A Call to Action by Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) to Retake the House in '06.
Patriot
"1) First, we must not allow the Republicans to steal the election-again.
2) We have to mobilize the voters who are already with us, and run picture perfect, aggressive, leave no voter behind GOTV, Get Out the Vote campaign.
3) We have to persuade the persuadables. (I'll go more into each of these.)
4) We have to travel. I'll tell you about the Committee of 100 in my district.
5) We need to keep our eyes on the prize - beating the Republicans.
1) Stealing: I apologize for not taking seriously enough the allegations that the 2004 election was stolen. After reading Bobby Kennedy's article in Rolling Stone, "Was the 2004 Election Stolen?", I am convinced that the only answer is yes. He documents how 357,000 Ohio voters, the vast majority Democrats, "were prevented from casting ballots or did not have their votes counted…more than enough to shift the results." Watch for the DCCC to take some very public steps in the near future to ward off a repeat performance. In the meantime, there needs to be a citizens' effort starting now to assess the machines, the ballots, the registration process within each and every election jurisdiction in each and every swing district and state, in the case of Senate races. Where the situation looks perilous, go to the media, raise a stink, demand changes. This is a great project for the many of you who have been diligently working to guarantee fair and accurate elections.
2) GOTV: "Intensity equals turnout." That is one of the political truths that we must NOT rely on. The Republicans learned about grassroots organizing from us and learned it well. We must count on their willingness and capacity to drag out their voters. There is a reason that they are throwing red meat at their base - Constitutional Amendments on same-sex marriage and Flag burning, and demonizing immigrants. They are attempting to motivate and mobilize their base voters. They also successfully targeted individual Republican voters in Democratic precincts, not just relying on larger demographic data. Their operation was often more sophisticated than ours. But we know how to do mobilization. It's grassroots, door-to-door campaigns that enable us to beat them on the ground. Air strikes - radio and TV, just get you so far; the personal contact drives home the point. As great as job as we did in 2004, we need to do it more and better.
3) PERSUASION: In 2004, the Republicans left no constituency untouched. Their goal was to shave off just enough points from Jewish voters or Hispanic voters. For the first time, they won the majority of Catholics. Why did we lose Catholics? They had a Catholic strategy, and we didn't. I'm told that Karl Rove met with selected Bishops and lay leaders on a weekly basis. Millions of "Voter Guides for Serious Catholics" were distributed both inside churches and, if that wasn't an option, outside the churches. It says, "This voter's guide identifies 5 'non-negotiable' issues and helps you narrow down the list of acceptable candidates, whether they are running for national, state, or local offices. Candidates who endorse or promote any of the 5 non-negotiables should be considered to have disqualified themselves from holding public office, and you should not vote for them." "It is a serious sin to endorse or promote any of these actions: 1. Abortion 2. Euthanasia 3. Fetal Stem Cell Research 4.Human Cloning 5. Homosexual "Marriage." Who produced and paid for the distribution of these Voter Guides? Religious leaders? Forget it. This campaign was run by political operatives, armed with political money to defeat John Kerry and other Democratic candidates.
Well, we know how to produce voter guides. We know how to pass out voter guides. I'm no expert on Catholic teachings, but I didn't see anything here about poverty, or health care or the dignity of work. Shame on us when we don't compete at all.
4) We have to travel. If you live in a safe Democratic district like mine, you need to consider every candidate in every winnable district as our candidate - at least adopt one or more of those candidates as your own. Let me tell you about an effort I'm helping build in my district called the Committee of 100. It started in 2004 with a group of activists, many first time activists, who called themselves the Kerry Travelers. Since Illinois was solidly blue, we were able to send over 1200 people to various cities in Wisconsin to go door-to-door for John Kerry, helping to put him over the top. No moping for them after the November election. They created the Committee of 100, 100 people who each agreed to contribute between $100 and $250 to a Congressional candidate and go work in a swing district - mine being blessedly safe. We just met last Sunday. So far they have recruited 200 people and are aiming for 1,000 by election day. Representatives from the campaigns of 4 Democrats running for Congress in Illinois came and made pitches for their candidates. Canvass days were announced for each of them, and people signed up to travel to their districts. Much of the organizing for the Committee of 100 takes place on the internet, but this is no virtual community. You can do it too, and my young political director, Alex Armour, would be happy to help you get started.
5) Finally, we all need to resist, as hard as I know it is at times, griping about the Democrats, one, because it's takes time away from the real work of defeating the Republicans, and two because it's counterproductive, demoralizing the very people we need to be engaged and enthusiastic. I am not necessarily talking about staying away from primaries. I refer to the time spent complaining about this or that performance, how we're not tough enough, we're not articulate enough, we are too wishy-washy. I agree that those critiques are often true. But keep in mind this one thing. Right now we are winning! We are not doing everything wrong."
Full Text
Comment # 1 ~ Rusty ~ 06/15/2006 22:29 GMT Let's hope Schakowsky's statement that the DCCC is going to take some very public steps in the near future to ward off GOP subversion of the 2006 midterms is much more than just talk.
Comment # 2 ~ feline ~ 06/16/2006 01:43 GMT Thank you for this excellent post, Patriot; it gives me hope that the DCCC may take some serious steps to address the election issues raised. I have been thinking about all of the methods and tactics that Republicans have used and may use again in the next election; including caging lists, challenging voters, "losing" absentee and provisional ballots, machine malfunctions/tampering, lack of paper trails. Also researching possible ways that Republicans misinform voters on the facts, using scare tactics and a lexicon to persuade voters who are afraid of taxes, terrorists, and tolerance of others; and ways the Republicans use the media to disparage Democratic candidates and the people they represent.
Schakowsky is demonstrating an understanding of some of these issues, thankfully. The Newshour with Jim Lehrer discussed some of the problems with machines tonight, also.
Let's all keep on this! Thanks, again, Patriot.
Comment # 3 ~ tahoebasha1 ~ 06/16/2006 04:21 GMT Mar, thanks for that article. It gives us all something to work on and think about. I have some ideas on that stuff which we can all later discuss. Thanks, Mar. I, like Rusty, hope Jan is not just talking.
Comment # 4 ~ Reed31463 ~ 06/16/2006 06:22 GMT Things she said that piss me off
1. She finally takes election fraud seriously after 18 months. Good God! It took RFK's article to finally turn her head. Didn't she read Conyer's report, "What Went Wrong in Ohio"?
2. She is willing to allow the destruction of life in Iraq and Afghanistan to continue for at least another 5 months. I guess her family is not affected.
3. The Dubai port deal was a sham. It was used to pass the Patriot Act and everyone bit on it. The Dems failed to report the cloture date to their constituency thereby ensuring the passage of this piece of shit legislation.
4. They can increase their chances of beating the Republicans multifold by supporting peace, global warming, and government accountability.
Things she said that I agree with
1. She finally gets election fraud.
2. GOTV doesn't matter when the polls are overwhelmed in largely Democratic areas, but still, voters must turnout to even have a chance at having your vote counted. I agree the focus must remain on the ineptitude of the Repuglicans. Making derisive comments about the Democrats is COUNTERPRODUCTIVE. They are counterproductive enough on their own. Persuasion means talking about the Constitution and the Rule of Law. Quoting our founding fathers helps too.
Comment # 5 ~ Rusty ~ 06/17/2006 12:21 GMT Reed, regarding #4 above, I'm dismayed that you want Democratic candidates to support global warming. You'd better hope Chemung doesn't hear about this . . .
Comment # 6 ~ Rusty ~ 07/28/2006 19:31 GMT Perhaps you meant warn about global warming. My bad . . .
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