Short report: from our democratic meet-up

[BootinUp]

for Cobb County GA

I actually live in Bartow County but there aren't 5 democrats that live in Bartow ;) , so decided to attend the Cobb county meeting. The turnout was pretty good according to Georgia standards approx 35 democrats counting my wife and I. This was the first time I ever attended any political party event. :shame:

We had 1 guy representing the county party, one very active citizen who was the host, and one district representative. They were pretty jazzed at the turnout.

At the start of the meeting this one citizen kinda hogged the floor, his issue was changing the way the party organization worked, he wanted the people to have more say instead of the party insiders. I don't disagree with him, but this wasn't the best meeting to get into that real deep. People started rolling their eyes after a while cause the citizen wasn't letting up.

Then this sweet old lady stood up and said something like "Whats important is that we kick George Bush out of there!" There was some cheering and clapping (I think I started it) and it was a pretty good discussion from there about various things.

Even in the Red States, democrats are pissed off and they want George Bush out and they want him held accountable for Iraq which was a mistake.

There was ridiculing of:

Faux News
The Gay Marriage issue in Bush's SOTU speech
Fundies

We talked about the leading democratic candidate for the Zell Miller Senate seat, and getting involved with her campaign (Mary Squires). I don't know too much about her yet.

Other issues that came up:

The democrats are not using the media as effectively as Republicans.
(I mentioned Al Frankens radio show coming out)

Converting republicans, or getting independents to vote democratic. We didn't come up with too much there except that we need to have literature and other materials and be more informed on the issues, and not be afraid to confront the repugs. :)

Registering people to vote was discussed.

And the party's efforts to get organized at the precinct level.

Thats about it, I might look into having a Bartow County meet-up, we need 5 people minimum, (we got two, just need to find three democrats).

So maybe this will inspire a few of you out there! If your in Bartow County let me know!

[SangamonTaylor]

1. it's great to read about meetups!

way better than the usual rubbish.

[Adelante]

2. How wonderful!

Folks are riled up everywhere. And Wes Clark Dems are getting so involved. Wife_of_a_Wes_Freak is going to a Feingold Meetup. This is really exciting. Thanks for the report, Jim4. :thumbsup:

[CalProf]

3. Congratulations

on going to your first political meetup. Spread the word, and bring friends to the next one. This is a great, hopeful post.

Thanks.

[King of New Orleans]

4. Keeping working at it

It certainly takes more effort and ultimately is more important than typing away at a keyboard.

I'm going to my first meetup next week.

[PretzelWarrior]

5. good for you! I got invited by the DNC email too

for a meetup in my area, but it was kind of short notice and I couldn't make it. However, I'm really excited to see the activism of Clark supporters and Dean supporters catch on with other Democratic grass roots efforts so that we can build a strong wave of support that builds rather than weakens as we head toward summer.

I want Bush beat. I want him gone. He is a disgrace and a shambles.
What is more, many of his father's "boys" who are in his administration are pure evil.

[countmyvote4real]

6. Thank you so much for that post.

It’s very reassuring to know that there are real people in GA. I say that because my immediate family lives there. I live in NYC. Our politics are as distant as our geography. In fact, we’ve mutually agreed to not discuss issues because we become very dysfunctional when we do.

My family of Southern Baptist conservative republicans are not convertible. It’s sad. And really sad for me because all I can say is, “Bless your heart.” (For those in other regions that’s the Southern way of saying, “What a moron.”)
Note for the mods: that’s me talking about my family, not this poster.

I’m just saying you should choose your battles. Go for the independent and swing voters.

Most of all, congrats to you and your wife for taking the time to meet up with other Democrats. I hope you’ll stay with it and continue to share your reports here.

[BootinUp]

7. glad to provide some reassurance

Yes, I was hoping for the meeting to be like this, plenty of good Georgia democrats. We are actually from SoCal, but lived in the South now about 13 years. Thanks for the encouragement. :)

[sonias]

8. We had a great one here tonight in Austin, TX too

We had a packed house, maybe 75-100 people. Lots of our candidates running in the March 9th primary. We had some bad news last night when we lost a close TX Senate race, but the good news is that is was so close. It was a special election in a very repuke district and we only lost it by 3,000 votes. That's got to have the repukes running scared.

The other good news is that the Perry rumor (repuke TX Gov. caught in bed with a man by his wife) is actually true. At least many high Democratic sources inside the party are saying that they got this straight from other repuke's mouths.

You can imagine the repuke horror. ha ha. Not that there is anything wrong with homosexuality, it's the hypocrisy that's gonna kill them on this one. Perfect timing too with gay marriages in full swing.

Senate District 1 Race totals
Kevin Eltife REP 46,428 51.86%
Paul Sadler DEM 43,094 48.14%

Sonia