(While they won't replace good old-fashioned shoe leather, tools matter. - promoted by Brian Leubitz)
Consultants in California and everywhere would like us to believe that the money game is everything. But something seems to be changing. On November 3rd of this year, a loose coalition of progressive groups won a tremendous set of victories in a small California city despite getting outspent by a factor of more than 20. This could be what California democracy would look like if it was built on a person to person foundation. The following is a first-person account from Hillary Blackerby, Secretary of the local Democratic Party organization, who asked me to post it (full discolsure, this post says nice things about California VoterConnect):
The City of Santa Barbara on California's Central Coast is one of those silly places that still has its city elections in November of odd years. Our city ballot this year consisted of a mayor's seat, 3 city council seats and 4 ballot measures. Two of the five mayoral candidates were current sitting councilmembers with time left in their terms, so if one of them were to win the mayor's seat, the 4th highest vote getter in the council race would get a 2 year term to finish out the mayor's council term. There were thirteen candidates for city council.
Progressive organizations with ground forces that were activated for the campaign included...
I'm not sure where to even being rebutting this post, which is a rich combination of paranoia and grandiosity that would make your hero Art Pedroza proud. [...]
Andrew, if you really want to see a "noise machine" all you need to do is read your own posts: loaded with straw men, unsupported assumptions, jumped-to-conclusions, screechy rhetoric and paranoia.
So why is Jubal/Matt still fuming over this? Well, he completely lost control. And why is he so angry about that? Well, I'll tell you all about it after the flip...
A long time ago I was told that in this business you are judged by your enemies. If your enemies are mostly democrats then you must be doing something right. They're willing to tear you down, especially people like Andrew Davey who posted on the Calitics page. He's just a punk with a computer.
(Cross-posted at Trash Dirty Gary, Southern California's resource for revealing Gary Miller's true record of disservice to his constituents... AND a place for action in restoring honor and integrity to the 42nd Congressional District - promoted by atdleft)
I hope the Dems spend huge sums of money trying to defeat Congressman Miller.
Given the demographics of the district as well as Mr. Miller's ability to self fund any defensive campaign which might be required, I can't think of a better way for them to waste their resources.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today moved California's presidential primary from June to February, giving the nation's most populous state a greater stake in selecting nominees and shaking up the 2008 political calendar.
"Now California is important again in presidential nominating politics ... and we will get the respect that California deserves," Schwarzenegger said during a bill-signing ceremony.
Hopefully, all of us will now use this opportunity to truly SHAKE THINGS UP. Now that California voters will now be "The Deciders" in who gets the party nomination, let's get out there and tell our family, friends, and neighbors why their votes matter. I know I'm excited about the change, and I'll explain to you why I'm so excited after the flip...
Would you like to see how OC Blog is wrong in its slam of OC Democrats? And is OC forever doomed to be "Red County"? Well, follow me after the flip to find out...
