After the frustrations of the 2004 presidential election, I co-authored a book, "Rebuilding the Democratic Party From the Grassroots" that concentrated on what grassroots activists needed to do to help rebuild our Democratic Party in all 50 states.
I worked with thousands of others to elect Howard Dean to the chair of the Democratic National Committee. At the same time, I provided him with an early manuscript of the book, which helped focus efforts on altering the very nature of the DNC that geared up only every four year presidential election to a day-to-day, 50 state, precinct by precinct strategy.
In 2006, I ran for Congress as a proud, true, unapologetic Democrat in a "red" district where the Democratic Party's history had been one of conceding elections and not running candidates.
Among Virginia Democratic Party members' duties at this weekend's state convention will be to elect four representatives (2 male, 2 female) to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and I am one of the candidates seeking to represent Virginia Democrats at the DNC.
If elected to represent Virginia Democrats, I will work with our Commonwealth's Democratic Party leaders and activists as partners, and regularly call on them to help move our party forward as I wrote in the book and is now part of DNC strategy:
-- Developing strong programs and outreach to every constituency
-- Strategically expand operations not just to blue or purple areas but across the Commonwealth.
-- Train and nurture in-state political talent to take campaign, leadership, and candidate positions.
-- Advance the implementation of technology innovations, and provide direct advice on optimum operations
-- Work to develop a clear and unambiguous message about Democrats and our values.
-- Help develop communication operations targeting mainstream, ethnic, and specialty media.
-- Visit Democratic committees across Virginia to listen and respond to ideas, concerns, etc. and take that information back to the DNC.
-- Aggressively mobilize recognition of new constituencies and registering new voters.
Our presumptive Democratic Presidential Nominee, Barack Obama's slogan is "Change to Win" not business as usual. I encourage grassroots activists attending the convention as delegates to vote for change and help elect real grassroots leadership to the DNC.
Thank you for your support,
Shawn
