The organizers we've hired have also made huge personal commitments -- we have asked every one of them to come on for a minimum obligation of four years. They left their jobs and committed to stay with us no matter what.
That's not how things are usually done in the political world -- in this business, people don't usually stay in the same job for very long. There's always another campaign to work on, or some organization gearing up for the next election.
Until now, the national party has encouraged this system. We have made the same mistake every election cycle -- during the last few months before the presidential election we build a huge organization, and then dismantle it as quickly as possible.
That's not how we're going to do it anymore. You mandated change, and we're moving fast down the road of building a permanent infrastructure in every single state.
But we can't change the way we do business without changing the way we finance our party. That's why every one of us that believes in changing the way things work needs to make the Democracy Bond commitment -- it's the only way it will happen:
http://www.democrats.org/democracybondsWhat do these organizers do? Let me give you an example. In Ohio next Tuesday there will be an election to fill a vacant seat in Congress. It's a heavily Republican district -- the Republican who left Congress to take a Bush job won with over 70 percent of the vote last year. Republicans outnumber Democrats two to one.
In years past, no one would have bothered to even try here. But we have a candidate who decided to fight. His name is Paul Hackett -- he's a former Marine Major, and if elected he'll be the first and only Iraq war veteran in Congress.
And he's not the only one who decided to fight -- grassroots Democrats on the ground, in the district and across the country have been energized by Hackett's fresh ideas and straight talk. Small donations have poured in through the campaign's website and volunteers are showing up at campaign headquarters around the clock.
Our organizers -- who were already on the ground in Ohio -- helped bring things together. Hundreds of volunteers have been turning out to canvass the district because the network was already in place.
Whether we win or lose this election, the work our organizers have been doing all over Ohio helped make this an opportunity for Democrats to come together and fight. That means that we will have a stronger operation to turn out more Democratic votes when Ohio elects a governor and a Senator next year -- and more votes when Ohio goes for the Democratic presidential candidate in 2008.
This is just one congressional district in one state. We need to make this happen everywhere -- and we need to make it happen for the long term. That's why all of us need to make the Democracy Bond commitment:
http://www.democrats.org/democracybonds
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