An interesting notion has emerged down at the end of the comment thread to the last Data Port post. Ol’ Anonymous implies that what the Democratic primary is really about is reforming the Democratic Party. God knows that the Party needs reform, but that’s not what the election in CD 8 is about.
Pay attention, now: The election is about sending a Democrat to Congress, regaining control of the House, and putting the brakes on the Republican rot. Only then can we hope for some change of direction, some glacial movement toward tax reform, single payer health care, or a return of our rights to privacy.
These, and other issues dear to Democrats, are particular goals and projects that are specific and can attacked one at a time. “Reform” is a notion so formless and cloud-like that it’s hard to get a handle on. I fear that the Party, like Chicago, “ain’t ready for reform.” But we’ll see.
Anonymous suggests that Giffords supporters are all Independents and Republicans, which will certainly come as a surprise to the legions of hard core, lifelong, Democrats who throng the campaign office, and work for her election.
Finally, if “reform” really is a goal and if “being part of the caucus” is a necessary condition of that project, then Giffords is so overwhelmingly part of the caucus that the reformers should rush to her support.
1 comment:
Giffords Fans and others,
Here is something I would like to share with you. I just spoke with one of the voters in my precinct. This particular voter is a registered Democrat, female, retired from TUSD, reads the daily paper, watches the daily news, votes in all primaries and generals, and has internet access.
Me: Have you been paying much attention to the CD 8 candidates?
Voter: CD8, that’s Kolbe’s seat, right?
Me: Yes, it is.
Voter: No, actually I haven’t. Randy Graf is running, isn’t he?
Me: I want to ask you about the Democratic candidates who are running. Have you heard of Gabrielle Giffords?
Voter: Yes, I’ve heard of her but I don’t think I’d vote for her.
Me: Have you heard of Jeff Latas?
Voter: No
Me: I know that you know Patty Weiss. She is also a candidate.
Voter: Oh, yes, I remember hearing about that. Well, I’ve got to say that right now I am just disgusted with politics in general and I don’t know who I’ll be voting for.
I can assure you that this lady will vote in the primary and the general, but what I don’t know is how she will eventually decide who gets her vote.
I canvassed my precinct last year for about three months for the city election. My precinct has about 500 registered Democrats, 700 Republicans, and 430 Independents. We attempted to contact all the Democrats and as many Independents as time permitted. I’m sure that fewer than 20% of the voters I talked to knew there was going to be an election. I could probably count on one hand the number of voters who knew anything about the candidates. In fact, I didn’t talk to even one voter who knew Karen Uhlich. Some of the voters knew Nina Trasoff from TV, but were not aware that she was a candidate. Our strategy for this election was to identify Democratic supporters and try to get them to sign up to vote by mail. By Democratic supporter I mean someone who will vote for a Democrat (whoever) and not a Republican. It’s that simple.
Even though 2006 is a national election, I seriously doubt if the electorate’s level of engagement is significantly improved. If you believe the “polls,” increasing numbers of Americans are getting fed up with Iraq, Bush, high gas prices, etc…but none of that seems to translate into political awareness and especially not at the lower levels of government. However, if you can get these people to vote, they just might vote against the perpetrators who can be identified by the “Republican” label.
So, for all this discussion about CD8 candidates, most of it goes absolutely nowhere. But for those of us who are engaged in the CD8 Democratic primary, I think we should support the candidate who best represents our values and convictions. And, I emphasize that this is an individual decision. Having the most money and the best campaign operatives are not compelling reasons to vote for a particular candidate. I don’t think that anyone here has underestimated the importance of this election because we all understand the dire consequences of not being able to restore the balance of power in Washington. If we fail in 2006, what does that say about 2008? Worse yet, what does it say about the next two years?
I believe that Latas, Giffords, or Weiss could defeat a Republican in CD8 given strong support from the Democratic Party. A lot of it depends on how much money the Republicans are willing to spend to keep the seat because this could be another CD50. They’ve got the money and we’ve got their lousy performance record. For us, that means boots on the ground and a zillion phone banks. But go back to what I said in the beginning. You find the people who will vote for Democrats, get a ballot in their hands, remind them to vote, hope they do, and hope it gets counted. It’s all about the numbers.
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