Heartwarming story of the 50 State plan at work in a NJ local race. From the ground up.

[madfloridian]

I love stories like this. It is so easy to get discouraged, but then we hear things like this. The change is going on, but we may not hear it on a national news level.

I love this story.

50 State strategy kicks ass in Flemington, NJ

Tonight, in my tiny town of Flemington, New Jersey, Mark Legato (D) beat out Julie Luster (R) for a contested Borough Council seat Legato won in November by just one vote and Luster has contested ever since. We won by 30 votes tonight.
Our secret weapons were two young women in sneakers and blue jeans who pounded out our GOTV program over a sleepless two days in the inadequately-heated Hunterdon County Dem HQ. It was more efficient, more productive and frankly, one hell of a lot more fun than anything we have ever done. The Republicans didn't know what hit them. And it drove the win.

One of the fundamentals of Gov. Howard Dean's 50-State Strategy is Show up everywhere. And that doesn't mean just mayor's races in Salt Lake City, state contests in Alaska or gaining ground in the Show-Me State. For this to work it also has to mean that we concede no vote even in the most crimson portions of very blue states. Places like Hunterdon County. 50-State Strategy = 21-County Strategy.

So here's the thing: Next time you hear some self-serving dinosaur like James Carville spin bullshit about replacing Howard Dean as DNC Chair, remember the paradigm shift Dean presides over. Money lifts from the hands of Beltway consultants, and pays for organizers like Mary Campbell and Colleen Montgomery who fan out and help generate victories powered by us. Boom. Out of those victories emerge better government and better direction.

I have noticed something since the election. Our state party is sending our a lot more emails, trying to get the people involved. They even listed a DFA training in Tampa this month. I appreciated that a lot. It all works together. I see a different attitude in many ways.

[illinoisprogressive]

1. I believe Howard Dean saved our party from the DLC and extinction.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

2. Would be nice if...

Something like this was happening just north of Hunterdon, in Warren County. But it isn't. The Dems here are completely and actively moribund(it is their strategy), more interested in carving up the potential financial/development pie in Phillipsburg NJ, getting jobs on the Bridge Commission, and making "accommodations" with the repukes so they can do what they want in Phillipsburg. The rest of the county is left to go scratch.

Oh, the smell around here is so familiar. It is the smell of rot, like the kind one might have found in Denmark, at one time.

[Peace Patriot]

3. "The change is going on, but we may not hear it on a national news level."

The change is going on, and you can BE SURE we won't hear about it on the national "news" level. It is exactly the kind of change--grass roots organizing--that the war profiteering corporate news monopolies have done everything in their power to snuff out in our society and to prevent from ever developing again. They want us to be totally dependent on them not just for what we want (consumer products), and not just for entertainment, but for their crafted delusion of "our" political life as a bit of soundbite swaggering and three-sentence shouting matches by people whom we don't know and whose opinions have been paid for.

Grass roots organization scares the bejeebers out of them, as does transparent vote counting.

Kudos to Howard Dean, and to Mary Campbell and Colleen Montgomery--and other grass roots organizers. With people like this, we can change the world!

I've been touting the three lessons I've gleaned from study of the awesome, leftists (majorityist) revolution that is sweeping South America, and they are:

1. Transparent vote counting.
2. Grass roots organization.
3. Think big.

With transparent vote counting and grass roots organization, we can think realistically of some day--not too far in the future--busting the corporate news monopolies, pulling the corporate charters of other bad actor corporations and seizing their assets for the public good, reducing the military budget to a true defensive posture (no more wars of choice!), and other big thoughts. They are not out of reach. If the South Americans can do it--with their history of brutal fascist rule--so can we. Virtually the entire continent of South America has gone "blue"--way "blue"-- where, not that long ago, leftist and peasants were thrown out airplanes for their politics, and thousands were tortured and murdered. Democracy is HAPPENING all over South (and also Central) America, based on those three precepts above. And also patience! Never give up! Never!

In 1964, 4% (two members) of Congress voted against the Vietnam war. In 2002, 25% of Congress voted against the Iraq war. And today, in 2007, 57% of the House voted as a first step toward defunding and ending the Iraq war. Never give up! And never let the war profiteering corporate news monopolies dictate what reality is, or what you and I can or can't do, as the sovereign people of the United States.

[no_hypocrisy]

4. Having worked on a local council campaign too, I have noted that money

does not necessarily win elections. It's one-to-one with the electorate, one vote at a time. My candidate and I approached people shopping on the street and at the supermarket, at the commuter train station and just talked and listened. We asked for their vote without being obsequeous. We even advised the voter to approach our opponent and compare our platforms. We never criticized personally and only challenged the prior decisions and the results.

Out of 10 candidates, there were three council seats. One of our two candidates won by seven votes.

Yes, grassroots, sufficient time invested, and knowledge of the issues and your candidate make a viable candidacy.