Dems Abandon 50 State Strategy

There are many Democratic leaders in D.C. who are infamously known for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. They believe in a strong (meaning themselves) centralized apparatus that directs everything from Washington because they think they know best. Meanwhile, the state and local leaderships are diminished and so is their expertise of the area. This type of strategy has doomed the party for decades, that is, until the emergence of Howard Dean and the fifty-state strategy.

Governor Dean knew that decentralization was the key and reached out to every corner of the country, regardless of how many more Republicans there were. He was all about party building and because of his (and many others) hard work it came true. We now have large majorities in Congress and a Democratic President in the White House. So why is it that D.C. Dems believe they have to replace a plan that is far from broken?

From OpenLeft:

In short, the DNC will be moving away from the long-term, decentralized, fifty-state strategy of Howard Dean's tenure, and toward serving as a short-term, centralized re-election effort for President Obama in 2012. It will continue the move away from paid media ushered in by Howard Dean, maintain or increase the amount of resource expenditures in most states, and the number of states it targets will be a broader effort than the narrow focus we saw in 2001-2004 (but more narrow than 2005-2008). However, it will return to the traditional role of the DNC as a supplement for the sitting President's re-election campaign, rather than as the long-term, localized institution building operation that is was from 2005-2008.
The fifty-state strategy of 2005-2008 is going to be replaced with the "re-elect President Obama" strategy of 2009-2012.

Not too smart DNC.

The re-election of Barack Obama is incredibly important in a few years time, but the over-riding goal should be to elect more Democrats, and to let those of us in different spots of the party tent see who wins primary contests. Staying away from states like Utah and Idaho is just plain stupid when you are working for the future of the party. Why would anyone want to stop increasing the gains we've made in such a short time?

An Ode To Howard Dean

Crowds 100,000 strong are chanting Obama! Obama! Obama! at rallies in what were traditionally known as red states in the last week. Colorado, North Carolina and Virginia were safe for the GOP, or so said the pundits and pollsters from both sides of the aisle. Yet there was one man and one movement behind him that believed there was another way, his name is Howard Dean. The focus has been on the candidates recently and rightly so, but the man behind the scenes and the DNC was the one who not only introduced the 50-state strategy but blasted it through the thick minded conventional wisdom.

CNN's Roland Martin thinks it's about time for some apologies:

(CNN) -- If Sen. Barack Obama is able to prevail over Sen. John McCain on Tuesday, all of those Democrats who ripped Howard Dean's 50-state strategy over the last four years should call the head of the Democratic National Committee and offer a heartfelt apology.

First in line should be New York Sen. Charles Schumer, Chicago, Illinois, Rep. Rahm Emanuel and my CNN colleague, political strategist James Carville.

When Democrats were in the final stages of winning back Congress in 2006, those three were at odds with Dean, saying he should forget about his pie-in-the-sky plan to have the Democratic Party competitive in all 50 states.

They reasoned that money spent on get-out-the vote efforts in non-congressional elections was futile, and all the effort should be on reclaiming Congress.

But Dean resisted their suggestions, weathering repeated calls for him to resign after that election.

Thank god he didn't resign. That would have been the worst thing for our party looking for an identity other than "Republican-lite." While Obama is certainly offering change in this crucial election, a lot of that gets done on the ground with organizers who GOTV day in and day out. If we were stuck in a 2004 mentality, the party would have called for a multi-state strategy but only in what they deemed swing states. Last time around that number was 17, far short of the fifty the Democrats are operating in now.

Also, a lot of what Obama is doing across the country is modeled on Dean's successes with online organizing and a small donor army that is providing for a full-on saturation across the nation. While we probably won't win states like Mississippi, Texas and Utah this year, victories can still be seen there on the local level. Like the defeated Republicans of the 1960s, they slowly but surely built themselves from the bottom-up in order to control school boards and county positions that eventually turned into Congressional, Senatorial and Gubernatorial seats. And today, thanks to Dean, we are replicating those strategies but putting progressive policies back into practice. People have been hurting under conservative control for far too long and they are certainly ready for change, and thanks to Howard, it is able to reach them from one coast to the other and leaving nothing open in the middle.

You Need Ideas First, Then Try A Strategy

Oh poor Rudy, he had to drop out last night and then volunteered to endorse McCain. Gotta go with the candidate with the best shot if you want that 9/11 money rolling into to Giuliani Partners once Georgie leaves the White House. At least he thinks ahead for his own bank account. The problem is that neither he nor the current GOP candidates give a shit about the national bank account or anyone that doesn't relate to them (those that aren't millionaires). So if you want a 50 state strategy, you might want to come up with ideas that appeal to Americans in all 50 states.

Another Vindicating Moment For Howard Dean

Not too many people mentioned the party apparatus at work in the fundraisng totals this week. In case some have forgotten, Howard Dean is still running a successful operation over at the DNC. Although a lot of the financial windfall for Democratic candidates can be attributed to Hillary, Obama and Edwards by themselves; it also helps to look at the big picture.

Democrats outraised Republicans by an outstanding $30 million dollars give or take. The only Republican to breach $20 million was Mitt Romney and most of his money came from big time donors. In fact, to reach his sum of $23 million, it only took 30,000 donors. On the Democratic side, Hillary's money machine got $25 million from 50,000 donors and Obama wowed everyone with an incredible 100,000 individual contributors.

All of these small time contributors can't all live in California and New York. This is a 50 state movement and the creator of it is Howard Dean. Old time Dems wanted to stick to the failing strategy of getting large donations from a select few of the so-called "Limousine Liberals." Howard blew the door on that and made the Democratic purse reflect the people that the Dems are meant to represent, the people.

Mole333 over at the Daily Gotham has more:

Well, the demise of the Democratic Party has been predicted for some time...and when Howard Dean became head of the DNC more people than ever predicted it would spell doom and destruction for the party of the Donkey.

Since then, we did unexpectedly well in 2005 elections (NYC aside). Then in 2006 we kicked ass. Now it is too early to say what 2008 will bring, but my gut feelings about our candidates vs. their candidates may be playing out in the most important arena there is: fundraising.

Exactly! The naysayers out there saw the end of time with Howard. The only end that came was their control on the party. Now that the people have the control, the money has and will continue to flow in and it won't be business as usual. It is always better to have 100,000 people donate $20 dollars rather than less than 1,000 wealthy people give the $2,300 maximum. Of course it is good to have those too, but to get the small time donations, the party actually has to appeal to them. When the candidates look, sound and formulate smart, progressive policies, everyone wins.