There is yet ANOTHER great post there by Ian Welsch regarding a 50-state strategy. I know that there's a sentiment (especially if you're in the GDC!) that we need to field a strong candidate in the seemingly unwinnable 7th District. This post makes a really strong case for that.
An excerpt:
Funding a race doesn't mean matching dollar for dollar what Republicans spend. It does mean you run in every single riding and that you make sure the candidate has enough money for a credible run. That money does not have to come from any one source - part of the job of local candidates is to raise some of their own money after all.
However no party which doesn't run a candidate in every seat is a credible party. 30 point edges don't go away if you don't have someone making the local argument for you, especially when non-swing states don't get any advertising money. Likewise running campaigns in districts builds up volunteer pools and local activists, making the next run stronger. The sort of thinking that says "if we can't win this riding this time we should not even take a decent swing at it" is very short sighted.
It's not about not prioritizing. Of course you prioritize where you spend your money, but every riding should have someone making the Democratic argument.
All righty then! I also liked this tidbit:
Now this does mean that you have to keep your base happy. This is something Democrats don't get, and Republicans do. The base are the people who go out and knock on the doors, who do all the grunt labor and who are your most effective salesmen. But they can and will only do all of this for you if they really believe in you. So if you constantly sell them out, if you're not there for them when they need you, then they won't be there for you.
Go read the rest of this: you'll be glad you did!
2 comments:
I'm from McNairy County, part of that "unwinnable 7th district." Although it's not going to go Democratic any time soon, the Republicans don't have as strong a hold on it as you might assume. My Republican-voting relatives in that district think the war is a mistake (their children are fighting there,) they think the Republican party favors the rich and screws the poor, and they think Bush is a moron for wanting to dismantle Social Security. If we spent time trying to focus on these issues and draw attention away from abortion and gay marriage, we could start to pull over this area. Even if it would take a generation to swing the district, just cutting into the Republican majority there will swing statewide elections our way.
With any luck and certainly from recent appearances, the Republicans may not have as strong a hold on anything as they used to. I believe that a lot of folks who have been voting R now believe the same things you state about those in McNairy Co....war, social security, etc. It is our job to start taking advantage of it.
And would someone point out to these stupid conservative voters that they have not seen Bush or the Repubs actually do anything about gay marriage, despite all the hype during the campaign.
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