An extension on the 50 State Strategy
I love Howard Dean's 50 State strategy. The way it puts the power of politics back in the everyday people's hands. They way it can make a noboday or an everyday Joe Shmoe into a somebody. The idea of putting a precinct captain or Democratic Activist in every precinct of every town in every State. I am a ward captain myself for the Democratic Party and the Governors race in my hometown of Cambridge, Massachusetts right now in 2006. I have some reservations however about the whole 50 state program though.
My problems with the 50 state program lie in the clash of demographics that exists in every town of this country. I am a 27 year old female who lives in a traditional Democratic town in Liberal Massachusetts, but herein lies the problem. You see, if I were to knock on an 87 year old neighbor's door, the first thing they would say to me is, "I am too old, but you keep doing what you are doing, you are doing a great job." After leaving my 87 year old neighbor's door with that response, I know I have not done my job. My job was to get them so excited in Democratic Politics, that they too would love nothing better than to get involved too, and stand up right beside me in the fight to take control back for the Democratic Party. There must be a solution to this I ponder.
There indeed is a solution, and this lies in a targeted campaign by alll demographics. I remember in 2004, at John Kerry's campaign office in Boston, every Wednesday was seniors day. Every Wednesday, a group of senior citizens would come in and make phone calls targeted to other senior citizens. This strategy worked, and as the weeks drew on, more and more senior citizens came in to volunteer. Why can't we replicate this for all demographics I ask then? Why can't we have women calling women, young people calling young people, labor calling labor, veteran calling veteran, etc. We can do it, all it takes is a little compiling of data into seperate databases, and someone contacting the different groups to find precinct captains within the different demographics. I started this process in Massachusetts this year and have compiled a database for young people, elderly, labor, and have started womens groups.
The point I am trying to make is that while neighbor to neighbor is an awesome approach towards winning elections, neighbors themselves have many obstacles to overcome, but if you can bridge the gap by making the demographic the bridge to the relationship, you can bring home more support than in the previous senario. I started this process slowly in Massachusetts; Now imagine only if we could expand this nationwide.
My problems with the 50 state program lie in the clash of demographics that exists in every town of this country. I am a 27 year old female who lives in a traditional Democratic town in Liberal Massachusetts, but herein lies the problem. You see, if I were to knock on an 87 year old neighbor's door, the first thing they would say to me is, "I am too old, but you keep doing what you are doing, you are doing a great job." After leaving my 87 year old neighbor's door with that response, I know I have not done my job. My job was to get them so excited in Democratic Politics, that they too would love nothing better than to get involved too, and stand up right beside me in the fight to take control back for the Democratic Party. There must be a solution to this I ponder.
There indeed is a solution, and this lies in a targeted campaign by alll demographics. I remember in 2004, at John Kerry's campaign office in Boston, every Wednesday was seniors day. Every Wednesday, a group of senior citizens would come in and make phone calls targeted to other senior citizens. This strategy worked, and as the weeks drew on, more and more senior citizens came in to volunteer. Why can't we replicate this for all demographics I ask then? Why can't we have women calling women, young people calling young people, labor calling labor, veteran calling veteran, etc. We can do it, all it takes is a little compiling of data into seperate databases, and someone contacting the different groups to find precinct captains within the different demographics. I started this process in Massachusetts this year and have compiled a database for young people, elderly, labor, and have started womens groups.
The point I am trying to make is that while neighbor to neighbor is an awesome approach towards winning elections, neighbors themselves have many obstacles to overcome, but if you can bridge the gap by making the demographic the bridge to the relationship, you can bring home more support than in the previous senario. I started this process slowly in Massachusetts; Now imagine only if we could expand this nationwide.
