Hello, fellow Democrats! I'm part of a group called Frederick Blue. We're a group of (currently) nine people in
Frederick County, Maryland building a communications infrastructure for the local Democratic Party. It's the first phase of our plan to turn our "red" county "blue" in 5-10 years.
Frederick County is currently solidly, but not overwhelmingly, Republican. It's a red enclave in a blue state, and looks like Maryland and the nation in microcosm. It's got a medium-sized city in the middle, suburbs scattered throughout, and a large part of it is still rural. Reflecting its German heritage (Bavarian farmers settled this area in the mid-1700s), Frederick County is generally conservative, but not right-wing.
However, right-wing candidates here have begun using the Southern GOP playbook (raise lots of Bible Belt and Big Business money, then foist trumped-up social issues on voters) to oust mainstream Republicans in primaries. Then they go after Dems in general elections.
Disgusted by what Republicans are doing nationally, alarmed by what GOP candidates are doing locally, and frustrated with our own party's limp response, we nine members of Frederick Blue got together to turn things around, starting at the local level. The group includes a Web server administrator, an entrepreneur, a pastry chef, a software engineer, and a couple of ex-military folks.
First, we drafted a plan to create a new Web site for the county Party, and new systems to help local Dems communicate and organize: listservs, online bulletin boards, a member database, the works. The plan also calls for launching a political news/opinion online newspaper centered on the County -- the Frederick Blueprint.
This communications infrastructure will be the foundation upon which we'll build a powerful Democratic organization in the County. Within five years, we want to see a couple of thousand dues-paying members, organized down to the block level, spreading the good word about Democratic principles, and working to get our candidates elected.
Once everything is operational (we're aiming for a May rollout), we'll make the tools, techniques, and templates that we develop available free to any Democrat who wants them. We'd love to see other local Democratic groups use them!
Frederick Blue is not some sort of rebel-alternative Democratic offshoot. We welcome the engagement of "establishment" Democrats, and welcome any support we can get from the state and national parties. In the long run, we expect to integrate this with the DNC's contest-every-seat strategy, but we're not waiting for the DNC--there are some big elections in Maryland this year.
We've taken many paths to arrive at our organization. I was involved with the Howard Dean campaign around these parts (which was my first-ever direct involvement in any political effort); eventually I worked with Frederick for Kerry, where our little network got bigger. We've got a couple of people who've been involved in local Frederick politics for a long time, and a few newcomers to the scene. We all share the same goal -- bringing our nation back to sanity by acting locally. George W. Bush has made activists of us all.
Some of us got involved in last year's Frederick City election, supporting the mayoral and aldermanic campiagns. The results were a mixed bag; though the Dems failed to hold onto the mayorship (it's a complicated story; suffice it to say that the Dem incumbent got defeated in the primary by a former mayor, which scrambled the equation), we were able to gain a 3-2 Democratic majority on the Board of Aldermen.
Reading Crashing the Gate, I was struck by the parallels between the netroots' leaders' struggle to get through to a sclerotic national Democratic Party and our own efforts to get heard by the local Democratic powers-that-be. That said, most of the local Democratic "elders" are supportive of our project; they're going to give us a chance to show them.
And show them we will. We have fundraising going now full-throttle, the fruits of which will be primarily invested in local publicity. We are developing a strong, muscular website that will be the talk of the Frederick online community. Our blog, the Blueprint, has recruited eight writers and counting. We've even got a logo!
We are busily approaching and meeting with donors for the project, and have identified a number of high-level and grassroots-level potential financial supporters. We're arranging face-to-face meetings as well as mail solicitations. We don't need a prohibitive amount of money to get this effort off the ground, so we're simply concentrating on presenting a convincing case. We've already won over several members of our local Central Committee.
As mentioned, we will also be undertaking a local media campaign to publicize our new website and the Blueprint. We're planning on establishing a presence in local newspapers, TV, and talk radio. We've developed some print ads that are all but guaranteed to draw some attention -- suffice it to say that the ads project strength, and aren't lacking for attitude. Stay tuned -- we are not your father's Democratic Party. (But we might be your grandfather's!) The publicity campaign will start going full swing in a couple of weeks.
The website itself has gone beyond the design phase and now we're working on content. This is going to be the spiffiest political-party site in the state. We're on the move!
Frederick Blue will be presenting an update of its effort to the United Democrats of Frederick County on April 3rd. If you're in the area, don't hesitate to come on down to see what we're all about.
Think nationally, act locally!
Thank you for reading. This is my first foray into Kos -- I've posted on this in a few other places already, so some of you might be familiar with this effort. I'll keep you all posted -- the idea is for this effort to be replicated by any local Democratic organization that sees value in it.
Best regards,
Tony Soltero,
Citizen, Patriot, and Proud Democrat,
New Market, Maryland.