My definitive (a cute word for LOOONNNGG) diary yesterday in support of Rep. Kendrick Meek for the 2010 open US Senate seat from Florida drew some important responses from supporters of State Senator Dan Gelber, who has said he intends to also enter the contest.
I have recently joined Facebook and that experience has started me thinking a lot about the need to give up our anonymity and come out of the internet closet. What is VERY clear to me is that in terms of candidate advocacy here on DKos it is critical.
Now I know that anonymity has its place, I understand whistleblowing, etc. But in terms of candidate advocacy we always have to wonder about purity of motive. Therefore, please know that my name is Michael Murphree and you can learn more about me by searching Facebook using the email address floridanetroots (AT) yahoo (DOT) com.
Rather than write a whole new diary about Meek vs. Gelber, I'm just going to pull some of the comments from my previous diary (which BTW is very much worth reading if you live in Florida.) But, hey, they're great comments.
First, the name of my original diary that these comments came from was Blessed Are The Meek (FL-Sen).
Yes, I know, totally over-the-top, but, hey, this is advocacy. And I love the metaphoric implication that comes from the automatic completion of that phrase by readers who are biblically literate enough to know the Beatitudes ("Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth"). Amen to that! (Give me a break, my wife's a Quaker).
The following is an exchange betwee me and the blogger consdem.
First consdem:
Why Gelber plays on I4...
First of all, the comparison of Gelber to Edwards and Meek to Obama makes no sense. Edwards was a trial lawyer who had no business running for the Presidency, while Gelber has a long record of public service. Moreover, comparing Meek to Obama is ironic, given that Meek was one of the last Clinton hold-outs, and a google search finds little or no mention of trying to help Obama win in November. It is hard to bring people together if you only represent one side.
But, back to the point...In addition to being the leading voice of Democrats in Tallahassee, he has a record of working to get things done. Furthermore, his record fighting civil rights injustices and public corruption will be very appealing up and down I-4.
My response:
You need to respond to the list
of things I posted in the diary.
Gelber cannot deliver on any of them. This is not about a laundry list of positions. That is SOOO old paradigm and is why Democrats lost elections for decades.
If we want to build the party in the state and SWEEP the five statewide races AND get Redisricting Reform passed, WE NEED THE NEW PARADIGM!
Join Facebook and give up your anonymity and come out of the internet closet.
THAT'S HOW WE'RE GOING TO WIN THIS. BY GROWING UP PAST THE ADOLESCENT IMMATURITY OF HIDING BEHIND A DKOS TAG!
Then thing got really interesting starting with this long comment from consdem:
Tally, I disagree with your basic premise
First, the premise of your entire argument is that you have to be black to win statewide. I just fundamentally disagree. Did Obama turn out more African-Americans than John Kerry: absolutely. Did he turn out more than, say Al Gore: absolutely not. To prove my point, look at the Gore spread in Duval County before 18,000 votes were taken away. More to the point, I think that even the Obama leadership in Florida, probably even Obama himself, would chuckle at the concept that he won because he was black.
No, Obama won because he was able to do two things. First and yes, he did motivate African Americans to vote in higher proportions than the last election (as he did generally with Democrats), but secondly, if not more importantly, he also convinced swing white vote on I-4 that he had a common sense plan to get the economy growing again and that his life story had far more in common with them than John McCain (or John Kerry). Gelber has a life story that will play well here. If you don't know it, go read it at dangelber.com
But beyond this, one reason why Dan Gelber will be able to inspire the Obama grassroots network over time is the simple reality: he actually significantly helped Barack Obama. This is not a trivial fact. Not only did Meek work very hard until the last moment for Clinton, he also refused to support fellow Democrats running for Congress---Democrats who were Hispanic no less, a key subgroup in a general election. These are not facts people forget.
As for Dan's ability to win African American voters, beyond his record of prosecuting civil rights violations as a federal prosecutor, but he offers a vision that is far more in line with the values of mainstream Democratic voters than Marco Rubio, Bill McCollum, etc. etc. You have to separate the question of who can win a primary and who can win a general. Furthermore, don't doubt for two seconds that Barack Obama himself won't help whoever wins this primary.
As for North Florida, sure I think Gelber will do well---or at least as well as Democrats who won statewide. Remember, Gelber is a guy who grew up in North Florida and who worked for Sam Nunn, who surely will help him, and who probably has no worse name ID than Boyd does after 30 years of advertising in Jacksonville, Gainesville and Tallahassee in order to reach south GA voters.
As for name ID, none of them have meaningful name ID right now, and with the election 22 months away, that is just fine. There is plenty of time to raise money, travel the state and advertise a message. Further, we can all agree that either Gelber or Meek (I personally like Meek, I just like Dan better) or Boyd or Klein (or Sink if she had run) are far better than anyone the R's will put up---which leads me to my last point:
Tally: all i am doing is fighting for my guy, just like you are, so please keep the invectives to a minimum (adolescent, etc.). Just because I and many others don't agree with you about Kendrick Meek doesn't mean we don't embrace a new politics, or that we are childish, or that we don't know what we are talking about.
With that, let the games begin.
Which led to another long response from me:
Well put,
but, are you on FB and if not, why not.
There are legitimate issues that you raise here and I would like to address them in a more substantive manner. You have to understand that I'm writing rhetorically usually and purposely trying to evoke emotions.
If you want we can have a much more academic exchange. I would love that. I don't think you quite understand some of my points, especially the ones I brought up in the quote I took from my FB response to my friend, ie, incorporating marginal groups into the body politic, etc.
But, if we're going to [be] having this exchange, I WANT TO KNOW WHO I'M TALKING TO.
Every time I post here someone accuses me of working for Meek and having ulterior motives. Well, if you go to FB you will know my name is Michael Murphree and I really am just an old guy who happens to have a certain gift for gab and enjoys politics. I sure as Hell don't work for any politician nor am I a mouthpiece for anyone.
I have to know the same is true of you. How do I know if YOUR motives are pure regarding Gelber. I'm sure Gelber is a nice man and I'm sure Meek has human faults. Neither of those ultimately matters. Again, like Andrew Sullivan pointed out in 2007 (go back and click the link, read the article, we'll talk about it) it is THE CANDIDACY that matters, NOT THE CANDIDATE.
Again, that appears to be something people aren't getting. You need to explain to me how a Gelber candidacy is better than a Meek candidacy in terms of the issues I discussed.
Now, I never said that Meek would energize the Obama network because he supported Obama early, that's stupid. I said that he would energize the Obama network by being THE FIRST BLACK SENATOR FROM FLORIDA. Again, click on the link, read Nate Silver's piece from FiveThirtyEight.com on this issue.
The fact that Meek is undeniably a Hillary supporter gives him the street creds to HEAL THE WOUNDS BETWEEN HER SUPPORTERS AND THE OBAMA SUPPORTERS. Are you beginning to get it now? Do you see the differences I'm talking about? The power of his candidacy?
Now Beth Reinhard [a Miami Herald politcal journalist who contributes to their on-line blog] posted a piece bringing up the "arrogance" issue. I was just discussing this on FB with Lee Nelson, another Dkos blogger. This is what I said about the issue:
Since I don't know Meek personally, I have no ideas about this. I don't know if it is legitimate or residual racism on the part of the white people involved (unconsciously thinking he's being "uppity"). So, again, I have to make judgments based on MY experience. I don't know about you, but I have NEVER had a big time politician's staff say they were reading my blogs and then DEMONSTRATE to me that they were actually USING what I had suggested. I mean Lee, THAT is flabbergasting. All I get is cynical politicians trying to friend me on facebook for THEIR OWN BENEFIT.
I hope this is helpful. Please come on FB and let's talk more.
Now, if you live in Florida, the content of the discussion concerning Meek vs. Gelber is important. But, no matter where you live, the issue of anonymity and advocacy is important. It is a very real issue that would be good to address here at DKos.
And if someone would like to steal this idea and write a recommended diary on it, be my guest. I have more material than I know what to do with.
Have Fun.