The discussions of local organizing on DKos suggest that maybe folks would be interested in some of our ideas in NC on building a strong and effective political organization.
Democrats in Action is a non-party organization that arose out of the 2004 elections and the energy brought into local politics by an influx of enthusiastic volunteers. In 2000 Gore beat Bush in Durham County by 54k to 30k votes. In 2004, even though Bush increased his vote total in the county by about 33% (from 30k to 40k), Kerry's total was 97k. So the Democratic margin in the county more than doubled, in spite of the fact that Kerry was often not as appealing a candidate for NC voters as Gore was.
This strong result was not enough to carry NC, but it illustrated the value of an intensive and well planned door-to-door canvassing effort. It also taught us several lessons.
1. Even in supposedly "strong" Democratic areas, there are plenty of new voters to be reached and lots of upside potential.
2. If you give people a lot of different ways to contribute, they will sort themselves into the jobs that make the most sense for them and offer what they can.
3. A net-based model for electoral politics work can be very effective in recruiting new volunteers and connecting them to existing organiations and activity centers.
4. People appreciate the personal touch and the "sweat equity" you bring to your work. But they are also suspicious of parties and politicians, feeling, with some justification, that the party shows up once every two or four years to ask for their vote, then disappears.
Democrats in Action was one of our responses to this situation. Tomorrow, I'll write more about what exactly DIA is and does. In the meantime, please take a look at our website --
www.triangledia.org --
and bring your questions and comments.