Again? We're doing this again?!
One of the most frustrating things about the last presidential election cycle, and this is coming from a volunteer's standpoint, was that the left couldn't get its act together to cooperate, so everyone just duplicated everybody else's efforts. I thought that we all sat down after that and decided that yes, that was a bad idea, not to be repeated. Guess we forgot about that. Olde-time Clinton aide Harold Ickes has a bunch of Soros money to start a info-gathering operation, with the intent to compete technologically with the right wing. What does the party do? Why, it whines about its turf being encroached upon, of course!
Yes, and you've failed miserably to do so. I was using Democratic party info when I went door to door for the get out the vote effort, and I can tell you that what we had sucked. Sure, we had names that were largely accurate, but the party identification prediction was pretty scattershot. I'm sure I talked to a lot of Bush voters in 2004, and that couldn't have helped us.
I'm not one of the Dean haters that I fear Ickes might be, and I do believe that the party has a good chance to change the way it's been doing things and make real strides in catching up with Republicans at the grassroots level. But good god, what morons they must be to fight about this! Let me spell it out:
Money is tight, and soft money that might pay for revitalizing Democratic database infrastructure even more so.
The Ickes venture provides a way the party can get better info cheaper - by allowing its allies like labor unions to foot some of the bill for the overall system.
Democrats lose when we do our now-standard piss-poor job integrating with our allies; we'll continue to lose if the party gets caught up in these useless turf battles.
"From an institutional standpoint, this is one of the most important things the DNC can and should do. Building this voter file is part of our job," Communications Director Karen Finney said. "We believe this is something we have to do at the DNC. Our job is to build the infrastructure of the party."
Yes, and you've failed miserably to do so. I was using Democratic party info when I went door to door for the get out the vote effort, and I can tell you that what we had sucked. Sure, we had names that were largely accurate, but the party identification prediction was pretty scattershot. I'm sure I talked to a lot of Bush voters in 2004, and that couldn't have helped us.
I'm not one of the Dean haters that I fear Ickes might be, and I do believe that the party has a good chance to change the way it's been doing things and make real strides in catching up with Republicans at the grassroots level. But good god, what morons they must be to fight about this! Let me spell it out:
Money is tight, and soft money that might pay for revitalizing Democratic database infrastructure even more so.
The Ickes venture provides a way the party can get better info cheaper - by allowing its allies like labor unions to foot some of the bill for the overall system.
Democrats lose when we do our now-standard piss-poor job integrating with our allies; we'll continue to lose if the party gets caught up in these useless turf battles.
posted by onlooker at 1:53 AM
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