Chris Redfern. How is he doing? Conventional wisdom please.

[Ninga]

It would be helpful if you would attribute and/or substantiate your view.

Thanks!

[geiger]

1. The hard work now begins....

but I think it is significant that he has a new communications director. We are going to have to get positive and constructive fast.

[MeDeMax]

2. disappointing performance, IMHO...

The first time I saw & heard Chris speak, around this time last year,
shortly after his election to the chair, I felt he was a good orator.

He looked energetic and sounded like a visionary.

But over the last year I have seen one mis-step after another. First,
he, and the party, backed several loosing candidates before the primary.
So they began the post primary season in a grumbly atmosphere.

The hand picked ODP field staff did not perform well for the local and
ohio house races.

Thank goodness the - Strickland, Brown, Brunner, Dann & Cordray - campaign
staff performed so well. If these campaigns had relied primarily on the ODP
we would have had the governorship, but not much else. IMHO.

There were a few more fumbles on a few more fronts, but I'll shutup for now.

[MeDeMax]

3. I forgot to mention, we didn't take the Ohio house -- n/t

[geiger]

4. Candidates come and go; the Party always has to "be there"

I frankly didn't like some of the maneuvering either, and was also disappointed by several missteps, BUT they did do a good job, at least mid-way, in response mode and in running negative ads so the candidates could stay positive and on-message.

The website is much improved, although local parties and candidates need to do a better job taking advantage of it. The Party is Us, too: I.E., it can't all be left to the Party Chair. Previous Chair Denny White with the help of Frances Strickland did a great job bringing the Party and county parties into the new Century technology-wise. This Chair is going to have to focus on continued fundraising and the recruitment and grooming of viable candidates.

I think because of the stepped-up work of independent groups like MoveOn.org, the Party can re-define and hone its role as well, although this time around, it must have caused some identity confusion.

[MeDeMax]

5. I agree with you around 80% ...

Chris & co did do a great job of responding to and with negative ads.

They also released a copious number of press releases, that I am sure
helped us.

While Mr. White and the first lady may have done a great job with upgrading
technology, the technology purchased for the election season, failed.

Users were complaining all over the place, we weren't able to input the
data we were supposed to. Technology is supposed to close the gap between
the well established structure the repubs have and the disarray we dems enjoy.

Why then would you pick a vendor who cant deliver when you need it most ?

I am not suggesting Chris is at fault for everything that went wrong,
but he is the one in charge.

If this year had not been rife with repub scandal, we may have seen a
different outcome in this election.

I hate depending on the repubs to screw up badly enough that we can win.

Thank you for those sane comments poli.

[geiger]

6. This time around, I want to qualify my statements, I had other projects going on

and it was the first time in recent memory that I haven't been "on the ground" for a campaign. The last time around, however, it was the Board of Elections that was not ON BOARD. I had to show the workers at my Board of Elections how to query the information I needed.

There have been many times I have surmised that Ken Blackwell preferred untrained people and ambiguous legislation, so that he could be elected. And, if you cant get the right information from the Board of Elections, local campaign volunteers, who are just as time-starved as the rest of us, albeit optimistically-minded people to begin with, cant be expected to differentiate "correct" data.

I still contend that Ken Blackwell is diabolical, even though his plans to be elected Governor failed. I also still contend that suppressing the vote and discouraging people from even going to the polls, rather than stealing it, was the top priority of Republicans in the last three major elections. It's the legacy of Renquist and Ashcroft with all of Karl Rove's fingermarks all over it.

[Ninga]

7. I think he did a piss poor job. Period. Let me tell you why.

Strickland/Fisher = Brown = Brunner basically ran campaigns with scant input from Redfern and company.

Not enough attention was given (if at all) to state wide races. All you have to do is check out the balance in the state house to see it is still top heavy GOP.

How about the Supreme Court?

7 to zip, advantage GOP.

The hard work (state wide and some congressional races that should have been won) was blown off for the glamorous top of the ticket races.


Some of the states more red than Ohio, made overall more gains than we did....like Montana for heavens sake!!

We need more than an interactive website.

[MeDeMax]

8. if the party wants to learn from its mistakes...

we should run a campaign audit, figure where too much & too little
money was spent. What did the local, OH house & congressional candidates
need, that they didnt have, to win.

What did Kilroy & Wulsin lack that ODP could have supplied ?

etc etc etc

Publish the report and make sure the powers that be dont repeat the
mistakes.

[geiger]

9. which also demonstrates that coattails dont always apply, and in defense of Redfern,

You cant blame Chris Redfern on the inability of local orgnanizations to organize, though. In Lorain County there is a D commissioner who won but as of last week hadn't even bothered to take down her signs yet. She's been in there for years and years and shows little regard for the Party or her fellow Dems' opinions until it's time to run, or it fits her point of view. In Wayne County there is a D who's actually pursuing an ethics charge against another D for a remark totally taken out of context. These are poor excuses for public officials. The disfunctionality of one group of County Democrats is unbelievable, with people who call themselves social progressives beating up on each other, over-intellectualizing the state of a Republican stronghold in the area, impuning bad motives to most anybody with money and influence, and pursuing social agendas in misplaced arenas, including City Hall, The Chamber of Commerce, and Main Street. Individually and as a group, they are insane, and that is not Chris Redfern's fault.

Then you've got the independent groups like MoveOn.org who you're not supposed to coordinate with (it's against the law), and I fear they sucked away a lot of energy and support into phone calls and house parties that otherwise could have been utilized for more door-to-door and/or other types of direct outreach and marketing. Next time around, maybe the Party just needs to make clearer what exactly they are setting out to do and where they need the most help, and then use it.

[Ninga]

10. Isn't' it more about leadership and having an "ear" for the business? This election

was handed to us on a silver platter. This was the year to make hay. Everyone but Redfern knew it.

He handled (or didn't) down ticket candidates like they had the clap. Giving no notice at all.

The kid, Josh Mandel, at the age of 27 had STEVE KEMP headline a fund raiser for him!!!

And what does our illustrious leader do for Lew Katz????? Gives him 500 bucks!

Just one example of what went on all over this state to down ticket candidates.

Move.On and other 527's are not new to the landscape.......collelessing the groups together under one umbrella is the job of the leadership. The 527's came prepared to work, and did just that albeit without organization guidance from the top.



Leadership is just that, leadership.

It's doing the tough job when there is no immediate glory and I don't believe Redfern has the depth to carry it off.......really if you think about it.....he didn't.

Brown is an outstanding campaigner, so is Fisher and Strickland held his own. These guys were out raising money 16 months before the election so their machines were up and running by the time Redfern came on board.

Besides, I'm not nuts about the way Redfern got elected to the post.

[MeDeMax]

11. the KATZ race was willfully lost by the dems

whether Chris or someone else deserves the blame, to have a
republican that is linked to the Abramoff scandal return to
congress because the democrats couldn't educate the public
about their congressman is just inexcusable.

Latourette ought to be in mentor explaining to the 14th what
he was doing in washington with Abramoff and why he voted FOR
the trade agreements while KATZ should have been on a place to DC.

Instead the criminal appears to have been vindicated by re-election.

The National Dem Congressional Campaign Committee can take some
responsibility for this one and the Ohio Dem Party can take the rest.

[Ninga]

12. LaTourette is more crafty in the art of triangulation than Hillary is.....to coin a

phrase

"It's the Pork....Stupid"

I agree with your assessment that the blame lays at the feet of our national and state party.

Because LaTourette's hefty chairmanship allowed him to back the truck up and raid the Treasury for his district, he was touted as being "moderate."

Far from it....and throw into the hopper his association with Abramhoff and with some money and a lot of support, Katz might have pulled it off.

Getting back to Redfern, on his watch, Democrats supported LaTourette's bid for re-election.

There are 2 I personally know of, and I believe where there are 2 there are more.

Moreland Hills Mayor Chuck DeGross

and

Stow Mayor Karen Fritche

We need to clean up this state pronto, or we will continue to be in the minority in the State House as well as Congress.

[cmd]

14. We will continue to be in the minority in the State House

as long as we have the gerrymandered districts that we have. Look at what happened in the Kilroy/Price battle. Two small counties can control one third of a large county. This is the problem Redfern needs to address if we are going to win.

[Sara Bradi]

13. breath of fresh air, this discussion is

[MeDeMax]

17. Hello Sara, Welcome to DU -- n/t

[Schmajo]

15. Too Early to Judge Redfern

In my opinion, Chris Redfern needs to be judged by the next two years. Specifically:

1. Can he orchestrate vastly-improved fund raising for the General Assembly caucuses? Aside from Gerrymandering, the BIG difference in the General Assembly races was the huge money disparity -- the Rs had it and the Ds didn't; and

2. Can he recruit superior candidates to run for the legislature in 2008?

With enough work and money (and assuming the new Administration does a decent job) we have a shot at recapturing the House in 2008. I think THAT should be Redfern's test.

IMHO
;)

[geiger]

16. I agree, and sometimes the Party chair has to be the delivery boy for bad news

He cant always be the cheerleader.