Will California go Red?

Will California go Red?

By Cynthia Anderson Barker
April 15, 2005

(snip)

But 37 California counties are Republican. Only 21 are Democratic. If you look at the electoral map of California, it looks very much like the nation. The blue counties hug the coast. The red are the vast inland and it represents the 20 fastest-growing counties in the state, where George Bush pulled double-digit vote margins and where population will grow by 1 million more than the rest of the state by 2008. Last November, Bush lost California by only 1.3 million votes, just 9 percent, the best a Republican presidential contender has done here since 1988. Nor are Democrats helped by the fact that "decline to state/other" is the fastest-growing voter bloc among newly registered California voters. Last year, this category totaled more than 22 percent of all new voters.

(snip)

The other night I asked a group of highly involved, motivated Californians to raise their hands if they were registered Democrats. Roughly 80 percent did. Then I asked, "How many of you are members of the Democratic Party?" They all looked around, sheepishly, not knowing what to say. They vote as Democrats, but they do not feel a part of a Democratic community.

There lies the heart of the problem. Only by turning the party into a movement do Democrats have a chance to make politics and parties relevant again to state voters. The Democratic Party must invest in grass-roots organizing, going door-to-door, re-engaging voters, one voter at a time, and doing it year-round, not just when elections are near. This kind of party-as-movement politics can be powerful. We saw that power last year with Howard Dean's campaign and MoveOn.org's tremendous ability to mobilize a wide range of voters. Deaniacs and MoveOn supporters, young and old, committed unprecedented amounts of time and money. Although the campaigns were national, they drew their strength from local wells, local groups of highly energized people who saw a chance to have an impact.

Likewise in California, movement party politics needs to be built locally in communities and neighborhoods up and down the state. Last fall in Ohio and Florida, it was clear: Outside organizers can be bested by well-trained local troops. The Democratic Party needs crackerjack organizers in every community in California to tap into the enormous reservoir of talent and desire to work for change that Californians possess.

(snip)

Anderson Barker is a civil rights attorney in Los Angeles. She has been involved in numerous congressional and local races as an organizer on issues close to Democrats. She also has been a volunteer fundraiser for Democratic candidates.


Find this article at:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050415/news_lz1e15barker.html

n/t

And the second the layed out the Dean campaign as a good example of what Democrats need to do to start winning elections again, she lost me.

Get Deboild in there.

painting Dems at tax and spend party for decades just as they were very successful at painting Kerry as flip-flopper. We need to return the Borrow and Spend label back to where it belongs. We need to advocate tax cut for middle class and fiscal responsibility. Democrats are very bad at propaganda skills, while Karl Rove copied very technique from Goebbel.

"The only thing worse than a tax-and-spend Democrat is a don't-tax-and spend Republican!"

and if we can give examples about cutting in programs.

I wonder how many the new bankruptcy law will affect people in the red states.

And they both spend money like crazy. Sorry, but I just got through paying my taxes. Now I have to start saving all over again to pay next year.

People looked around sheepishly because they thought they had heard the same question twice, and were really just wondering what the difference was. Frankly, I'm not sure there's much of a difference either.

is intended to turn CA red. However, he's alienated women, nurses, and teachers already.

If the votes get counted and the zones aren't altered, CA will stay the way it is.

In that if vote fraud becomes significant enough, anybody can be declared winner. Heck, the Soviets used to have leaders who won "unanimous election" all the time.

However, even if the voting districts are changed, there's only so much hanky-panky the Repugs can pull in a state as 'blue' as California is.

Yes, the central valley and a lot of southern CA is conservative. But the rest of it is extremely progressive and Dem-leaning.

Anyway -- welcome to DU, Peake.

cheers,
-Technowitch

I suppose that when I say these things that I'm crossing my fingers and clicking my heels together at the same time ;-)

Hopefully they've been too brash and the resistance will slow down the program.

I keep hearing the word "over-reached". As well as "arrogance".

We can hope. And work hard to bring this little representative democracy of ours back from the brink.

cheers,
-Technowitch

All the people live on the coast. That is where the major cities are the rest of California, a lot of which is desert, is not very populated so yes the area looks really red, but it's not unless the dirt is voting republican. Just like the red/blue map of the US it looks a lot redder than it really is.

Votes are where the people are.

Welcome to DU, LostinRed.

cheers,
-Technowitch

For example:

"Bush lost California by just 1.3 million votes, just 9 per cent, the best a Republican presidential contender has done here since 1988".

Well, that's hardly all that surprising a statistic given that 2004 was the first presidential elections ince 1988 the Republicans have actually won! I mean, Bush even experienced something of a bump in New York- does that mean we should all start fretting about NY going red?

Nevertheless, I do think she makes some good points about grassroots organisation (although, of course, this becomes much easier when there is a clear progressive agenda to rally around). And it's obviously good to keep everyone on their toes, whatever state they're in.