No Retreat. No Surrender.

Simon Says: Bring Back Democrats' High-Dollar Addiction

Simon Rosenberg is a reader of this blog from what I see in my referal logs (Hi Simon and Maria) he is also a potential etablishment candidate for the DNC in outsider's clothing. And while speaking at a conference last week in DC, he made an interesting point that may reveal something about the direction he would take the Democratic Party. (Yes, Ezra there is more)

He expressed a disdain for all of the fundraising emails sent by the Kerry campaign, and scoffed at the idea of raising money online -- favoring, apparently, a more esoteric relationship between campaigns and their grassroots supporters. While admirable, it ignores the fact that over 2/3rds of all Kerry's funds came from such contributions. This is because 90% of the contributions to the NDN came from contributions of $1,000 or more.

The Case Against Simon Rosenberg

There have been many names mentioned in the articles about DNC chair, so many you begin to realize that reporters just start naming people whose resume could simply get them a job at the DNC. But who actually wants the job and is seeking it out? The buzz in DC is those people are a select few, that doesn’t include Harold Ickes ... but does include the result of the Kerry/Pelosi/Reid meeting - Gov. Shaheen. I will get to Shaheen later, but, one of the the people who definitely wants the job is the founder and chair of the New Democratic Network - Simon Rosenberg.

He should not get it.

I like Simon Rosenberg and I have met him on more than one occasion but despite his quick moves to embrace the blogosphere (like bringing on Matt Stoller as an NDN Blogger) he is not the man the grassroots should want for the job. He is still not firm against the President’s war and the GOP has a lot of firepower if he becomes Chair. Staying at NDN, and being a reasonable answer to the DLC is definitely a better job for Rosenberg and his staff.

With Rosenberg as DNC chair, the RNC will facetiously crow from the rooftops that they are glad DNC chair is supporting the President on the war on terror and in Iraq. While supporting the war is not a kind of position that would disqualify anyone from the position of DNC chair, the way in which Rosenberg defended and continues to defend the president’s decision bothers me.

For instance, he gave the RNC ammo on John Gibson’s show on Fox News, Sept. 9th of this year. Rosenberg said “I think the debate that is not happening is whether or not the war was a good idea. The war was a good idea. I think the American people were behind the President.” In that same interview with John Gibson Rosenberg said “The President was resolute and strong in his decision to go to war. He may also have been wrong in the way they executed it.” Rosenberg's problem is that he says the President MAY have been wrong in the way he executed that while our candidate was very clear that the President WAS wrong. This kind of statement illustrates how Rosenberg cannot lead a strong, aggressive opposition party, which is essential in today's DNC chair.

Sadly, he has many more statements that can be used to handicap the Democratic Party. In the end the RNC will be able to neuter Rosenberg as the mouthpiece of our party and; close friend of mine here in DC said “they will turn him into another yippy dog.”

In contrast NDN’s project with Hispanics and online work is important for the party and must be continued. Rosenberg has the ability to be very effective at NDN in shaping the future and direction of our party and our ability to reach a wide subset of voters. I believe Rosenberg should stay at the NDN were he can stay a more effective force in our party.

Liberal Ballot Initiatives and Turnout

Since I entered been in politics as a twelve year old stuffing envelopes there is always discussion about what effects turnout. This year one of the one the ideas is that the genius of the right (Rove) put gay marriage on the ballot to help George Bush's turnout. I don't care. I am not interested in the post-mortem attaching credit and blame where circumstance and correlation rule the land. I am interested in data and evidence - elections are gold mines for real hard data and history is a great teacher.

Enter Mark Schmidt, who has a great discussion of these ballot intiatives and an even better comment by Kristina Wilfore of the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center (one of my favorite organizations, expect to hear more about them here on Mars). They both begin to lay waste to the idea of the ballot initiatives helping Bush this year with more data to come, but they do wonder about how we can use this strange and sometimes twisted arm of Democracy to favor progressive causes.

As a student of the spiritual home of the ballot initiative - California, I would like to throw out some thoughts and theories:

Ballot Initiatives identify people with an issue: The right-wing tax revolt began with Prop 13 and the Republicans used that to get all the way to the White House before they swept the south. Peter Schrag makes some great points in his book Paradise Lost about how the tax revolt managed to create a political shift in the nation because it was associated with the GOP. On the other hand Wilson's supported of Prop. 187 was closely associated with him and

Initiatives can mobilize a constiuancy: I am not talking about non-voters, I have seen little evidence of this in my time in politics. However, Prop 187 and Prop 226 are perfect examples on how ballot initiatives can mobilize a constancy to help or hurt a candidate. With Prop 187 as I noted above the hispanic community in California turned away from the Republican party in droves, helping cement the winning coalition in 1998. Another example of a proposition mobilizing people is Labor's push to beat back Prop. 226 (a union busting initiative) also created a large turnout for their candidate Gray Davis allowing him to propel past two millionaires that vastly outspent him.

Initiatives are often felt owned by people: The "revolt at the ballot box" concept is powerful in making people feel part of the process. The key is that when someone attacks an initiative that the people feel they created it becomes them against the will of the people. For more on this see George Lakoff's take on the "voter revolt" frame in the 2003 Recall election in his book: Don't think of an Elephant.

Initiatives mean reform: Whether it is tax reform or clean elections ballot initiative are said exist to enact reform that the politicians won't or cannot. Thus using initiatives can both enact such reforms and make it supporting parties or candidates indetify closely with fixing the system. Governor Schwarzenegger has been playing this card ever since he went to Sacramento and it has kept his Terminator image intact.

Overall initiatives are part of the political process, but they are not sole reason why large numbers of people show up to the polls. However, they can be a source of new ideas and changing image of our party on a state by state level.

Constructive Election Grieving

Before I start my ideas about "where go from here" and my "soul searching" posts I do want to note a good post by the young Ezra Klien at Pandagon.

Life goes on. Today my girlfriend and I will go see The Incredibles, and it'll be funny even though Kerry lost. We'll have a dinner party and the company will be great even though Bush won. We'll go to lunch at our favorite Italian place, and it'll be delicious even if the country is speeding down the wrong road. And, like all of you, we'll be talking about what the party needs, what's gone wrong, and what needs to be fixed. And as that conversation replicates itself over a thousand car rides, a million dinner tables, the right ideas wil lemerge, and filter upward. And when Bush, happily using his domestic "mandate", overreaches, we'll be right there.

That is one of the healthiest reactions we can have right now: Love the little things, talk it out, and don't cede an inch to them.

While some quickly called for heads to roll and others are taking a well deserved break, I am impressed with the resiliency I am seeing in the grassroots and even amongst political professionals here in Washington. For instance, last night I was out with some campaign workers drinking away our sorrows. It was cliche, but what wasn't cliche was the discussion. It was impressively focused on the solutions not blame. Instead of the backstabbing game that often follows a losing election, the people I have spoken to are focusing on what to do right going forward.

I hope it stays this way, instead of bringing out the figurative guillotine for a lot of people who have done good work for the Democratic Party (Read: Mcauliffe, Pelosi, and campaign staffers you have never heard of), I hope we are smart about the grieving process. I hope we don't focus on the last election and "What Went Wrong" but instead ask ourselves the Aaron Sorkin/Sports Night inspired question of "Where Are We Going?"

So eat, drink and be with friends this weekend - there is work to do come Monday.

Here we go again ...

As you can see this blog is new, and yes, this is the boring first post.

I wouldn't consider myself a new blogger ... considering I have blogged. But I would consider it my first real try since I never really dedicated the time needed before. But I have too much to say these days.

A bit of housekeeping before I get into the writing:

- I live inside the beltway, I work in politics, and I love politics.
- I am definatly inspired by Atrios' good work ... "Mars" is an homage to him and his work (among other things).
- I was as wrapped up in this election, "No Retreat. No surrender." is and homage to the last campaign and the road we take from here.
- I am anonymous. I probably won't be forever. We'll see. I like it better this way for now.

So, I may be sitting across from you in CyberStop cafe, I may be your sister's friend's cousin as well, you may even know me and hate me ... but none of that matters right now. I like that it that way. I am doing this for the release, the discussion, and the ideas. That is what I want to do here. I'll save the nitty-gritty for work.

Thanks for coming over, I hope you'll enjoy Mars and please come back again.