A description of what my problem is, how I believe it hampers the greater Democratic Party cause, and an appeal for advice on how to proceed follows....
I live in northwest Georgia in a small, rural "bedroom" county. When I say small, I mean it...total population around 17,000 people. We're in the southern part of the Appalachian mountain chain.
Its been fun this year campaigning for Obama here in north Georgia, but its also been very frustrating at times. As a Fellow for the campaign, I made contact with quite a few people across north Georgia, including different local Democratic committees. While I've never encountered outright opposition to Obama from these people, I know some of them have not been for him, and the committees as a whole have not been extremely helpful in boosting the campaign. (With a few exceptions.)
As a result, our efforts here in north Georgia have been sporadic and completely volunteer driven. (We did have campaign workers here for awhile, and they did a great job before being moved elsewhere, but they were running into the same difficulties I'm describing.)
Why are the frustrations of organizing in rural America important to the party as a whole?
Local county parties provide the slate of candidates for local elections, as well as state congressional races. Having a healthy local party helps raise more prospects for running for local offices, which can help bring more voters out who are sympathetic to the national ticket.
Having healthy local committees raises money for local campaigns, they hold regular meetings, they are much more receptive to providing assistance to the national campaign (effective assistance), they have a local office for use, at least some volunteers to draw from for support, and so forth.
There are a number of areas across the U.S., I suspect, that are like my little county. Places where the Democratic Party has almost ceased to exist.
This could very well be a landslide year for Obama and the Party. But it won't be as large a landslide as it could be (if it is), because there are so many places across the country like my county, where the fight uphill is so steep it can't be surmounted in one election cycle.
I'm not on the local committee. This is the first campaign I've ever been a part of, actually. While I want to work with the local Democrats (now and in the future), what I'm seeing just isn't motivating me toward doing that.
So, dear DKos readers (especially you who have experience in this), how can I, your humble narrator, begin the process of rebuilding the local party, without getting into snitty little turf battles with the existing, more or less moribound, committee over control?
What are some ways to effectively increase interest? Raise funds?
I hope some of you can help, and recommend this diary so many others will get a chance to read it.
The Democratic Party needs to become a truly national party again, and that means becoming active and vigorous, even in little Appalachian counties like mine.
Thanks from north GA!