Anybody interested in grass-roots strategy?

Here in beautiful northern MI I'm in a Congressional district that is gigantic, 14 counties. It's an unwieldy gerrymandered chunk of the state that, as a unit, is rather unmanagable.

In light of the fact that after the 2010 census we will (thankfully) be re-districted I consider this CD (and really any other district like state Senate, state House, etc.) to be transient. It ain't forever and the remaining time isn't long.

I see little reason to put resources in to building any district but feel the bulk of the effort should be put into building our individual, forever-set-in-stone county parties.

I'm well aware of the varying levels of development of the county parties everywhere, from non-existent to rockin' the free world. Hell I have that level of diversity among the counties within my own CD so it's as though we're a snapshot of all the possibilities rolled into this region.

The way I worked it as District chair was to raise money from everywhere there was money to be raised and tried to funnel it into counties who needed investment and guidance. I believe my own CD should continue to do this and the effort could be replicated across the land.

What do you DUers think? :shrug:

Julie

You build the infrastructure. If you build it, they will come. And it will stabilize and support anything that hopes to climb up onto its shoulders. Your thinking is certainly shrewd - you have to figure what will promote the best results in the long run. What will build you a solid foundation from which you can grow successful congressional and state legislative elections. Foundational work is EVERYTHING - and yes, it produces dividends across the board.

There are those who present grandiose ideas about the Cong. Dist., but, interestingly, their county has nothing impressive going on....

;-)

Thanks for the encouragement! :hi:

Julie

guys. You both need each other - like yin and yang. The big-idea guys don't have a leg to stand on and spread and grow their big ideas - without YOU build-from-below guys. Guess what? You ARE their legs. They NEED you to stand on and get a hoist up from. YOU are their ladder. And you need them because legs are there to hold something up (and they need something TO hold up). The bridge can't span across a mighty river or deep gorge without supports, no matter how great it is, how well-designed, or how beautifully-decorated it is. And the supports, without that beautiful bridge, don't help anybody cross over anywhere.

But make no mistake, the big-idea guys will be NOTHING, and go NOWHERE, without YOU folks building something solid and stable beneath them. And as with the bridge/supports analogy, the supports have to go in first. You can even point to this commercial (DAMN, I forget what the product is - some kind of investment company, I think) that shows images of the Empire State Building, the Gateway Arch and the Pyramids - all being built from the top. All you see is the top of whatever the structure is, held by little spindly cranes or, in the case of the top of the Empire State Building - a lone pole that makes the whole thing look like a lollypop. The construction looks silly, completely unrealistic and scientifically impossible (not to mention VERY unstable), without the rest of it underneath. The top part crowns the whole thing, of course. But the crown can't float through empty air by itself.

but Big Idea guys are of no use if they have absolutely no experience and don't understand what is required to accomplish anything.

For instance, it's easy to boldly declare a District should be able to raise $600,000 for a US House candidate. It's quite another thing to have any idea on how to do it. If the one with bold declcarations has never raised any money they aren't very credible.

Of course such a delcaration reveals the ingnorance of basic campaign finance law, a Fed. PAC cannot exceed $5000.

On it goes.

Here in my more local world we don't have much of a problem with Big Idea people. We have do-ers and we have check writers (there are a few very special souls who are both). I love 'em all! :-)

Julie

I'd like to learn more some time.

NGU.

Granted, we only have 2 CDs.

But we have fairly strong county organizations (some more so than others) and we're already working to strengthen them in '07 so we'll be ready for '08.

So often the Dems disappear in between WH races. We nee dto make good use of that time! Glad to hear you've got it figured out in Maine!

Julie

We're going to learn the importance of gathering voter file data, how to work with it, and how to recruit, retain, and empower volunteers. The state party is putting it on around the state.

Good luck to you in Michigan!

Fortunately we have a pretty strong state party here too but it's a bit harder to work. We've got about 83 counties and 15 Congressional Districts. Hard to get to them all. Gotta keep pluggin' away!

Seems to me we could all take a lesson from Maine though.

Cheers,
Julie