Tag Archives: 50-state strategy

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From The Floor: Day 3

I just got settled in my seat here in the Pepsi Center.  State Senator Leticia Van de Putte is calling the session to order.  The room is more crowded than usual this early because there’s going to be a roll call vote on the nomination around 3:45MT.  The California delegation actually already did their vote back at the hotel, but any delegate who hasn’t will be able to cast a ballot on the floor.

I want to thank the DNC for offering this type of access for state bloggers.  I know that the national bloggers are stuck in some windowless room, a step backward from 2004.  And that’s not right.  But the state blogger access is really a mirror of politicians going to the local press instead of the national press.  They are getting great blogging press in the localities, and I think it’s offering a far better perspective of the convention than the traditional media, which came up with their headlines two weeks ago and is now just filling in their words.  Maybe it’s because I’m here, but this is the most shameful job I’ve ever seen from the media in terms of a disconnect between their own paranoid fantasies and reality.

As for the local and state blog strategy, it’s an extension of the Dean 50-state strategy.  I hope they only increase the access in the future.

Los Angeles Area

My Evening With The Chairman

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(also in blue)

I had the pleasure of seeing Howard Dean speak at a fundraiser in Los Angeles Wednesday night. He addressed us, a crowd of 100 or so who’d paid $50 each both for the privelege of hearing him and to support the 50-state strategy. That was $50 well spent indeed.

My overall reaction to seeing Dr. Dean this time was to marvel at how deftly he walks the line between the establishment and the activist base. He spoke to us firmly, with optimism, cheerleading as one would expect the head of a party to do, but he wasn’t evasive…he addressed head on the hard question, namely WTF with that last vote on the war supplemental? Only Howard Dean could bring up that vote to the party faithful (including a good number of activists by the sound of it), defend Pelosi and Reid and get out of there alive. He didn’t pander, he didn’t condescend, he spoke to us like the idealist who got a job that requires pragmatism that he is. And the crowd loved him.

Dean got the room going with a solid dose of old fashioned partisan Democratic pride, speaking about the success of the 06 elections, Nancy Pelosi’s being the first woman (and first Californian) Speaker of the House, and hitting on three succinct  points that really seem to sum up the message he’d like us all to spread to other Democrats far and wide:

1. There’s no such thing as a red district anymore
2. We will win when we talk about values
3. Change takes time

More…

The first point will come as no surprise, of course, as it is the heart of the 50-state strategy. Dean spoke eloquently about campaign events he’d headline during his 03-04 race in the middle of red America where he was amazed to see all these Democrats come out to see him. That’s when he knew — there are Democrats everywhere and they need support! And certainly 2006 showed us how important it is to compete everywhere. Dean talked about all the unexpected places Democrats won in November, traditionally conservative strongholds such as Indiana, upstate New York and Arizona. And he spoke about his cousin, Peter Corroon, Democrat and Salt Lake County mayor. If we can win in Utah…

Dean also spoke about values. This is where he really impressed me in a “wow, he gets it” sort of way. At one point during his speech, he touched his chest firmly and said “people vote from here.” The presidential race is not going to be won on the varying points of the candidates’ healthcare proposals, it’s going to be won when the candidates speak about values and appeal to a voter’s gut. Now, I remember, back in 05, going to an event where depressed Democrats gathered in a large room to watch a video of George Lakoff giving a sort of primer on framing. We then were all tasked with coming up with a list of values that defined the Democratic Party that could rival the Republicans’ “smaller government, lower taxes, strong defense” line, which believe it or not, used to actually be the envy of aspiring Democratic framers everywhere. Well, Wednesday night, Dean laid out the values that he believes the Democratic Party represents today:

  • fairness
  • fiscal discipline
  • toughness

What I like about this is that it mixes arguably the central tenet of the progressive movement (fairness, which informs our stances on everything from healthcare to labor to immigration) but then also appropriates two that have traditionally been seen as strengths of Republicans, and in so doing, reveals the extent to which Republican leadership has failed on these two points, thus making them all the more ripe for the picking. When Dean spoke to us about values, it was certainly a message for candidates outside that room, but it was also meant for us, his loyal foot soldiers and our circles’ political taste makers. Dean’s message, albeit unspoken, was that when WE speak about the Democratic Party, we need to do so in these terms.

And finally, Chairman Dean made a really interesting point about the length of time it takes for change to take root. We perhaps have been spoiled, having witnessed a dramatic electoral turnaround in 4 short (although they seem like an eternity) years, but he urged us all not to lose sight of how far we still have yet to go and when it seems like there are setbacks, to just remember, it’s a long struggle. Dean spoke of being in college in 1968 when Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated. He pondered how proud King would be today to see the diversity of the Democratic candidates for president but also noted that it took 40 years after King’s death to get here. This is a point he said it is especially important to make sure young people understand — changing our country is not an instant gratification proposition. The youth vote is crucial to our ongoing electoral success. It was the only demographic John Kerry won and if you get them early, you get them for life.

Needless to say, seeing Howard Dean on Wednesday was awesome as always, and it was really great to be able to actually afford one of these events. Getting an offline perk for giving online is a rare treat for us small-dollar donors. Thanks, Dr. for taking the time to speak directly to us and for sharing your vision, I hope I’ve done it some justice here.

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CA-42: Miller stinks up the House, LA Times reports

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(Yet another reminder to constest EVERYWHERE. – promoted by dday)

The L.A. Times has a delicious expose today on one of the most unappetizing – and frustrating – Republican members of Congress, Rep. Gary Miller of CA-42.

One winter night in 2000, U.S. Rep. Gary Miller, R-Calif., implored Monrovia City Council members to purchase 165 acres he owned in the foothills and turn the land into a wilderness preserve.

Earlier that day, Miller asked one of his staff members to find a way to place one of the councilmen — a pawnshop owner with no parks experience — on the National Park System Advisory Board. The aide was told to “make it a priority.”

After staff members warned him that trying to secure the park board seat for the councilman could appear to be a bribe attempt, Miller continued to push for the councilman’s appointment, according to internal memos, interviews with former Miller staff members and official correspondence reviewed by the Los Angeles Times.

(Also available at DailyKos)

Back in May 2006, DailyKos poster Robbien ran a diary decrying the fact that, unless write-in candidate Mark Hull-Richter received a couple thousand votes in the June primary, Miller – one of the richest and most corrupt members of Congress – would be unopposed in November’s general election.

Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened. Miller’s was one of, I believe, 10 of the 435 House seats whose race included no Democratic candidate on November’s ballot.

Which was truly a shame, since, as ellefarr wrote in her August diary, the L.A. Times had just run a major story on Miller’s extra-smelly land dealings.

It appears the Times’ investigation did not stop in August. From today’s story (all emphases added):

The biggest recipient of the campaign money he raised from people in his district and big donors like the National Association of Homebuilders was Miller himself, according to campaign finance records.

Miller’s corporate office, located in an office park, doubles as his campaign office. But the presence of campaign activity was impossible to discern from the front office. There were no posters, pictures or bumper stickers for constituents. There were no yard signs out front, no campaign volunteers calling people to get out the vote. On election day, Miller was out of the office, a secretary said.

Yet Miller has used campaign money to pay himself for the use of the building and its equipment — nearly $25,000 a year for the past three elections.

Federal law allows members to rent office space to themselves for campaigning under three conditions: that the rent is paid with campaign donations; that the amount is typical for the area; and that the office is used for a campaign.

This fall, of the eight California Congress members who ran with little or no opposition, only two had campaign offices. The other one, U.S. Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Calif., of Los Angeles, paid about $8,000 for rent on an office building.

And, while his donors might have gotten their money’s worth, the voters of his district evidently did not:

According to the Washington Post’s database of congressional votes, Miller missed 65 votes during this session, putting him in the top quarter for the most votes missed in the House of Representatives.

Ouch. Looks like Speaker Pelosi’s new five-day-a-week work schedule for the 110th Congress might just be too much for Rep. Miller to handle – not to mention any possible, um, ethics investigations, perhaps?

But probably the biggest lesson to come out of the unfolding Gary Miller saga is:

Leave no seat unopposed.

Darn!