Feets on the ground, and maybe other stuff...

[Dimwitted Fool]

For two months I was helping campaign for Congressman Tim Bishop and a few more local offices. It's not the first time I was part of a campaign, and this time I leaned a few more things.

Both parties had been moribund around here, with the Republicans having a comfortable demographic and the Democrats just sleeping through it all. Tim has fought off contenders before, and all were assuming his reelection.

Until the teabaggers showed up. They started by infiltrating his town meetings and an early yard sign offensive. They got their guy in as his opposition and gave the Republicans some hope, so all of them started moving together.

We didn't start moving until we got some new leadership, and then we partnered with OFA. Lotsa election law and legal stuff about how OFA couldn't get too close to the campaign and how our town Democratic committee was in the middle of it all, but we started to work at it, albeit lately.

I decided I hate phone banking. That was most of what we did, although we did some walking and canvassing in the few areas that could be considered sort of urban. I hated it because while it may have had some positive effect at one point, toward the end it simply pissed everyone off. Perhaps better targetting would help-- like get not just a list of registered voters but, eventually pare it down to those who need help getting to the polls.

What seemed to work marvelously, for the other side, was tabling-- hanging out by the Post Office or the supermarkets and buttonholing people. They had this whole new crew of excited teabaggers handing out literature and lies on a regular basis. And people were stopping to listen and taking papers away with them.

Yes, I said "lies." One of them even tried to tell me Tim was going to reduce current Social Security payments.

So, there's a point to this? Yeah. We have to get out there and meet people face to face. Standing in front of the Wal-Mart with a sign saying "Tim Bishop drained those flooded roads for you" trumps a lot of phone calls, emails and blog posts.

Discussion is fun, but we have to get away from boring people (or worse-- scaring them) to death with wonk points-- face it, no one cares about single payer. Maybe two thirds of the people we meet are content with the health insurance they now have. The rest will go for anything that promises them they can get treatment without going bankrupt.

My peeps out here care about the county water pipe, freedom to walk on the beaches, fishing licenses, traffic tieups when there's a really big wedding at one of the vinyards, the school budget, and other such earthshaking issues. Wars, the national debt, and other such trivia show up on their radar rarely.

Tim won, but it was really close. Too close. The teabaggers kept pounding on taxes-- the magic word. We just had Tim's great record to work with, and that almost wasn't enough.

[DFLforever]

Congratulations on all your good work keeping Bishop in office.

I agree with you..

I never phonebank. I always do what is called door knocking in my part of the country. I love it. But then I live in a city which is about 75 percent Democratic with very high voter turnout. We don't have party registration in MN so we don't have a clue as to anyone's political affiliation. I have door knocked in other parts of the state where a few people were definitely hostile (Michele Bachmann's district!!.)

I agree you have to meet people where they are as far as issues are concerned. I think I learned that while working on municipal campaigns.

The teabaggers have had the advantage of novelty and enthusiasm and appeal to the ignorance/bigotry and general ill-will of an aggrieved portion of the population.

I don't think they'll be as formidable a challenge in 2012.

They cost the GOP the governorship of MN in 2010 and their extremism is responsible for splitting the MN GOP in two when they recently suspended for two years (including the national convention in 2012 ) over two dozens top Republicans including two ex-governors, one ex- US senator and a handful of their largest contributors because they wouldn't support the teabag nominee and instead supported a third party candidate.

[Dimwitted Fool]

(12-26-2010 11:52 PM)DFLforever Wrote:  <...>
The teabaggers have had the advantage of novelty and enthusiasm and appeal to the ignorance/bigotry and general ill-will of an aggrieved portion of the population.

I don't think they'll be as formidable a challenge in 2012.
<...>

My crystal ball isn't quite as clear, and I don't discount the future effects of teabaggery. They hit a nerve and energized a lot of new people.

I certainly like to think they shot their wad last year, and those new people will shuffle off like a lot of our new people in '08 did, but they're not a centrally controlled group and it's just as likely that many of them will sit back and play it cool next time. After all, it's much easier these days to pull Republicans further right than it is to pull Democrats further left. And if we don't get our message out in a way that reflects the general mood, we won't be pulling in much of the middle.

[DFLforever]

I don't believe teabaggers can or ever will "play it cool".
I must be an optimist but I believe they carry the seeds of their own destruction!
I think they're shortsighted and short lived although clearly a reactionary, counter-revolutionary type of force.

And as far as the right and right - leaning Indies are concerned, the country is already way too far left. They thought the Reagan hegemony was permanent and sealed in gold and now spearheaded by the Obama Administration it appears to be collapsing all around them. That's one reason they're running around waving the Constitution .And in hard times people tend to 'cling, as the president says, to the little they have. They're suspicious of change. Change equals loss to most of them.

[CraigGrant]

Great report.

Next time it would be really interesting if you started a thread that was an ongoing diary of the day to day activities.

Congratulations on winning.

[Julie]

Great work for 2010! The trick that we Dems don't seem to master though is not disappearing from now till the next election.

Now is the time to build up the party. Got a mailing list? If so send out a membership-drive letter that also asks people to volunteer for 2012. List all sorts of ways like hold a fundraiser, put up a yard sign, write letters to the editor, knock doors, phone bank, work on mailings, etc. Then follow up. It's ideal to appoint a volunteer coordinator in your local party who can then call all those who volunteer and get things moving.

Remember, anytime you do a mailing where you are asking for funds/volunteers or any sort of response, be sure to include a self addressed return envelope. The easier it is for someone to reply, the more likely they are to do so.

Julie

[Dimwitted Fool]

(01-07-2011 10:22 AM)Julie Wrote:  Great work for 2010! The trick that we Dems don't seem to master though is not disappearing from now till the next election.

Now is the time to build up the party. Got a mailing list?
<...>

Workin' on that. We started having our monthly dinner meetings and we're working on a few local races this year.

I'd like to get a newsletter going.

[Julie]

(01-10-2011 07:48 AM)Dimwitted Fool Wrote:  

(01-07-2011 10:22 AM)Julie Wrote:  Great work for 2010! The trick that we Dems don't seem to master though is not disappearing from now till the next election.

Now is the time to build up the party. Got a mailing list?
<...>

Workin' on that. We started having our monthly dinner meetings and we're working on a few local races this year.

I'd like to get a newsletter going.

A newsletter is a great idea! That is how I found my local Dem party.

I have a feeling your local party is going to realize they have a valuable asset in you! If I can be of any assistance don't hesitate to ask!

Julie

[Capn Sunshine]

Ifthere was a way to rate posts, I'd rate yours all the way to the top Julie. Folks, Julie knows what she's talking about; she's been in the trenches and proven quite adept at it. Listen well to her advice.

****PS Just got elected to the State Central Committee again after a two year hiatus. Democratic Party in full power ascendancy here in CA. WE are trendsetters , so take heart folks.

[Julie]

(01-10-2011 01:21 AM)Capn Sunshine Wrote:  Ifthere was a way to rate posts, I'd rate yours all the way to the top Julie. Folks, Julie knows what she's talking about; she's been in the trenches and proven quite adept at it. Listen well to her advice.

****PS Just got elected to the State Central Committee again after a two year hiatus. Democratic Party in full power ascendancy here in CA. WE are trendsetters , so take heart folks.

Beloved Cap'n, many thanks for the kind words. Keep on rockin' out there in sunny Cal!

Julie

[sandnsea]

We passed our school levy by over 60% I think, by using both Republican and Democratic tactics -- which I recognize now that you mention it. When I volunteered on the Obama campaign, we did door knocking early on, but hard phone banking at the end. We can target because with mail voting they update the list when the ballots come in. We did really well, got a lot of young people involved and that helped a lot. The school levy though, a lot of Republicans wanted that passed too. And they are the ones that said we had to take a single flier and go to the post office and button-hole people with it. We also handed it out to parents when they picked up kids from school, sports games, tables at church, etc. That's what they do. They also did radio spots. The Democrats had marches and visibility, did voter registration, letter writing, phone banking, and GOTV. Funny if we just fell into something there. I've thought for a long time we need to use our phone banking more as telephone trees and get people to download ten fliers and give them to their neighbors. Every single time we have legislation we need passed or some particularly hideous round of right wing lies, we should be out on the streets with the truth. There's no other way to get around the media.