Organizing for America | Michael Dover's Blog: Going All In Between Now and Election Day: An Urgent Appeal

Going All In Between Now and Election Day: An Urgent Appeal

By Michael A. Dover - Sep 24th, 2008 at 8:52 pm EDT

Also listed in: Progressives for Obama | Social Workers Organizing for America

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Going All In From Now Until Election Day: An Urgent Appeal (Pass the Word)

It happened in 1972. It happened in 1984. It happened in 2004 and it could happen again. It happened to McGovern, it happened to Mondale-Ferraro, it happened to Kerry and it can happen to Obama-Biden. What happened was that in those years there was widespread failure on the part of candidates for state offices and for Congress to support the top of the ticket. And there was insufficient coordination by the presidential campaign with the candidates for local office. It contributed to the losses in those presidential races and losses in local races. If we want to bring change to the country this time, we’ll need to make some changes in how we go about it.

First, what can be done:

1. Turn your house, glove box, trunk, and office drawer into a repository of campaign materials for the top of the ticket and for your favorite local candidate. Official materials can be obtained from: http://store.barackobama.com/ or from your local Obama-Biden headquarters. To find the nearest headquarters, visit: http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/mioffices and substitute your state initials for “pa” before “offices” at the end of the URL. While visiting the Obama-Biden office, sign up to be a Obama-Biden campaign volunteer. I have, and you can to.

2. Request a meeting, a conference call or a phone conversation with your state or local party chair. Do the same with local or statewide Obama-Biden office staff. And do the same with local and Congressional candidates you are supporting. Discuss your observations about coordination and support for the top of the ticket, both positive and negative. Discuss solutions. Ask how you can help, both with any perceived problem and in general. Build unity by pointing out that this is a problem which has developed over the decades and isn’t unique to this year. You can do this and if you don’t want to do it solo, ask some friends to help raise the issue along with you.

3. Pass the word for unity, coordination and support for the top of the ticket. Do everything in your power between now and election day to make sure that this historic opportunity for change is realized. Let’s not get discouraged, let’s get determined. Pass the word. Forward this message.

4. Donate to both the Obama-Biden campaign and the local campaign. You can donate to many local campaigns via this website: http://www.actblue.com/directory. After you donate, send the candidate a message with a plea for better support for the top of the ticket. You don’t have to give much, but every bit helps.

5. Work to ensure that candidates for local office and their supporters are wearing Obama/Biden buttons, mentioning the top of the ticket in phone calls, and helping to distribute Obama/Biden yard signs and bumper stickers. Work to ensure that local Obama/Biden offices are making such materials available for free for use by official representatives of local campaigns as well as providing additional materials on consignment for sale to the public at local campaign offices. The best way is to call the candidate and visit the campaign offices and get involved.

6. Campaign websites need to be updated urgently to include prominent links to www.barackobama.com as well as statements and photographs showing that the local candidate is fully supporting the top of the ticket.

7. State parties, unions and PACs who assign staff and volunteers to help elect a local candidate should instruct them to work actively to ensure coordination of the Obama/Biden campaign with the local campaign and local campaign support for the top of the ticket.

8. Candidates interviewed on radio, TV and in the newspapers should go out of the way to stress the need to elect Biden/Obama in order to ensure a national leadership which can respond to local problems.

Why we need to do this:

The problems of lack of coordination and of insufficient support for the top of the ticket are endemic problems historically and in many states. They are not new this year, and this must be stressed. This concerned Democrat and longtime activist works in one state and lives in another and has made it his business while driving back and forth, talking on the phone, visiting websites, and showing up at campaign offices to observe local, Congressional and presidential campaigns. There were clear signs there is a serious problem of lack of coordination from the top of the ticket and lack of support for the top of the ticket.

Next, I solicited reports from longstanding friends and fellow activists around the country. These included reports from Louisiana (“It’s happening here”), Ohio (a half-hour long radio interview with a Congressional candidate who doesn’t mention the presidential race, despite the fact he’s a progressive candidate whose own website has a link to Obama/Biden) , and Pennsylvania (where Progressive Democrats of America members have complained about a Congressional candidate not openly supporting Obama/Biden). Reports have also been received from members of Progressives for Obama in Oregon, from the relative of a union activist in Washington, from Social Workers for Obama, from candidates for local, statewide and Congressional offices, from Obama-Biden campaign volunteers and staffers including veterans of Hillary’s campaign, and from Democratic Party officials and staffers.

True, these are anecdotal reports. And there as many examples of excellent coordination and support for the top of the ticket as there are reported problems. But it appears that this longstanding problem is developing once again in 2008. And it threatens the outcome of the election. It’s not all problems with the candidates and their campaign organizations or the Democratic Party. In some cases unions, 527s, professional organization PACs and other independent groups are focused on Congressional or gubernatorial races to the exclusion of the top of the ticket.

It might seem like there is little the everyday activist can do between now and election day about the attitudes about race or the opinions about progressive ideas which we may be seen as the central factors that will determine the outcome of the presidential race. But there is something we can do about this problem of lack of coordination or support for the top of the ticket. We can do “whatever’s in our power” to overcome it as in step 2 above. And if we do so along with continuing our everyday activism so that we can have a real impact, as in step 1 Above. We can put our money where our mouth is as in step 4 above. And we can pass the word as in step 3 above and compare notes about this problem in the hopes that there can be an upsurge in unity in the weeks ahead.

More on the problem....:

If you are already convinced, no need to read on. Yes, there are great examples all over the country where coordination is already working. Let us now praise good examples, and collect suggestions and ideas other than those here. But there are also places where this is not happening. In some cases it’s unintentional, in that both the presidential campaign offices and local candidates are naturally focused on electing “their” candidate. In media interviews, local radio, TV and newspapers reporters are often assigned to get the angle on the local race. But that doesn’t prevent a candidate from sneaking in mention of the need to elect Barack Obama as President of the United States of America and articulating the reasons why that is relevant to the local race and local issues.

True, in some cases, the problem of lack of coordination is due to continued logistical problems, such as lack of funds by relatively poorly funded local campaigns to purchase Obama-Biden materials or shortages of those materials on the part of the Obama-Biden campaign. It is urgent these problems be overcome on the part of the Obama-Biden campaign. The Obama-Biden campaign should schedule meetings with state and local parties and candidates devoted to a single issue discussion of improved coordination and support of the top of the ticket.

Unfortunately, in other cases, there is a problem of foot dragging by local candidates as to their support of the national ticket. This is an endemic problem historically and one based upon a faulty logic. Typically, the view is that the top of the ticket is too liberal for the local area, and that being identified with the top of the ticket will hurt the local candidate. But if the local candidate is a shoo-in for re-election, this doesn’t apply. And if the local candidate is hopelessly outvoted, it surely doesn’t apply. But what if it’s a close race? It doesn’t apply then either, for the following reasons. Yes, there may be some local voters who will be turned off by such a candidate’s support for the top of the ticket. But there will be many more local voters who are more likely to be convinced to turn out to vote in the most important presidential race since 1960 than there are who can be convinced to turn out to support a local candidate. Put another way, there are many more local voters who haven’t always made it to the polls in the past but who are more likely to vote this time due to a high profile presidential campaign than there are non-voters who can be turned out for a local race on the ballot.

Supporting the top of the ticket is the best way to maximize overall voter awareness and turnout. And it is that turnout that has the best chance of producing victories in close local races, even in less than liberal areas.

Let’s eliminate the bottlenecks and the excuses and make this work. Where there is a will there is a way. A rising tide lifts all ships. But if ships are crossing in the night they might not reach their destinations.

Signed, A Concerned Democrat and Long-Time Activist

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