Keeping track of 2006, the nuts and bolts of victory

[pazarus]

Does everyone in this discussion site know who their local politicians are? Do they know who is running in 2006 and who they need to beat? Where can we find that information on a state-to-state basis as it becomes available?

I'm relatively new here, so I don't know what system if any is in place for keeping track of local political races, but sometimes I worry that they get lost in the big picture and vague notions of national politics and national policies. What we really need to do is win at the local level, over and over again, and send our representatives to Congress. Of course everyone knows this, but I am wondering if there are any systems in place to help us achieve that.

I know there is already a local politics discussion area, but there is nothing about specific races unless posters start the topics themselves, and then they get pushed under as new threads are started. I would suggest keeping a list or a running thread of each race, just so we can keep focused on the nuts and bolts of winning back the country instead of the vague notions of framing our national message. Every regular poster at such a politically active site such as this should be aware of the battles closest to them, and I think it would be great if DU could help organize and keep a careful track of all the local political, especially Senatorial and Congressional, races across the country.

If this isn't a possibility (it might be a lot of work to set up), then maybe DU could put an informational link to another site that lists all the races. Honestly, I'm not trying to make more work for anyone, I just want to see a focus on 2006 and a kind of easy access to information for grassroots and local races. I know I am not the most politically informed person, but I am trying to improve. I think there are a lot of people out there like me who are relatively new to political dealings, and would love to organize, keep track of, and discuss the strategies of the local politics we have to win in 2006.

If we start focusing now, knowing our challenge and the races we need to win and our chances in each, we can all (I know some are already) be active participants instead of watching it go by.