7. I'm pretty sure half the local Democratic officials in the Country are Republicans.....

... either that, or we have the least competent bunch of Party leaders in the world. Our local Party leaders are pretty sure that it's 1955, that voters first litmus test is that you're Catholic, and that the internet has not yet been imagined.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

10. We need to fight

and then fight some more. We need to fight whether we win or lose but especially when we lose. If we aren't fighting the Republicans as hard as they are fighting us, then we're basically giving them advantages they don't deserve IMHO.

[Taverner]

12. You're trying to talk me into Vanguardism again!

Seriously, moments like this make me think Lenin wasn't so off base with the whole vanguard thingy

But my inner Anarchist reels at the idea

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. Well Lenin understood that principle of local organization

so do your local republicans.

It does not matter if you are "left," "right" or Martian... local politics and local organization is where it is.

[cali]

18. Actually, no. no they don't. all places in this country are not cut out from

some cookie cutter.

[Taverner]

21. "Politics is Potholes" - unknown

Was it Mike Royko who said "All politics is local"?

Anyway - regarding the idea of one vanguard element of a party, or party itself, used to scare me. Seemed too open to abuse.

But it seems like this is the only way to go. Someone has to steer the ship.

[jwirr]

34. Are there any stats out on who voted and for whom yesterday in WI? Also Who ended up being the

top two in California?

[nadinbrzezinski]

35. At the presidential level in Cali

Obama and Romney.

Local elections is where it is.

My local city council shifted so far right it is not even funny... wisconsin west to be honest.

Also a local proposition to gut the pension system will soon spread across california and the United States, if they can help it.

Did I mention labor lost PLA's?

Did I mention the people behind this are so conservative my head hurts?

Oh and my locals voted for a lot of this crap because they were convinced with very slick campaigns that it was the right thing to do. Unions in this city are mostly on line support now. (Not that people realize this)

I said it a while ago, Labor will have to refight the battles of the past, well welcome to Labor movement 2.0 when they finally figure this out, because they haven't.

[jwirr]

38. Absolutely terrifying. And if I am not mistaken you are in what we have foundly called a blue state.

[nadinbrzezinski]

40. and a blue city

the city itself had turned blue...

It does not help that our voter turn out was per usual low, as in average for primary standards... and that people are so damn discouraged that they do not believe voting matters. Well, in the age of self fulfilling prophecies, they are right. It does not matter... the few of us who still show up to vote cannot counter this crap.

[GarroHorus]

13. If you aren't active locally, you cannot be active nationally.

It's a basic tenet of politics because all politics is local.

[freshwest]

31. And it is face to face, hazardous and not at all glamorous. Those who look at the national picture..

Framed by media, expecting to ride a wave denigrate the local action, as it doesn't make the news at all. But it creates the national scene that the media covers.

It's a humbling and difficult road, no glory or crowds cheering one on. There are many things lower than elections on a local level, associations of people who get together all year long, not just on election days and find compromises must be made.

[Gregorian]

15. It's simpler than that. The problem is the number of Republicans.

There is nothing wrong with us Dems. The problem is that there are enough people who are ignorant enough to be conned into being Republicans. It's so very much like a drunk. To become a Dem they just need to stop drinking the Republican stuff.

And then there's what you said. But first, we need better schools, better media, election finance reform, less military spending. All of which stem from an intelligent population.

[nadinbrzezinski]

16. Alas that comes with organization

and understating where the real power lies, doesn't it?

And money...

People need to figure this out... if the Democratic Party is ever going to be competitive again... that LOCAL elections is where the brass ring is... the POTUS is just gravy.

[Gregorian]

41. Yes.

I appreciate your reply. It helped me see some more of the picture. That's what makes this forum so valuable. I have paid almost no attention to the local elections, until now.

[cali]

19. I think your diagnosis is shallow and well, wrong.

look, as the recent Pew report stated, democrats are a diverse party. Republicans are decidedly not. It's far easier to stay on message when you aren't diverse. there are lots of micro inter party cultural differences in the democratic party. those pretty much don't exist in the republican party.

[Gregorian]

46. I think that's also part of the overall picture.

Once again I have to say that your reply is what makes this forum so valuable. There are many facets to this issue. Local elections to bring new life into the picture, election reform, less money spent on the military, more on education.

It's so easy to be discouraged when I think of our diversity. Yet I believe that with very little organization it is our diversity that makes us formidable, if the playing field is fair. I also think that Republicans are not as uniform as it appears. They have decades of extremely well financed think tanks pumping out their orders. And of course, it's far easier to take down than to build up.

[sabrina 1]

64. There are a few very important issues that most Democrats (and even some Republicans when the

are asked without party politics involved) agree on. And most of them are being undermined because Democrats are giving up ground each time the Republicans talk about them.

Most Democrats agree on:

1)Don't touch SS except to make it stronger (raise the cap and explain it to people. I have found that many Democrats thought that everyone pays into SS and they don't know what 'raise the cap' means.

2) Make the Wealthy pay their fair share in taxes, the Bush tax cuts cost the country over 2 trillion dollars and whatever jobs they created in return, mostly went overseas. This is true and it is a winning argument with most people.

3) End the wars. People are sick of money being spent on OTHER countries for no good reason. Give them numbers explain what that money could do here

4) Protect the Working Class from Republican policies by working WITH Unions and explain, since the rightwing anti-Union message has penetrated even into Dem territory because they allowed, explain why they are necessary.

5) Hold Wall Street criminals who crashed the economy, were bailed out and gave themselves huge bonuses, accountable. This is popular with approx 80% of the public.

6) Make Health Care available to all Americans, as it is in most civilized countries. No one should lose their home because they get sick. Another popular issue that crosses party lines.

7) Work to get the money out of politics, another popular issue that no one talks about anymore.

Finally, SS did NOT cause the deficit, the debt or anything else. That is a lie told by Republicans and explain it. It's not hard.

They should attack Republicans for wanting to turn this country into Europe which followed all their policies and promise to stop them from doing so.

There is absolutely no reason why Democrats cannot be united on most of these issues, unless they don't want to be.

[Baitball Blogger]

20. That's what I've been saying.

When you have State Attorneys who won't investigate them; crooks on the Ethics boards, and the Chamber controlling local government and the schools, boy scout politics will not be enough.

[nadinbrzezinski]

24. The chamber is the obvious suspect

but not necessarily the source. Locally (as in SoCal) a lot of our laws are actually pushed and designed by the party itself... look into the Lincoln Club... and I am sure there are equivalent groups inside State GOP's all over the country. So they do not control the state legislature, laws have been passed where a minority can still control things.

And people need to wake up... you can to control all, you need to control your local politics.

Then we have ALEC...

And a few other groups.

It is an extremely well oiled machine, that understands... you control the local level, you will end up controlling the nation

Dems... hate to say it, but are too much in love with top down and the presidency and have missed for over a generation what Tip O'Neil preached... all politics is local.

[Baitball Blogger]

28. It's really very disappointing when you know the names of the secret clubs and organizations,

and you can cite how it all came together to disrupt the laws, but you can't do anything about it because they have friends in all the agencies that are suppose to help.

Where do you go from there?

[nadinbrzezinski]

36. I know who they are

most people don't, and this is by design.

It's not like they are secret or 'thing, but they keep themselves out of the limelight if possible.

[cynatnite]

22. They had a simple plan...

Get repubs in as many elected positions as possible from local to national, get in bed with whoever has the money and form laws to their benefit.

Look where it got us.

[nadinbrzezinski]

25. Starting in 1964

and we have had this conversation here before.

[zappaman]

23. Couldn't disagree more.

To say the Democratic party is disorganized and has no money is wrong.

[apocalypsehow]

30. You're missing the patterns...those swirling patterns...get your patterns-glasses on....

[zappaman]

45. You are wrong as well.

I am a trained historian and I closely follow the trends.

[apocalypsehow]

48. Heh-heh. I see what you did there.

[NAO]

26. Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the unmaking...

Rick Pearlstein's book on Barry Goldwater is actually about the rise of the conservative movement 1932-1980 and after reading it I am no longer shocked by the success of the right.

They organized at grassroots (think John Birch Society); they organized at the non-party elites level (think oilmen like Howard Pew and other business interests) and those organizations took control of the party and captured hearts and minds.

[nadinbrzezinski]

27. Exactly... and that should be required reading

in 1964 they did not slink away... all predictions aside...

[apocalypsehow]

29. And sometimes it just happens that a majority of the voters agree with your opponents, and

cast their ballots accordingly.

The real problem with certain segments of the Democratic party is that after an honest defeat instead of simply accepting the result and vowing to work harder next time, the non-stop caterwauling about a "stolen election" commences. That reeks of cry-babyism, and sore losers, and is personally embarrassing to me as a registered Democrat to witness.

[zappaman]

44. It reminds my of the occupy movement.

When some asshole breaks a window or attacks a cop, it's not OWS fault...it's the infiltrators sent by the government!

[RZM]

52. You're right. There's too much of that

That's why today's batch of trolls harped on this theme. They knew there would be a few takers and the more there were, the worse it would look.

[Hangingon]

84. We need to look at what we did that didn't appeal to the electorate

and not list all things that we assume have been done to us.

[zappaman]

85. +100

I could not agree more.

[deaniac21]

37. I'm pretty sure that

I've never seen dog catcher on a ballot.

[nadinbrzezinski]

39. It's an east coast thing

some counties still have them.

And where they exist, Republicans want to control that too.

[zappaman]

42. Wrong again.

From Wikipedia: In actuality, most animal control officers are appointed by an executive authority.[1] An exception is the town of Duxbury, Vermont, which does elect its dogcatcher.[2]
So, one town out of how many in the US?
Please present your evidence that Republicans want to control the outcome of the election of animal control officer in Duxbury, Vermont.
If you can't, then I will assume you are wrong about that as well.

[zappaman]

43. You are correct

Unless you live in Duxbury, Vermont.
Which is apparently the ONE town that elects a dogcatcher.

[haele]

51. Animal or Pest Control used to be an elected position in smaller towns, like Sheriff.

The "dog catcher" is just a common name. They were responsible for clearing up animal carcasses off the street and pest control - collecting sewer rats, feral/loose dogs and stray livestock when needed. The city clerk usually licensed dogs - as in that era, dogs usually weren't family "pets" for companionship, but considered working animals for security, sanitation (rat catching), hunting, and/or herding livestock and when loose and roaming in packs they could be dangerous nuisances known to injure or kill smaller animals or children, so it was felt that people should only have dogs if they needed them in town. So the position of the dog catcher included enforcing the regulations for dog licenses.

According to one of my great-grandmother's letters, one of my great-great uncles - a barber - was regularly elected Sheriff's Deputy for Pest Control in whatever town in Missouri he was living in for at least 12 years. He was called a "dog catcher", because that was what he did in that position most of the time - and apparently enjoyed it immensely (whatever that meant - I couldn't tell if he liked it because he could help or hurt dogs; you never knew about the attitude back then.).

It's not the same nowdays - but then, Animal Control is a much more involved job.

Haele

[daaron]

47. Ayup. A plain fact. nt

[Dont call me Shirley]

49. The reichwing message is EVERYWHERE. It is nearly impossible to avoid.

OFA did a great job in 2008. They haven't been since, why?

[nadinbrzezinski]

50. Who is the Chair of the party?

That will answer your question.

[MsPithy]

53. Republicans and their corporate masters can buy

every single commercial on every single TV channel and every single radio station from August until Nov. 6th.

DO YOU UNDERSTAND? Every available minute of TV commercial time filled with Republican lies.

[zappaman]

55. So can the Democrats.

What, you think the Democratic Party is poor?

[MsPithy]

58. American Corporations are sitting on

at least 2 trillion in cash. CASH.

Republicans will give them zero corporate taxes and eliminate all regulations and stop American citizens from seeking legal protection from the corporations in court. How much of that 2 trillion will they donate to Democrats.

[zappaman]

60. Um....lots?

http://www.opensecrets.org/parties/

[MsPithy]

65. From now on, corporations will not do something as old fashioned as

donating to political parties. It's the super-pacs, baby!

Super-pac money is unlimited and not even opensecrets.org will be able to follow the layers of corporate subterfuge used to camouflage it.

[nadinbrzezinski]

56. So tell me what was the excuse BEFORE Citizens United?

By the way, you understand where this came from? The Lincoln Club in Orange County California and an add produced in 2008 against Hillary. Case is Citizens United vs FEC.

People better get it up and quick... PAY ATTENTION AND ORGANIZE LOCALLY. I am not the one saying it... Tip O'Neil would have told you the exact same thing.

[MsPithy]

59. There is no need for excuses before Citizens United.

Democrats won elections before Citizens United. 2008 was close to a Democratic sweep.

[nadinbrzezinski]

71. Should I link to posts from 2004?

How about 2002?

Would you prefer 2006?

Yes, there were excuses, plenty of them.

By the way... 2010, in case you missed it, AFTER citizens united, it was a dem sweep in California.

Yes, it makes things that much more harder, so does the black box voting, which the PARTY still needs to adress... but hey... if you want to blame Citizens United by all means.

[fasttense]

57. Until we have transparent, fair and accurate elections again, none of that will matter.

I knew the RepubliCONS would win in Wisconsin because no one did anything to change the voting system. Do you know if your vote counted? Where was it counted? How was it counted? Were there witnesses? Were the witnesses reliable? Did the machine change your vote? Did it change just 6+% of the votes? Did it change 50% of the votes?

Go through the motions all you want. Analyze everything, but the bottom line is RepubliCONS have learned their lesson from the Obama win. Never again will they be short of money to bribe everyone. Never again, if they own the ballot counting, are they going to allow the real votes to be counted. That money they spent was also spent on bribes and intimidation. Some of it was spent on rigging the election.

Prove to me the vote was fair. You can't. RepubliCONS have shown their hand over and over again from the fake Democratic primary winner in South Carolina, to Kathy Nickolaus finding just the right number of missing votes in Wisconsin, to the bushes getting their friends on the Supremes to stop counting votes in Florida. RepubliCONS are rigging the elections and everyone wants to pretend otherwise.

The only reason Obama won in 2008 was because RepubliCONS didn't have enough money to bribe enough people. And some of those people would have been real hard to bribe because some of them had ethics and were Democrats. But with the Supremes allowing a never ending river of money to flow into RepubliCON hands, they have enough money to bribe all the right people.

You can not win a rigged game.

Call me a Sore Loser just like when the bushes stole the elections, say I'm crying wolf, but when a man proves to be a cheat, you do NOT trust him to count your money or your votes.

You can not trust the devil to tell you the truth.

[marions ghost]

66. a rigged game...

absolutely.

But a lot of people don't see it. They want to believe the system works for them. They want to believe that elections are fair, that liberals and conservatives have a level playing field. Nothing could be further from the truth. It's a completely corrupt country...

Yes, politics is local, but try really doing something on the local level and see how far you get. Local organizing has to be about new solutions. There's not much democracy left to work with.

Sorry if my views are too pessimistic, and I don't say roll over and play dead.

Just saying the old ways ARE NOT WORKING. If the Kochs et al are going to steer an election their way, they're going to do that and there is nada we can do about it by trying to drum up dem voters.

[nadinbrzezinski]

72. Yeah the game is rigged but some of the problem is

as basic as I stated in my OP.

YUP WE GOT THE WH? Who is your county judge? How about your school district board president? Your Mayor? City Council Man?

The GOP was singing Hosanas last night locally. You'd think they won the Presidency or 'thing... in a way they did. Our city council just shifted to the right HARD.

[marions ghost]

75. My county is supposedly "progressive"

and generally votes dem locally. But there is a lot of corruption that it seems is never addressed.

Dunno how much it helps to back locals. Liberal thinkers are just being ground under, period.

[nadinbrzezinski]

77. Read on the Conservative Revolution

and what happened after the GOP lost HARD in 1964. It will answer to you why local elections matter. They get it. We forgot.

As to corruption... yes and... by that logic don't vote, and give completely up... why? Corruption at the federal level makes any of the local games seem like real rank beginners.

People who say it don't matter if you vote are completely right at this point... why? Self fulfilling prophecy... the few that stil come out and vote can't hold this anymore. I will continue to vote, but until the dems get it... nothing will change. In fact, things will get much, and I mean this MUCH WORST.

[marions ghost]

80. I'm with you that it's a critical time

and things could get much worse. But I guess I can't put all my trust (or blame) on the Dems--they don't represent or encompass the liberal wing.

What we need is truly representative Democracy. Allow minority parties to have some power. The "winner take all" system is killing us....and making this country badly bipolar.

[nadinbrzezinski]

81. For that you need to change the sacred document

given to man on Mt. Vernon... and that will not happen until this cold civil war goes hot.

[zappaman]

83. "...until this cold civil war goes hot"

sure would love to know what that means.

[Sekhmets Daughter]

93. The sacred document

how very apt is your phrasing.

[nadinbrzezinski]

94. I will not take full credit

the Atlantic had a great article on this a few months back.

[Sekhmets Daughter]

96. LOL

I should probably get a new subscription to the Atlantic...I let it go when I was moving to what I knew would be temporary quarters. Thanks for reminding me of what I am missing. Right now I'm only receiving The Economist, The New Republic and Foreign Affairs....

[nadinbrzezinski]

68. Yeah and... part of the problem

you know why Republicans try VERY HARD to control state secretary of state offices? You got it... read your OP. Why do you think they hated Debra Bowen and her straight and narrow approach, for example?

Until democrats get it... ORGANIZE, then organize some more, then continue to organize... and godamit go after local races (and yes work on black box voting and all that) nothing... and I mean it, nothing will change for the better.

I guess it will, only after the whole house of cards falls... things could be MUCH, and I mean this... MUCH WORST.

[FarCenter]

61. County and municipal governments are run by crooks of one party or the other

Doesn't actually matter much which one, since they represent the local corrupt power structure. And, since demographics don't change very rapidly, the local political establishment stays in power for decades unless something dramatic happens by way of migration or a national sweep.

[nadinbrzezinski]

67. By that logic leave this board

stay home and never, ever vote again. I got news for you. The corruption at the federal level, and the crooknedness at the federal level, will make any local crooks look like pikers.

Corruption I suspect is in the human genome, right next to greed.

[cali]

69. lol. seriously? all of them?

fucking idiotic.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

62. AMEN!!! But somehow I think your words will go on deaf ears.

I'm really starting to believe that it is in our nature to whine and bitch and especially blame Obama!

[nadinbrzezinski]

70. It is much easier to come with a slew of excuses

all of which have a basis in truth... but will not change until people realize that it wil take LOTS of local work.

I report... which means I have one more local news story to write before I call it a day. But it is getting to the point where those who claim voting will not change things... are very correct... self fulfilling prophecy and all that... and actually I think I will go to the registrar of voters, nearby relatively speaking, to get some info first, phones are like full or something for some strange reason.

[cbrer]

73. If the Democratic party ever stops wining, they'll dissolve

Oh never mind...you meant whining. And here I had my corkscrew at the ready!

[nadinbrzezinski]

79. thanks for the red pen

and as to wining... you got no idea just how much alcohol was flowing last night.

[cbrer]

95. Invitation?

Could'a been epic...

[BellaLuna]

76. WI was pretty organized weren't they?

It's the money and control of the media that is the difference.

That and we're not mean and nasty enough. We need leaders who will rip the balls of those evil SOBs. ENOUGH of playing nice. Our lives are depending on this.

[nadinbrzezinski]

78. They had an 8: 1 money advantage

also a long cooling off period, and they retook the senate.

And you know what? It's not just the leaders... it is people who are willing to organize at the ground level... WI had a hell of a ground game... but not just democratic ground game. The Republicans also organized in an unprecedented way.

Here is how badly I misread a local election... why? I never saw the very real ground game. I thought Bilbray had none, since we never saw any signs there was one. Well, not only did he have a ground game, he had an effective ground game.

And from returns in November it will be VERY CLOSE. But if you talk to locals, they seem to miss this.

It is the ground game, always... and democrats in general are waiting for others to do it for them.

[butterfly77]

82. In michigan...

Mark Brewer isn't doing a damn thing,but collecting a paycheck.

[obliviously]

88. We need to use twitter more!

[nadinbrzezinski]

89. I know you mean it as an attack

but actually, yes, and facebook, and any other modern means of grassroots organizing.

[zappaman]

90. Really?

So I guess Obama didn't use those things and lost the '08 election, right?

[obliviously]

92. It takes some longer than others

It's a new century with new technology.

[cali]

91. you have heard of Dr. Dean's Meetups, right?

Democrats have led when it comes to organizing on the Web.