Every single one of us here knows what's at stake in November. It's really serious. We also know the potential to elect Democrats in November. It's really exciting!
Are you ready to do what it takes to make huge strides in Virginia this year? Are you ready step up and build a grassroots network that will put Democrats in a position to win this year and for years to come? We create a ground organization that will dwarf anything the Republicans can if we're effective, highly organized, and start now.
Follow me after the jump...
This is the year we put the pedal to the medal. We may never have an opportunity like this again. We can build the infrastructure to create an enduring Democratic majority in this state.
Over the past few years, there has been some excellent research into the question of what is most effective in adding voters to a campaign's bottom line. What we've learned is that while mail has some impact, as does advertising, talking to voters directly is what really works. The best voter contact is made by committed activists (does that sound like anyone here?). The best voter contact is made by someone who is invested in the community where the voter lives. The best and most effective voter contact, as it turns out, is one neighbor talking to another.
How do we make sure that as many voters as possible get a contact from a Democratic neighbor? The Party has created a cool new program, Neighbors Organizing the Vote.
The Neighbors Organizing the Vote (NOTV) program asks committed Democrats to serve as Democratic Party Neighborhood Leaders. Neighborhood Leaders will be given a list of 25 targeted individuals in their neighborhood (or general vicinity for those who don't live in neighborhoods per se). Neighborhood Leaders promise to contact those 25 voters at least three times between the time that the program rolls out (sometime in April) and the November 4th election.
The Party will give Neighborhood Leaders some simple online tools. We will be able to keep track of the contacts we make and to communicate the results of our contacts to our candidates who need that information. We'll be able to use our own computers to create personalized campaign literature with pictures and talking points that are most relevant to our neighbors.
And because the power of this program grows with numbers, Neighborhood Leaders will help recruit 2 others to talk to 25 of their neighbors too.
Through the NOTV program, we can grow our ground game to a level that the Republicans can't touch. But to do it, we need all blog reading Democrats to sign up to be Neighborhood Leaders! We can't do it without you!
Susan Mariner
Fellow Virginia Democratic Blog Addict
DPVA Deputy Political Director -- Hampton Roads
Neighborhood Leader in Virginia Beach
The first contact Jerome makes is at his neighbors' doors. He knocks, smiles, and introduces himself. He tells the voter that he lives down the street and is the new Democratic Party Neighborhood Leader. Jerome lets the voter know that he's available to answer questions about our candidates. He volunteers that he won't know the answer to every single question, but he promises he'll try to find out answers and get back in touch. He hands the voter something with his name, phone number and email address on it.
Our targeted list of voters is pretty good after several years of honing it, so some of the Jerome's 25 voters immediately start going on about how grateful they are that he's there in the neighborhood because we really to send the Republicans packing. That's really valuable information for us. Others say they're Independents, but they've been upset with the Republican Party recently and have been thinking of voting Democratic this year, which is good to know too. Some don't say much, so while Jerome is at the door, he smiles and politely says, "Well obviously I'm a Democrat. If you don't mind my asking, do you tend to vote with a Party?" Because he's a neighbor, the voter is really polite, and Jerome gets further info about if this voter might vote for our candidates. One the 25 voters says "I don't like Democrats. I'd sooner vote for my dead cat than a Democrat," to which Jerome responds with a really big smile, "I understand, and I appreciate your bluntness. It was great to meet you!" This, again, is very valuable information that helps us clean up our list and will save the Party and our candidates lots of money and time from here on out.
When he gets home, Jerome plugs the results of his contacts into his online tool, and the gentleman who indicated he wasn't open to voting for a Dem is deleted from the list. Our Democratic Coordinated Campaign manager gets the information. It's shared with our Democratic candidates, who won't waste any precious time or money on him.
The second contact is a phone call from Jerome to his neighbors. He says, "Hi this is Jerome, the Democratic Party Neighborhood Leader. I was calling to let you know that Mark Warner's going to be in the area tomorrow. It'll be a great opportunity to hear him talk about what he wants to do in the Senate. Mark Warner really made me excited about being a Democrat, and I'm really looking forward to going to see him. I hope you can make it." And so on.
Again, the info goes into the online tool, and our candidates get additional important bits of information they need.
The third contact is again at the door. This time the neighbor recognizes Jerome and yells upstairs to his wife "Hey, the guy I told you about, the Democrat from down the street, is here." Jerome smiles and says, "Nice to see you again. I wanted to bring you something I printed up. It explains why I'm so strongly supporting Candidate X for President .... "
And, again, Jerome enters the results of the encounters into the online tool. Through these contact, Jerome has struck up a few new friendships with Democratic neighbors, and he's helped move a relevant Democratic message into his neighborhood. Through the online tool, he has communicated with the Democratic nominees what he has learned about which voters might need more convincing and which just need to be reminded to vote in November.
Simple stuff... but powerful and organized.
Together, we can build an enduring Democratic Majority. Now is the time, and we are just the people to do it.
We need you, and it's easy to sign up. Just go here. After you sign up, please post that you've done it in the comment section so we can all thank you!
Susan Mariner
Virginia Democratic Blog Addict
DPVA Deputy Political Director -- Hampton Roads
Neighborhood Leader in Virginia Beach
Thank you SO much for stepping up to be a Neighborhood Leader! I'm so happy to hear you're going to be a Charter Member of our network! Democrats are so lucky you're working on our side.
Anyone else who's going to participate, please let us all know.
1. McCain is a weak Republican candidate who appeals more to independents than to the base of his own party. When it comes to those groups, Obama is fiercely competitive. HRC is not. A dispirited base + independent appeal = President Obama.
2. McCain is (at least partially) running on his support of Bush's foreign policy. Bush is a disastrously unpopular president, and Obama draws the starkest contrast to McCain-Bush when it comes to things like diplomatic engagement and preventative war.
3. In case you haven't noticed, the American electorate will take character and charisma over policy wonkishness every time. The problem with the Democrats is that they tend to do exactly this--wring their hands endlessly over a candidate's resume--and they often end up with highly qualified bureaucratic caricatures. Obama doesn't run on policy minutiae, and that's a strength. That doesn't meant that he doesn't HAVE policies. It just means that, like Reagan, he's more interested in inspiring people than prodding them about specific issues. (I know the Reagan comparison irks people, but look. The guy won every freaking state in the country except Minnesota and DC. He must have been doing something right. And it wasn't because Joe and Jane Americana said to themselves: "Hm. I usually vote D, but this Laffer Curve makes sense.")
4. I think that HRC is electable, but it will be a terrible fight, and it will go down to the last vote. In Florida, probably. It bothers me--and I think it bothers a lot of Obama supporters--that the Dems have pursued this West Coast + Northeast strategy for so many years, basically writing off any state that doesn't have a massive urban center. I genuinely believe that Obama is competitive in rural America, racist boogeymen be damned. Why? Mostly because he pretends like rural American virtues matter. And I have a feeling that there are more Republicans and centrists who dislike HRC--an active dislike--than there are actively intransigent racists who will turn out to vote against a charismatic black man. I know the Ford example bothers a lot of HRC supporters. I know they're holding their breath for the day when the RNC releases an ad that shows Osama Bin Laden and says "Can Obama keep us safe from Osama?" But look--Ford never had a lock on that election. It was seesawing back and forth for months before the RNC ad ever went on the air. And even in the polls that had Ford ahead--the early October USA Today / Gallup, for example--the largest margin of Ford supporters admitted that they were just voting along party lines. In other words: they didn't like Ford, they were just supporting the Democratic nominee. And he STILL only lost by 50,000 votes, which is a damn narrow margin for a Democratic candidate in Tennessee (compare it to 2002 and 2000.) Long story short: 2008 is shaping up to be an even better year for Democrats than 2006, and Obama doesn't have a likability problem. So, dream a little dream, I think he might actually be competitive in the heartland. Especially in states like Colorado and Iowa, where Kerry (a pretty bland, uninspiring guy) lost by less than 100,000 votes.
W&M YD's rock, and lots of them have signed on for this program. Some will be doing it in their hometowns, and a few will be doing it in Williamsburg. Those in the program in their hometown will do a door knock or two in the summer and use their free weekend cell minutes to do other contacts by phone.
I do hope you'll consider signing up for the program. Democrats won't be pitted against each other come November, we'll be pitted against the Republican nominee. And that's what you're about --- beating John McCain. This is how we'll do it. We needed you help in 2006, and we need it even more in 2008.
Please email me offline at susan @vademocrats.org and we can talk more about it!
Obama has an incredible record. It's hard to believe he got so much done in a relatively short time. But his entire legislative record exceeds Clinton's considerably. And it makes one wonder what's the matter with other members of Congress who've been there longer!
The fact is the same military, the same security career people do the work under administrations of both parties. The question is who will set the tone for our nation's making it's way in the world? Who will best and most diplomatically diffuse international tensions (not incite them because of a temper tantrum). No hotheads, please. No moonbats who think they should kick MoveOn.org out of the country. That's not what America is about. Indeed it is unAmerican to suggest engaged, law-abiding citizens should be kicked out of the country. This is not the kind of temperament to display to the world. No more hacks of the failed Bushworld.
I have been around a long time and there has never been such a reckless president as we have. McCain rubber stamps him. Nearly every time, McC claims to stake out different turf (torture, NSA spying, habeas corpus), he caves and votes with Bush. With more Bushism, we will simply have more enemies around the world.
I personally am getting tired of hearing "our side" giving credence to the myth that the GOP are better on security. They simply re not. There is no evidence they are, only myth. Let's not buy the GOP talking points. We want you to be safe too. You will be with a more even tempered president than McCain (McCain and his distemper in charge of the nuclear weapons?). We have lived under fear-mongering and ugly bullying long enough.
I believe we will not only have better foreign policy under President Obama, but also a safer term. Good luck in your studies and in your future work.
Everybody, please don't troll rate this new user. Let's just keep his comments here so we can think them. The ugliness of them is why it's critical that we get out to talk to our neighbors. When voters connect a real face of a real person in their neighborhood supporting our candidates, a person who has treated them with respect, it's very powerful. This is an important part of the NOTV program -- giving a human face to the Democratic Party on a local leval. All of you great Democrats reading this -- we need your face :-) Please sign up to be a Neighborhood Leader today!
P.S. With this program, when anonymous, slimy lies starts coming at our nominee, whoever that may be, we will be in the neighborhoods, able to direct people to the truth. Nothing could be more powerful than that.
"We are the people our parents warned us about"- Jimmy Buffett
Come to think of it, that day was the first day I met our new Neighborhood Leaders, Teddy and Hugo.
My area of the world is pretty much a Republican wasteland. So with Susan's and the VBDC's permission, I'm going to adapt the NOTV a little differently. And it starts with a party! All the Ds in my area (Ocean Lakes, Red Mill, and Lagomar - 8 precincts total) will be invited to a pot luck social early this Spring. From there, I'm hoping that some Jerome's step forward. But if nothing else, I'm hoping that at least the Democrats that show up for the party will agree to want to meet up again, help with various campaign activities (yard signs out in our neighborhoods, canvassing, house parties, etc.), and start building a little club of Democrats in this very very red neck of the woods. You were a big part of pulling neighbors and friends together to build an emerging moderate and liberal consensus in Loudoun County, which got the Democratic ball rolling in 2005 with the election of Dick Black and BlackOut2005, and I am certain that if you continue such organizing and neighbor-to-neighbor discussions down thattaway, you'll help accomplish the same things down there!
Doug, you rock! Thanks for stepping up. Again!
Thanks for helping to prove that the Virginia netroots is a powerful source of offline activism too.
Thank you for everything, including the kind words!
Please give Susan my best. And think about signing up for the program :-) We need ya! You can contact me offline about it if you have any questions.
And I think funny hats make life better in general, so I recommend you add one to your wardrobe as soon as possible :-)
OBAMA WEBB 08
I was a Webb person too, and believe we can turn VA blue in this upcoming presidential election.