From the Jim Martin and Jim Powell parties tonight. I've never seen Park Tavern so packed. Election results here.
Good job to Team Martin and Team Powell, and to the hundreds of volunteers who came from all over the country to lend a hand for the runoff. We appreciate and thank you.
15 Responses to “A few party pics”
One more time, this time with street money!
Street money? How about just Mo' money? I think Martin was outspent perhaps 4-5:1 on ad buys alone. It was incredible. The radio ads were just amazingly vile & off the wall hysterical. The Chamber of Commerce alone must have dumped in a few spare million to hold us down. Yes, it works too, and scared the bejesus out of plenty of folks.
I was busy counting absentee ballots for much of the night. I can count the number of ballots that had the full 'slate' endorsement that I saw go by. Just incredible. We had over 4-500 calls go out in the last few days, but it was not enough to turn the tide.
But that's where I usually spend election night. In the hinterlands counting ballots and making sure the process is a fair one. I don't think I've been to an election eve party in years. May I live to see one before I retire to Canada, eh?
But Three cheers to both the Jim's for their heroic efforts & being such stand up & decent guys. I was proud of them both, and happy to work for the effort. Next time? We need some serious cash to degrade the oppo numbers well before the 'final push'. We Had the goods on Shameless, we just did not have the ready cash for the ad buys to make much of a difference. And of course that's just part of the picture.
I Still think we should have rid ourselves of the filibuster when we had the chance. Walked it to the edge and finally killed it off when we were in the minority. We might have saved the Supreme Court too from the worst sort of ideologues ever put there. Perhaps more than a few souls and soldiers saved as well. I say with 95 filibusters in the last term (about one every other day when in session), we need to rid ourselves of such idiocy & obstructionism. And I think that will be an ongoing battle for the first few years of the new administration, if we're unlucky. So I say pull the trigger early and get rid of it. And be willing to face the consequences. I'm just sick to death of all this Washington BS and all the damn excuses for doing nothing while Rome burns. Make Shameless Irrelevant NOW! Early! Cheers, JMP
Not a good night all around. A great voice for freedom has been silenced. But even she had to travel first to the West Coast & then North before she could be heard & appreciated by the masses.
[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/03/odetta-voice-of-civil-rig_n_147955.html]
Odetta, Voice Of Civil Rights Movement, Dies At 77
"NEW YORK — Odetta, the folk singer with the powerful voice who moved audiences and influenced fellow musicians for a half-century, has died. She was 77.
Odetta died Tuesday of heart disease at Lenox Hill Hospital, said her manager of 12 years, Doug Yeager. She was admitted to the hospital with kidney failure about three weeks ago, he said".
She was just a stunning presence and a great artist, no matter where she was or what she was doing. We'll never see another like her in this life. In memorial, JMP
That Jack Smith is one handsome dude.
One (I think) positive note from the night is that I may be on DFI's board. Not exactly sure how to feel about that.
Ok, well that sucked. Could have been worse. I've been wanting to throw this out there. How about Judge Hatchett for Gov., or Senator, or the 7th Cong. district? If not Judge Hatchett, someone like her.
http://www.glendahatchett.com/
Two things have to happen, if we're going to win in this state. 1. A/A turnout has to reflect the general population. and 2. a multi media campaign directed at the counties just below the northern state lines and above the Florida state lines, non-partisan, carrying the liberal message. Government should care about it's citizens, and do something about it, invest money in education, new infrastructure products now such as wi-fi, and so on now which will pay us all off later. Doesn't have to be effective, only has to persuade 5 to 10 percent. My 2c
My point of view is, the old guard of the Georgia Dems has to go away and die. They don't motivate the new base of the Dems -- young people, racial minorities -- and they should maybe consider not jumping around party insiders like they did with Jim because he's one of the old boys and therefore had the best chance or whatever.
Alright a bit too harsh with the words die, I don't mean to be disrespectful. They've made great gains with things like HOPE for the state and should be admired. But they need to learn to let other people do things, too.
I remember Knight, Lanier, and Cardwell going around by themselves, making literally scores of stops around the state, motivating people with fresh ideas, getting large audiences. Then Martin comes in at the very end, whips of a ton of money from a trial lawyer base, runs TV commercials and wins on name recognition. That might win a Democratic Primary with its ultra-low turnout of partisan Dems, but it won't bring in new people. There is no Obama Effect there.
Here's where I have a problem with promoting Knight, Lanier, and Cardwell: They bombed. I was stunned that Knight, especially, only 25,667 votes STATEWIDE, or 5.2% of the total. Shoot, I was also stunned to see Micheal Meyer Von Bremen come in dead last for GA Court of Appeals in November.
Anyway, Lanier did worse with 4.0% of the vote. I think Cardwell only got 16% because of TV recognition. If crowds across GA were inspired by any of these guys, people would have voted for them, money or no money with Martin.
And honestly, I would not have voted for Vernon had he been our nominee. I would have gone Libertarian. We simply do not have a bench. We have what's left of the old guard and then a huge gap to the new generation of minorities and youth.
But it would also be a HUGE mistake to think the old guard is uniformly against making way for new blood and ideas. They are not. But like any political party, it's like herding cats to move forward. But moving forward we are.
I'm looking at this as a reality check. We still have a lot to do. God bless our candidates, and their staffs, and all the volunteers who did whatever they could. Today is a day for licking of wounds, tomorrow we strategize. There's nothing else to do. Big hugs to any of the folks who turned themselves inside out to try to carry statewide races thru a runoff against all the money in the world.
Thanks esp. to the button makers!
maddy
All three of those candidates attempted to bring new people out to the polls - the fact is that they didn't really succeed, Rand's endorsements notwithstanding. Let's not kid ourselves - no one in the race, unfortunately including Jim, could have gotten the Obama voters back out yesterday.
Ok enough belly aching for the moment. There's much more to come. And for damn good reasons too.
We happened to do the best we could given the circumstances. I think it may have well been the most expensive race in Ga. history. I would not be surprised to hear that Shameless/Forces of Evil spent about or in excess of $25 Million dollars to defeat a thoroughly decent and moderate Jim Martin. And what did All these sundry mobilized Forces of Darkness get for all their efforts? I'll tell you: Sen. Al Franken!
Yeah, no one saw it coming right? While they were fighting for their lives here in 'the heartland of Repug's' Up the Big Muddy, they're about to install the most reliable Liberal voice, well since Sen. Paul Wellstone. A fair trade? Perhaps. But certainly most folks here in Ga. would have preferred Jim. Our loss is their gain.
At the risk of making this a silly meme and overtaking the post here's some reasons I'm Proud to be a Ga. Democrat:(Forgive the length)
1.) The way the Jim's ran their campaigns. I don't think I've ever seen a finer flyer in Ga. as the one Jim Martin used with Obama on the left and him on the right, Running Proudly Together as a Team. Ditto for the back where he gladly and proudly listed ALL of the Ga. Democratic Slate of Congressional candidates. That alone was worth the price of admission. Just such an excellent piece and the best I've seen in perhaps decades. No, Really! Makes you Proud to know what can be done, and how we should do it. All Together as a Team.
And Jim Powell? Only the best qualified PSC candidate we've had in perhaps decades too, and the only one currently with any sort of relevant experience. This garnered him the extremely rare endorsement from Ex-Prez Jimmy Carter, who also knew a bit about conserving energy in a crisis too.
2.) I was proud to finally have our first office in about 16 years in my county. This due to the poor economy too, as the space could not be easily rented! I was proud and happy to see all the excitement and participation from volunteers and just citizens who came in and wanted to get involved. It was a place to gather and go to get things done, from Voter Registration to phone banking.
3.) I was proud that we had a space for the Obama Rep, and that they finally (and quickly) sent him off to PA. As I told everyone who'd listen, 'Ga.'s a 'gimme', nice to have but not in the original strategic plan. PA however was absolutely essential to have & Hold. It was ground that we could not afford to lose.'
4.) I was proud to be known well by one & all in my small county as The Democrat. And to have my car featured prominently on the local GOP website for just doing my job, checking on the polls.
5.) I am proud to be asked by all and sundry about my opinion on politics (of all kinds) wherever I go. I was also happy not to be asked by the local paper to do so on Tues night as I was busy counting absentee ballots elsewhere.
6.) I was proud to represent my party in my county to my county Voter Registrar, and being able to correct mistakes made in the process, quickly, effectively, personally and locally.
7.) I was proud and happy to make new friends and even Converts to Obama & our party. Every little bit helps & Everywhere I go I try to gain a few more souls for the cause.
8.) I was proud in having and knowing the right arguments to make, (especially the economic crisis ones), and how to answer the typical blather from the usual cast of 'talk radio' loud mouths and professional haters and propagandists that Do influence our politics more than we ever care to believe. This is not sufficient, but it's a good start, and is good for the soul too. Keeps everyone on their toes. It also told me to take most of what I had out of the market about 2 years ago too.
9.) I'm happy and proud to see & participate in some of the most extensive voter outreach & contact efforts I've ever been involved with on a professional basis. I wished it would have helped more, but we still did good with it.
10.) I'm happy in knowing that Freedom & Liberation has arrived on this Continent, despite not being able to quite see or taste it for ourselves just yet. I'm Proud to know that Without a Doubt we are now the New Vanguard of the coming wave of Democratic Success. That may take some time yet, but we're all pathfinders now.
Every Democratic Leader in this state should have a Realistic Executable Plan to achieve Victory in a given time frame of 5-10 years. It's going to take More and Better Organization. More Involvement from All Parties. Better and Larger Coalitions and the building of same. Doing more & better with Less resources, and/or what we've got. That's essential. There are no alternatives. If we're not in it to win it, we're wasting too much time, energy & effort.
Just some thoughts. Cheers & Good Luck! JMP
The three Senate challengers I mentioned "bombed" because they didn't have martin's money or name rec in a democratic primary where ultra low turnout and the old guard base of the dems rules.
A general election is completely different. These guys excited all that saw them speak. It's unfortunate they didn't have a trial lawyer base to win them a primary first.
I voted for Jim Martin three times this year, but it'd be nice if he could give a speech that didn't put people to sleep.
Speaking just for me, J.M., I didn't mean for my 2c to be about belly aching. I thought we did pretty good, we've got something we can build on for the next election. I meant it in the spirit of how we can build on what was done right two years from now. Jim Martin may not have been the perfect candidate, but how many of them are there, I thought he was good enough though.
I realized on Tuesday night that since July 2006, I have voted for Jim Martin SEVEN times:
1) Lt. Gov primary
2) Lt. Gov run-off
3) 2006 General
4) Senate Primary
5) Senate Primary Run-off
6) 2008 General
7) General run-off
And I'd gladly do it again.