Support Chairman Dean's 50-State Strategy

I want to write to you today about a problem. I talk a lot about the successes of our 50-state strategy and ways you can get involved. But today I want to talk very frankly about the obstacles we still face.

We have seen so much rapid progress in so many places (sweeping four special elections in Mississippi, flipping three state legislature seats in New Hampshire that had been Republican-held for nearly 100 years) that it's easy to forget that the 50-state strategy is a controversial plan.

It boils down to this: participation politics. We're building an entirely new kind of political party -- one where every single person matters as much as the next, where each one of us has the power to take our future into our own hands. It's a new way of operating, but we know it will work because we believe in the extraordinary potential of millions of Americans united in common cause to make our country better.

We are at a crucial moment in our party's history, and it's up to us to show that the 50-state strategy has the financial backing of ordinary Democrats across the country. But we're going to do it in a new way -- we're going to count the number of people donating on our web site, and reveal the amount at the end.

Will you stand up and be counted? We're aiming for 5,000 donations for a 50-state strategy. Make a donation to support a 50-state strategy now, and watch the number grow as Democrats across the country join you:

http://www.democrats.org/peoplecount

For most of us the 50-state strategy seems pretty obvious: a truly national party must build the infrastructure to fight everywhere for every level of office, period. The Republicans realized this over 30 years ago and have a monopoly on our government because of it.

We have a moral obligation to build a party infrastructure that can compete with what they have created. The bad news is that they have a 30-year head start on us. But the good news is that our movement will grow faster and stronger. We've made history leveraging the Internet to turn online action into offline results -- whether though your record-breaking small-dollar donations last year or the national organizing events like the 50-state canvass.

We are transforming the political landscape by building a party that focuses on people. People are deciding to take back our political process, and they are discovering that when many of us act together we can organize more people and raise more money than our party ever has before.

The only way we can change the Democratic Party is to keep proving again and again that we will not be silent, and that we are going to change the way we do business. Make your donation to support the 50-state strategy now:

http://www.democrats.org/peoplecount

Some critics say that our early investments in a permanent ground operation will hurt our chances to win this year.

That's a false choice. The fact is that our 50-state strategy has already laid a nationwide foundation for victory this year, in 2008 and beyond. Unprecedented organizing at the local level has already fielded more candidates for office and more competitive races up and down the ballot than anyone could have imagined.

Our work now will have a huge impact in November -- the difference is that unlike spending everything on TV ads that literally evaporate after Election Day, our operation will keep growing.

After this November, and for many Novembers to come, people will look back on this time as the moment when Democrats decided to get up and fight -- and started winning.

With a donation now, during this drive for the 50-state strategy, you can say that you knew the 50-state strategy would work, and that you made it happen:

http://www.democrats.org/peoplecount

For the next two weeks you're going to be hearing a lot from us -- facts about the 50-state strategy and testimonials from the ground across the country about how it's already working.

Please take the time to forward this message. Now is the time to get the word out: we have a choice to build a new Democratic Party and a new way of doing business, and it's up to ordinary Democrats to stand up and be counted to make it happen.

Thank you for your leadership.

Governor Howard Dean, M.D.

Less than 24 hours ago we launched a two-week drive to send a clear message that Democrats want to grow our party everywhere -- and we're already close to reaching the goal.

If we hit the goal we'll keep going, because we're not going to let up on this. During these two weeks we're going to make the clearest case possible for the 50-state strategy and back it up with a potent force. That's you.

Earlier this week I asked our Executive Director Tom McMahon to put together some facts and figures for you -- his message is below. There's a lot of information there, but questions have been raised about the 50-state strategy and I want you to have as many facts as possible in order to make your own decision and spread the word to others to make theirs.

Results like these are just the beginning of what we will achieve with a simple new principle governing our party: People count.

Stand up and be counted now:

http://www.democrats.org/peoplecount

Thank you.

Governor Howard Dean, M.D.

MEMORANDUM

TO:
FROM: Tom McMahon, Executive Director, DNC
RE: 50-State Strategy Results

Per Governor Dean's request, I have put together a few facts and figures for you on the successes of the 50-state strategy. I have made one last-minute addition to this memo -- at the end you will find excerpts from a USA Today profile of our 50-state strategy in action in my home state of Nebraska. It ran on Wednesday as we were preparing this message for you.

Critics say that our 50-state strategy focuses on the long-term at the expense of winning this year. As you will see, that simply is not true. Here are a few important results that our 50-state strategy has produced already:

MISSISSIPPI: Republican Gov. Haley Barbour appointed Democrats representing competitive districts in the state legislature to various boards and commissions, triggering four special elections at a time when he believed that his personal popularity would translate into new Republican legislators. Just a few months prior, the 50-state strategy had taken the number of Democratic Party staff in Mississippi from one full-time person to five. By organizing on the ground the way Democrats in Mississippi haven't had the resources to do in a generation, we swept all four special elections. Now Gov. Barbour has four more Democrats holding appointments in his administration and the same number of Democrats sitting in the legislature.

OHIO: The 50-state strategy means new staff in Ohio who have been reviving the field organizing efforts across the state. In a place where it had been typical to build and tear down an entire campaign infrastructure every election cycle, new staff are creating permanent organizing teams in every single county. These teams will be responsible for various functions during the course of the very competitive campaigns there in 2006 -- and won't disappear after Election Day.

SOUTH DAKOTA: With the added boost from new staff and resources, Democrats fielded a record number of legislative candidates this year, recruiting challengers in nearly 40% more races than in 2002.

INDIANA: With fresh resources and energy, Indiana Democrats have been making waves. The Indianapolis Star reported recently that, "Gov. Mitch Daniels and other state Republicans have taken a beating in recent months from the Indiana Democratic Party" thanks to the 50-state strategy, which provided the opportunity to hire a full-time spokesperson. Indiana is also the first state in the country to hold elections under new laws that requires voters to use photo identification that includes an expiration date. Predictably, rightful voters have been disenfranchised by this law. New staff and resources have helped collect data from the May 2nd primary election that will be needed to appeal to the federal court.

OKLAHOMA: The 50-state strategy has been credited with re-energizing grassroots throughout the state. In April, the new staff paid off when the Democratic candidate scored an upset victory, unseating a Republican incumbent as mayor of Tulsa.

NEW YORK: In rural upstate New York, which Republicans rely on for their base voters, unprecedented ground organizing is showing that the 50-state strategy means leaving no county behind. Already, new staff on the ground have identified 12,000 new Democratic voters -- voters who we will get to the polls this November and in elections to come, helping Democrats up and down the ballot.

UTAH: Already, 2006 marks the best candidate recruitment for the Utah Democratic Party in over 15 years. Democrats have recruited candidates for every single State Senate race, and Democrats have challengers running in ten State House races that went unopposed in 2004. The recruitment efforts, led by new staff deployed as part of the 50-state strategy, include not only life-long Democrats but also six Republicans who have switched parties.

NEW HAMPSHIRE: Regional field organizers deployed as part of our 50-state strategy have already racked up important wins. They have already worked hands-on to elect three new Democratic members to the State House -- in seats that had been held by Republicans since 1912.

These are just a few of the amazing things happening across the country as a result of a 50-state strategy. Remember, we cannot win in every state until we organize and mobilize Democrats in every state.

As Governor Dean says, we can wait around for the pendulum to swing back in some of these states -- or we can get out there and give it a push. To step up and give it a push yourself, donate here:

http://www.democrats.org/peoplecount

ADDENDUM:

Here are excerpts from the article that appeared this week in USA Today:

Democrats rebuild on the prairie
By Jill Lawrence, USA TODAY

<...> When Howard Dean ran for chairman of the Democratic National Committee, he promised state parties he would spread money and professionals around the country in a long-term quest for viability in "red" Republican states. He's followed through with a 50-state plan to revive moribund state and local organizations.

Dean says Democrats have dug themselves "a deep hole" by focusing on one election at a time, usually in the "blue" states where Democrats are strong. "That's a cycle that has to be broken. We want a long-term business plan," he says. <...>

The state was a low priority for the DNC. Of the $731 million the party raised for the 2004 elections, Nebraska got $12,000. "The national Democrats were sucking money and volunteers" out of Nebraska, state party chairman Steve Achelpol says. Adds executive director Barry Rubin, "They called us an 'export state.'"

Times have changed. The DNC is now spending $120,000 a year to pay the salaries of three organizers and a spokesman here. Nationwide, the party has hired and trained about 190 people in 50 states in its $10-million-a-year program. The goal is to create voter lists and activist networks that don't vanish when campaigns are over or powerful Democrats retire <...>

Success stories cited by the DNC include West Virginia, where the party created a precinct program to bolster organizing and turnout and has recruited leaders for almost half the state's nearly 2,000 precincts; and South Dakota, where the state party fielded candidates for 94 of the 105 legislative seats -- 26 more than in 2002. <...>

Two years ago, 11 Democrats were on the November ballot for the state Legislature; this fall there will be 15. Four years ago, Democrats had a candidate in one of three races for Congress.

This year they have candidates for all three seats: cattle rancher Scott Kleeb, attorney Jim Esch and former lieutenant governor Maxine Moul. All three are "a cut or two above" the usual in quality, says state politics expert Robert Sittig, a retired University of Nebraska professor. <...>

Click here to read the rest.

Don't forget to stand up and be counted:

http://www.democrats.org/peoplecount