50-State Strategy: A Utah Insurgency?

Larry Daniel, a Gulf War veteran, a professor of constitutional law and a Democratic candidate for the Utah State Legislature e-mailed us this look inside the the 50-State Strategy.

I wanted to take a few moments to let you know how the 50-State Strategy is working as applied in Utah. I would not be running for office if it were not for Utah Democratic Party Chairman Wayne Holland and the UT Dems 29-County Strategy application of the DNC's 50 State Strategy.

As a result of the UT Dems 29-County application of the 50-State Strategy, Republicans are defending and spending money in places they’ve thought were safe. This is turning out to be a "death by a thousand cuts" insurgency, particularly in Southern Utah.

Example:

Today's Utah Policy Daily reports Utah Republicans are planning a "Big Red Whistle Stop Tour" of Iron and Washington Counties "to energize the Republican base..." Participants will include the Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General and 2nd Congressional District candidate LaVar Christensen….

One can't help but wonder if this has as much to do with a reenergized Democratic Party in Iron and Washington Counties as with a less than enthusiastic Republican base. For the first time in perhaps decades, both Iron and Washington County feature a full slate of Democratic candidates. It appears participants in the "Big Red Whistle Stop Tour" will be seeing a lot more blue faces than they are used to.

Things get better.

During the UT Legislature’s Special Session on Tuesday, my opponent the incumbent I am in the race with, voted with the Democrats in favor of the education set aside and against the tax cut.

Several legislators told me he would never have voted that way, but he is scared. In fact, I've heard that he is scared from local movers-and-shakers, political insiders, and from lobbyists that he has called, frantically, searching for money.

A 14-year incumbent that has never faced a Democrat opponent in a district that went 82% Bush just two years ago, is scared. Several other Republicans voted with the Democrats for the same reason.

In my county, at the most local level, we’ve only had 2 Democrtas run for office in the past 20 years. Now, because of the support we get from our State Party which now has full-time, year-round staffers working to provide us with the resources, we have 4 candidates on the ballot, and our precinct caucuses have grown 300%.

Democratic registration in my county increased 25% in a single year. Plus, for the first time anyone can remember that we filled all of our slots at the state party convention.

All of this is because of Governor Dean, Chairman Wayne and the 50-State Strategy.

Comments (2) «

Wow.

In case anybody gets down as far as this comment, I just wanted to say how proud I am of the DNC for watering, fertilizing and generally caring for the grassroots. Energizing Democrats in every state builds a future for this party.

Remember: NO OFFICE IS TOO SMALL! Run for the city council, dog catcher, the PTA, but build this party up from the bottom and we will be what the Republicans only wish they could be: The party of the people, by the people, for the people.

1

gtrump on September 24, 2006 at 11:00 PM

When the Big Red Bus blew into town, we greeted them with some good natured fun. See a few photos at http://emilyforutah.blogspot.com

The UT Attorney General (Mark Shurtleff - R) was on the bus. He came over to greet us and said, "The trip was boring until we started seeing all the signs and tried to figure out what they were." He looked at the signs on the Daniel for Utah mobile and chuckled.

I told him that he was probably the only one who understood the "= Utah loves the AG" (see the photo on the blog) and they were intended as gentle barbs at people on his bus. He said, "You mean LaVar (Christensen - R, running against popular Cong. Jim Matheson - D UT)."

You see, (Utah) HB 148 was a bill borne out of LaVar Christensen's hate for gay parents that would have destroyed the visitation rights of step-parents and grandparents too. Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman (R) vetoed LaVar's hateful bill.

In addition, UT Attorney General Shurtleff was given an award last week by Equality Utah for his support of the great hate crimes bill sponsored by Utah State Sen. Scott McCoy.

AG Shurtleff thought the sign campaign along their route was good natured fun. Since the rest on the bus thought they were going into a "safe" republican area and aren't used to any other competing voices, they weren't too amused.

2

LawDaniel on September 28, 2006 at 11:56 AM

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