New Mexico getting it done because of the DNC support for states.

[madfloridian]

This is a good post by Tim at the DNC blog. It is excerpts from a pd website, but there is enough there to show the success and enthusiasm.

http://www.democrats.org/a/2006/03/getting_it_done.php

The article from the
http://www.abqjournal.com/

Here are the portions Tim posted. This is good stuff. This is how the 50 State Strategy works, what Democracy Bonds are paying for.

With the DNC's help, state party offices around the country have boosted their permanent workforces in hopes of building a better political machine w ell in advance of the next presidential election in 2008, said New Mexico Democratic Party executive director Matt Farrauto.

Many of those new workers, like Chavez, are "field directors," traveling their states in hopes of laying groundwork and making contacts that will pay off in two years. "We're getting started early," said Chavez, who was raised in Socorro and is now one of four home-grown Democratic field directors at work across New Mexico. <...>doesn't take a political expert to figure out why the DNC's 2004 New Mexico campaign fell short: Although Democrats have long outnumbered Republicans, President Bush bested Kerry by about 6,000 votes.

The DNC early last year elected former presidential hopeful Howard Dean as the national party chairman, and Farrauto said the chairs of state Democratic Parties nationwide asked him to place more focus— and spend more national party dollars— on state parties in the years between presidential elections.

"It's a really critical investment," said state Democratic Party chairman John Wertheim. "There was a consensus among the state chairs that the national party needed to get involved in mid-term elections, in municipal elections, in elections at all levels— because that would lay the groundwork for winning the presidential race the next time around," Wertheim said.

There are now nine staffers in the state party's Albuquerque headquarters, including the four field directors, Farrauto said. The party has a Web site— something it didn't have at this time in 2004. And Farrauto said the office phones are ringing far more than they once did.

And Tim's excellent comment on this:

The entire article is terrific and demonstrates just how much of an impact your investment in the Democracy Bonds program has made. If we are to win Mayoral, State Legislative, and other local electi ons in off-year cycles, the Democratic Party needs a consistent organizational effort in states it hasn't been "cool" to vote for a Democrat. Because of the fifty state strategy, and because of you, we now have that presence in every state -- including New Mexico.

And the State Party website with links to articles about the various states.
http://www.democrats.org/local.html

[Warpy]

1. Actually, Stupid "won" by about 4000 votes, and that's only because

those ES&S machines disenfranchised 17,000 of us. We know that happened because that is the discrepancy between total votes cast in the local races for judges and the total votes cast in the national election. If you want to believe 17,000 New Mexicans left their nice warm houses to go stand in line to vote for a judge but not for a president, then you can believe Stupid won this state.

There is a very ugly lawsuit over this winding its way through the courts. It's so ugly, in fact, that our DLC governor who stopped any sort of audit or recount right after the election felt compelled to write a sanctimonious letter about fair elections when he signed our paper ballot bill into law a couple of weeks ago.

I'm very glad to see the grassroots party get going again. It was very disheartening to offer help in previous elections and to be told to write a check and don't let the door smack ya... The party has always changed from the grasroots up, and it's overdue for a change away from the conservatism that have lost all 3 branches of government and left us with spineless jellyfish in office.

[skyblue]

3. Spineful

It's probably better to see RW make themselves look bad than for us to make waves unless we really have to or if it can succeed.

[madfloridian]

4. Not sure about your comment....

but getting organized on the ground is the first step to being able to make waves.

[skyblue]

2. Money is a necessary evil.

How can we win if we don't get the money?

[madfloridian]

5. One million giving $20 a month can form a dream party.

The DNC is trying to get the money from smaller donors....like one million (not that many really) giving 20 a month. Just imagine what kind of party we could build.

[madfloridian]

6. More good stuff from Democrats abroad.

I don't have a link for this since it is from an email posted at the DFA blog. Dean has been making a lot of contact with this group, which I think I read numbers about 7 million altogether. He met with them in Canada, and in UK I know for sure.

This is interesting, I keep going back to the word enthusiasm because it is becoming more evident in the party now.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Another group that should be FIRST is the American Democrats Abroad (ADA). Delegates have just returned from the Democratic Party Committee Abroad Conference in Washington DC, March 3-4, 2006.

Here are some excerpts from our local group's report:

<...>
100 Dem members and Chairs and Chapter Chairs from around the globe from Hong Kong to Okinawa, to Tokyo to Chang Mai, from Delhi to Sydney, the Yukon to Toronto, Mexico, Mexico and Mexico, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Paris and Toulouse, Frankfurt and Hamburg, Dublin, London, Oxford, Milan, Florence, Rome, Barcelona, Madrid, Brussels, Tel Aviv, and even tiny Luxembourg were present.

<...>
As a group we were all taken with the energy, passion and openness of the DNC (Democratic National Committee) team from Gov Dean to each of his dynamic and brilliant young staffers. This group, as one of them put it, had been standing outside the DNC throwing pebbles at the windows just months ago, now they are inside, and in charge. Their strategy if you haven’t read about it ad nauseum already is simple and direct: rebuild the Democratic party from the ground up, leave no state without a political director and at least two staffers to build infrastructure and roots. Democrats Abroad is a tiny but critical part of that strategy.

We lunched with Gov Howard Dean, met with the DNC Executive Director, Political Directors, Communications Director, Intergovernmental Affairs Director, Vice Chairs, Secretary, College Democrats, and the Director and Deputy Director of Training. We discussed Strategy, Overseas Voting, watched Technology Presentations, participated in Communications, Activist training, and Fundraising workshops, and came away exhausted and inspired.

Outside the DNC family we met with the Commissioner of the Election Assistance Commission and Deputy Director of the Federal Voting Assistance Program, as well as the impressive Communications Director of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard, the Founder of the New Organizing Institute, and the Washington Political Director of MoveOn.

<...>

=====================

[oasis]

7. Let's restore America with a determined effort to win back the House .

:thumbsup:

[madfloridian]

8. 50 State Strategy on front page at DNC.

http://www.democrats.org/