NETROOTS (that would be us) Challenge DEMS' (them) Electoral Strategy

[FrenchieCat]

Good News! cause from here, it looks like the Netroots are really winning in the attempt of getting some of our democracy back...

Dean's 50 state plan is going full force....and the Netroots has been actually a leader in selecting candidates that "fit" into districts that we needed to win, but the establishment was not interested in. Folks like Web, Massa, Fawcett and others may end up in congress because of us, not because of the establishment.

We need to continue to do this, and then tell the establishment to play on our terms, or get out of the damn game. This article talks about a division of labor...which could make sense, maybe.

But this is good, cause it shows that those on the net are making ourselves heard...which is what democracy is supposed to be about anyways........multiple voices! :thumbsup:

Now if we could figure out a way to get rid of the Punditocracy on the Teevee and in publications and their yada yada yada! Suggestions on that hard nut?

Netroots Challenge Dems' Electoral Strategy

The Mark Foley scandal has given Democrats a huge edge in the midterm elections--almost twenty points in recent national polls--but can they turn it into a Congressional majority? Several long-shot House challengers are now viable, but they are in the very districts that have been neglected by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), which focuses on a short list of races with better odds. The committee's targeted strategy could lead to a missed opportunity for Democrats--a fate that progressive bloggers have been warning against for years.
SNIP
Unlike in 2004 Democratic Party leaders now say they listen to the netroots. Bloggers have a seat at the table--including the table in Bill Clinton's Harlem office, where bloggers from MyDD, Firedoglake, AmericaBlog and Daily Kos gathered last month to talk politics with the former President. And now the Foley scandal can test the payoff--or limitations--of their strategy.
SNIP
Last week the DCCC finally jumped in to help one of the netroots' favorite candidates, Jay Fawcett, in his long-shot bid to seize a House seat from a retiring Republican in a bright-red patch of Southern Colorado. Fawcett was added to the committee's official Emerging Races list, providing financial and strategic support in the homestretch. (Neither the DCCC nor the campaign publicized the specific amount.) Colorado's 5th Congressional District is filled with the kind of conservative religious and military voters that the GOP covets. The district is home to five military bases and the national headquarters of Focus on the Family, the influential evangelical organization headed by Dr. James Dobson, a radio host and activist with close ties to the GOP. The district re-elected President Bush by 66 percent, and it has not elected a Democrat since it was created in 1972. Yet once the Foley news sunk in this month, a Denver Post poll found Fawcett had pulled even in the race against Republican Doug Lamborn.
SNIP
If Democrats like Fawcett can pull off upsets in Republican districts--Jerry McNerney in California, Eric Massa in New York and Larry Kissell in North Carolina are netroots candidates currently outperforming in similar races--or make incremental progress, it will demonstrate the national strategy's utility. But such progress would still not explain why the DCCC must be the entity to implement it.

If anything, the netroots activists' competitive advantage is their ability to discover and promote compelling candidates who differ from the hot races touted by the party (and the national media). If the netroots' support is effective, party leaders should not mimic the effort but complement it. There may actually be a logical division of labor lurking beneath the infighting: The DCCC prioritizes the most competitive races, while netroots activists pick up the slack by focusing on the long shots and the long term.
WAY, WAY MORE....
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20061030/melber