There's been alot of discussion of who should run the DNC here.....including a solid pitch for Howard Dean.
I like that idea, with reservations. Dean is the kind of fresh voiced messenger we need to send....and his hunger for reform coincides with my own views.
However, his personality and managerial skills are more visionary CEO than company President with an eye on the bottom line and battleground encroachments from the competition....so...here's my two main arguments for where the DNC should go next...defining the job and, more importantly the task at hand....
Number one:
the Job
The DNC should consider having co-chairs for this term, with a strong executive board behind them.
Since we're fighting a dual war that we can't afford to lose...we need to give everyone a stake in the battle, and draw on every talent available to us. I would say that Howard Dean as the front man...the CEO...the brand maker in collaboration with a nuts and bolts President (Donna Brazile?) would make for a powerful one-two punch.
Put a board behind them that draws on the deep pool of talent that we have that is out of office....too many names to count, really....and you've got a team that is up to the job of...
- staking out our new message
- fighting the trench warfare battles of an opposition party
- building the framework for winning back legislative majorities
Co-chairs, one visionary, one nuts and bolts, with a new board committed to raising money and reinventing the Party, in my view, is our best bet. What we've got right now hasn't worked...and we need to send a powerful new message and a signal that it is not business as usual for the Democrats, not this time.
Number two: Drawing a new Map
This is our number one task. This is how we reform and reinvent our Party and win back legislative majorities in the States and in Washington.
What the DNC needs to do, right now...is get out in the field...in particular to the more populated red/purple zones of this country, and ask two questions with an open mind:
- what are folks issues
- who do they respect as leaders in their communities and why
These are the two questions that will lay the groundwork of us taking back legislative power in this country. We need to know the issues turf better than our opponents...and we need to know
who folks like and
why they like 'em. It's that simple. Local issues, local faces....boots on the ground attention to what folks are talking about...be they local newspaper editors, business leaders, union reps, or the person working the register at Wal-Mart...or a nurse working the late shift.
We need to have a NEW national map... a national database with the results of this research. We need to have it broken down...and focus grouped and polled...so that we KNOW what's on people's minds and who they might like to vote into office.
One of my problems with just letting Howard run with this alone....is that I don't think he did a good job of either of these two things in picking his candidates. We did the same thing with our contributions. We tried to put OUR values out there, to impose them, rather than working from where people are at and building up.
In many ways, we need to face it that we didn't listen enough....and if we had listened, yes, we would have learned that the country was running way more culturally red than any of us would have liked. But we also might have learned the local issues, the other concerns that might give us an way back to the kitchen table with these folks.
And I am talking, literally about sitting down at the kitchen table with America and talking turkey. I am talking about a field team of seasoned, mature Democratic organizers going out and talking to folks...saying..."Hi, I'm from the Democratic Party....have you got a sec....??" And then listening, noting and following that information up with research and surveys and more ground operations.
And I'm not talking about sticking to our home turf. I'm talking about going directly into heavily populated "red/purple zones" that we have a chance to win some support in....zones we have to win support in if we are going to start to win back legislative majorities in this country:
- the zone from Lexington, KY up through Cincinnati, Dayton OH and South Bend, IN
- the I-4 corridor in Florida and stetching down to Ft. Meyers
- the Central Valley of California from Bakersfield to Stockon
- Eastern Tennessee down into the suburbs of Atlanta
- that wide swath of red from Dallas through Tulsa and into Springfield, MO
- South Central Pennsylvania Eastward from Harrisburg and York up to Allentown and Wilkes-Barre
- the suburban Philadelphia-NewYork corridor through New Jersey
- Winston Salem and Raleigh NC..and up to Richmond, Norfolk and Lexington VA
- Phoenix
- Central Colorado
- Green Bay south and west
- the northern suburbs of the Twin Cities and St. Cloud
- Omaha and Lincoln NE and western Iowa
I think you get the point. We need to know what folks are thinking about local issues everywhere...but especially in zones that we seem to have just conceded the whole ball game in the past. We just can' t do that anymore.....and we need to be ready to field candidates who:
- talk about the local issues that are important to folks
- have the respect of their community and we know it.
I personally find the soul searching going on to be wonderful...but am quite dubious of it if all that means is that folks sit on their ass doing the same old, same old and impose their new theory on folks from inside the beltway. That just won't work anymore.
We need to know what folks are thinking....not simply because what they think is important...but because...gulp...they were sending us a message with this last election. And the message was....if you don't give us attention on local issues, then we'll vote on likeability and moral values The best way to defend our core values and issues is to actually understand the terrain of battle: and that is local issues and local leaders.
This was Howard's dream....and perhaps he should head that fight. But only if he is willing to listen. To be honest, he has yet to prove that to me. But, from this kid's point of view...I'd just like to say:
Howard and the DNC, if you can hear this....
I am all ears.