Grassroots

Baratunde Thurston, Some Rights Reserved

Baratunde has been going to Philadelphia almost every weekend for the past weeks. So yesterday, thinking what I am going to do with the kids this week --they are in Spring Break. I decided to rent a car and drive down to Philadelphia to help out the Obama campaign any way we can and in the process, be a part of history.

I'll post later today updates and definitely come back here after 10pm when we'll have the chatroom open while waiting for the results.

C'ya later!

Robert Shales is right on the money when he says, To this observer, ABC's coverage seemed slanted against Obama. Memeorandum exploded in posts from irate liberals and journalists who saw nothing but a thinly vieled hatchet job against the front-runner of the Democratic Party.

Close to fifteen thousand people have sounded off at the ABC News post about the debate (which, by the way, they changed from "Clinton, Obama find brotherly love at Philly Debate" to "Philly Fight Night : Democrats Spar over Electability").

I suggest you add to the comments over there as well as give a ring to their offices :

Call 818-460-7477
Press 2,
Press 1

Then you can press one of these two choices :

967 (News wth Charles Gibson) or
199 (other news)

As I wrote at the chat last night, it's as if ABC News wanted to outfox FOX News. It was an incredibly embarrassing scene to watch.

Not only that, George Stephanopoulos should not have been one of the moderators. As the former speech writer of Bill Clinton and still a Clintonista, if you are going to have someone so biased, then you ought to create balance. Which is why I shall forever refer to him as "Clinton's Boy".

Last night I saw a flurry of emails blanket my inbox with a series of "unbelieavable", "still in shock" and the not so occasional "I'm angry".

I had spent most of the afternoon trying to sort out my thoughts fast enough for an Op/Ed, and I would always come back to the misgivings I've had since he took office a little over a year ago. That Eliot Spitzer's problem and weakness has always been his success because he never really needed anything other than a vote from you or me to get elected.

Eliot Spitzer didn't really need a million New Yorkers giving $5 or $10 donations to his campaign to get elected. He never needed to learn how to get people out on the streets to support his campaign to get him elected. He never needed to swallow his pride and shut up and take criticism from his own base in order to gain political influence. And he certainly never had to pound the pavement and get people out on election day to make sure people would get out of their homes and offices to cast a vote.

Metro newspaper just published Voices: Spitzer floated on air, but lack of roots did him in, my Op/Ed on the Spitzer debacle.

Here's the money quote :

For netroots activists like me, who have had the chance to take a peek at the mechanical beast, the New York State Democratic Party, Eliot Spitzer was nothing but a political insider’s rock star that only needed “The (little) People” to vote so the “politics as usual” could rock New York and roll into Albany. Yet there’s a reason why “politics as usual” is losing the fight in the Democratic Party’s presidential primary.

Eliot Spitzer’s weakness has been the lack of a true grassroots base. He never had his feet held to the fire by his own party base, by The People who ended up voting for him. The Republicans have known this all along, and it’s not a coincidence that they tried to scare him last year by astroturfing the Internet with fake attack blogs.

Go read the whole thing.

This last weekend, Democrats picked up another seat in Congress. It wasn't just any seat, it was Dennis Hastert's formerly "safe Republican" seat. The win was solid, with Democrat Bill Foster winning 53% of the vote. This was a major blow to the Republican Party.

Salon.com reports that "National Republican Congressional Committee spokeswoman Karen Hanretty [said] in a statement that 'one election in one state does not prove a trend.'"

This is typical Republican blindness, pretending that data points are isolated incidents without looking at the broad picture. Republicans do this with global warming as well, ignoring decades of solid scientific data and pretending that a single cold season somehow is more important than those decades of data showing a clear trend.

I have news for Hanretty: this IS a trend.

Indicted Tom DeLay's old, "safe Republican" seat in Texas has been taken by a Democrat. Pedophile Mark Foley's old, "safe Republican" seat has been taken by a Democrat. The governorship of Kentucky, once "safe Republican" has been taken by a Democrat. The governorships of Montana and Virginia have been taken by Democrats. State legislatures around the nation have been flipping to Democrat like crazy starting in 2005. And, of course, Democrats overwhelmingly took the House and marginally took the Senate in 2006. Fundraising by Democrats is at record highs. Fundraising by Republicans is at record lows. Almost each and every special election that has been held for a Congressional seat since 2005 has flipped from Repub to Dem. Republicans are retiring or flipping parties at record numbers. It started in 2005, and this trend started when Americans saw the true cost of greedy Republican mismanagement when hurricane Katrina hit.

1. Obama Gangster Rap
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhMCiFLdJyg

2. Hip Hop For Obama - Public Service Announcement
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLHvHT7ysx8

3. Fallen Angels, feat Barack Obama
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFj1WFPSfdc

4. Common for Barack Obama
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1dc6KcGeQw

5. Representin' Obama
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9IHM4XL_Ws

6. "Party Like Obama" by The Obama Boyz
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHqg_g8lq10

7. Do the Obama
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maqF2FpnZy8

8. Barack Obama Rap Song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaMccee1iOY

9. Something about the man/Yes We Can Remix
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qw4fRvFhuh4

10. Yes We Can
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjXyqcx-mYY

When it looked like Hillary Clinton was winning New Hampshire, I hit the exit poll data to see what patterns emerged. I found that compared to Iowa, there were less voters of the "Hip Hop Generation".

Jeff Chang puts the birth of this demographic at 1968 given the historical importance of the year. I'll play devil's advocate and say that the HHG goes back to 1963 with :

Hi John,

This is not one of those letters. I've met Elizabeth and know that even though she is shorter than me, she'd easily kick my butt. Although, in truth, it's not one of those letters because I honestly am a total fan girl of your wife and there's nothing more than I would love than to see her face plastered everywhere as First Lady.

This is a letter that I've been mulling for some time because you've truly exceeded my expectations.

When I was ready to throw my support to you, the blogger fiasco happened and I was taken aback by the way it was all handled. I know, I know. There are no perfect candidates. Yet at that time I wasn't clear as to what you were bringing at the table as a presidential candidate.

Then you started talking about poverty and the state of the "real people's" economy. You evangelized about the two Americas. You demonstrated how there is a tremendous economic and political disconnect in this country. How what you've seen and talked with people in all your travels seems not to affect the people who are supposed to represent them in Washington. You talked about the evil of corporate handouts and the shadow rule by lobbyist.

You are talking about everything that nobody wants to talk about in Washington.

Progressive Majority is one of the most effective and important Progressive organizations out there. They focus on local elections, helping new people enter politics as progressive, grassroots candidates within the Democratic Party. They help progressive challengers in primaries as well as helping progressive Democrats against Republicans in the general election. If you are dissatisfied with both parties, THIS IS THE ORGANIZATION FOR YOU. Progressive Majority has around a 70% success rate in getting their candidates elected, which beats pretty much any other grassroots organization I am familiar with. And they focus on pretty much all levels from school board on up.

Here is their latest primary election succcess. Let's help them in supporting these excellent winners for the general election.

In Washington state's Tuesday's primary election, 11 of our 27 candidates faced primaries, many of them stiff challenges.

As of this morning, 10 of our 11 candidates have won their primaries and moved on to the general election this November. This is another day of victories for Washington state progressives, and for progressives across the country!

Snohomish County: A New Progressive Majority.
The most important race in the primary was for Snohomish County Council, where Brian Sullivan won the Democratic nomination against a long-time elected official. As his district is strongly Democratic, he faces only token conservative opposition in the general election. Sullivan replaces a conservative Democrat and changes the balance of power on the council from conservatives to progressives!

Howard Dean in many ways brought the Democratic Party back to life. Although others share in the 2005 and 2006 success stories, Howard Dean in 2004 recreated the Democratic grassroots and since then has forged an alliance between progressives and moderates that has been winning big. He did this not by creating a rival force to the Democratic Party the way Nader did. He created a force WITHIN the party that led him to the head of the DNC. And under him the Democratic Party, with help from Rahm, Pelosi and Schumer, among others, has prospered.

Democracy for America was one piece of Howard Dean's revitalization of the Democratic Party. It brought back into the party thousands of activists who had lost faith with the system. It has focused people not only on national issues, but on LOCAl issues, events and campaigns, revitalizing the grassroots from bottom to top. DFA, along with groups like Progressive Majority and MoveOn.org, has given progressives ways of becoming a part of the political process without having to compromise their independence and ideals.

Three Presidential candidates have recognized the importance of Democracy for America and the new direction it represents. These three candidates are John Edwards, Barack Obama, and Bill Richardson. These three candidates recognize the importance of the grassroots and of more independent, more progressive movements within the Democratic Party. Even Bill Richardson, a moderate on many issues, recognizes the importance of the progressive, more independent grassroots.