Dispatch from the DNC in Vegas, courtesy of Virgilio Perez Pascoe (Blog for Democracy)

Mr. Perez Pascoe attended the American Majority Partnership Summit in Las Vegas, here are his thoughts and comments on the event.

No voter left behind

Gambling, a “fin de siècle” glittering ambiance (bonjour, monsieur, que c’est que vous voulez faire aujourd’hui?), and the Democratic 2007 American Majority Partnership Summit? It sounds too weird to be true, but it happened, this last weekend.

Activists, some elected officials, and Party leaders at county, state and national levels got together from August 23-25 in Las Vegas Nevada at the Paris/Bally hotel to discuss how to get a Democratic President elected in 2008. Some Constituent groups (the greatest variety ever) or caucuses got together for the first time to have separate meetings and then to come together to create action plans. Women, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, LGBT, African Americans and Hispanic Americans had specific sessions during two separate days. The last day of the conference, all the caucuses came together to receive some directions the DNC felt we needed to have. At the end the various caucuses developed some high level ideas of what their specific action plans would be for the upcoming presidential elections.

The effort was worthwhile and except for some minor hiccups all went as planned. The DNC folks that put this together must feel good. After all, the momentum seems to be going in the direction of the Democratic Party nationwide: George W. continues to do everything right for the Democratic Party (even Gonzales resigned as AG on Friday, publicly announcing it Monday).

Some folks noted that not everything is honky dory: The YD’s or College Democrats were not officially here as a caucus (not good!). People with disabilities demanded to know why they didn’t have a caucus represented. Native Americans were not present. The not insignificant numbers of voters in Puerto Rico, and US Virgin Islands were not represented at the Summit (even though, their political preference according to polls is Democratic). There was no senior caucus, either (another important source of Democratic voters). So the big tent needs to get bigger. Maybe next time.

The three big ideas that the organizers wanted us to come away with are: 1) Get trained on Voter File and targeting voters 2)Develop a precinct system of grass roots in the next 255 days so we can reach one half of the entire country in 465 days when the elections will take place 3) Reach out not only to Democrats but to Independent and dis-affected Republicans. The ideas are great. The intention to contact voters is exactly what needs to get done. What I find difficult to believe is that this kind of organizing can be done effectively in this short amount of time.

What they told us is that success is not assured and that voters need to be contacted repeatedly because continual communication (at least 7 times before the election) was the most effective way to convince voters.

I am not a politician, and I haven’t done political grassroots ever.

I have for the last 35 years helped develop delivery systems for commercial products to all mom and pop stores in a specific geography, as well as large supermarkets, and discount merchandisers. I have pounded the pavements for many years. I know how important it is to have training, to have data systems that are kept up to date and are usable by many different type of users in a de-centralized fashion. I also know how important it is to motivate these folks to get the very specific tasks associated with the delivery And the turn- over in sales delivery persons is very high (sometimes upwards of 50% per year). Commercial products are easy to identify, and what you get is easy to quantify. Imagine how hard it is to do the same for a less tangible product called a presidential candidate, to get a result you are not privy by law to know and with folks who are volunteers.

Our trainers told us that there were probably going to be a lot of county parties that will not want to do this. It didn’t matter, they said. The DNC would do this anyway.

This didn’t sound very democratic to me. The DNC’s heart is in the right place. I like the 50 state strategy. I like the idea of building a precinct system, of a workable voter file, of reaching out to folks other than Democrats. I think that by putting very aggressive goals without enough resources (like incentives, training, and a commitment from State Parties) we are setting us up for failure. A Democratic “No Voter left Behind”----Yikes!

All this sounds like gambling and fancy glitter that should be reined in and an American Majority Partnership that needs to expand.

~WOW, thanks for the update Virgilio.
Mr Perez Pascoe can be reached at vpepascoe (at) adelphia.net

Comments (3)

Kyle Bailey

I want to clarify a few points:

Caucus within the Democratic Party are for historically under represented communities that have faced - and continue to face - discrimination.

Under the DNC Rules & Bylaws, those communities include the AAPI, African American, Hispanic, Native American, Womens, LGBT and disability communities.

Virgilio is correct that the disability community was left out entirely, and that within the DNC no Native American Caucus exists. However, both communities were present at the Summit, and the Native American Caucus is currently being formed.

Governor Dean was elected to lead our Party, knowing full well that his intentions were to build a grassroots movement of Democrats, modeling his presidential campaign and Democracy for America.

The DNC is providing the tools, training, and leadership to elect Democrats, and is working with state parties to perfect our voter file, and to organize Democrats within their communities to educate and mobilize their neighbors to elect Democrats to public office.

In order to elect a Democrat to the White House in 2008, the DNC knows that this strategy of neighbor-to-neighbor contact must take place - with or without the support of state and local party organizations.

VoteBuilder - the program that allows you to use the power of the Internet to target your neighbors and get Democrats elected - is an amazing tool.

Please contact Pat Pullar at the DPG if you are willing to participate in this program and organize for your Party on a neighbor-to-neighbor basis.

Pat Pullar
404-870-8201

Posted by Kyle Bailey | August 28, 2007 11:06 AM

Posted on August 28, 2007 11:06

JerryT

Not sure why the YD's should need a caucus, they are already an officially recognized group within the Party.

I'm also not sure what those other potential caucuses are complaining about. If they want to be a caucus, all they need to do is get organized. What do they want the DNC to do?

Posted by JerryT | August 28, 2007 12:03 PM

Posted on August 28, 2007 12:03

To update the information on who to contact:

DPG FIELD DEPARTMENT:
Mike Cantone
Anne Bartoletti
Pat Pullar

678-278-2008

Posted by Kyle Bailey | August 29, 2007 11:23 AM

Posted on August 29, 2007 11:23