I'm rarely pessimistic about elections, but today I took part (briefly) in the second big outreach event on behalf of Democratic party. It was hot, sticky, and worst of all, there was zero real outreach being done.
This stupid 6 in '06 thing is a total waste of time and effort. Why would you drag volunteers out to knock on empty doors in steaming heat on a Saturday when there's no real message to communicate in the first place. My 6 reasons the Democrats are going to lose in '06 are below the fold.
1.
The script was nonsensical and unfocused. I've done more doorknocks than I can remember, and I can't recall ever reading a more awkwardly phrased piece of garbage. Why, oh god, can't the Democrats hire someone who can turn a phrase to do scripts? It started off with an intro, which is fine, and then it sort of talked about how bad the GOP is, and then it devolved into asking what they felt was the most important issue. First of all, I think we all know what the important issues are already. And this brings me to
2. The Iraq war was totally absent. When we asked question #1 "what issue is most important to you", the Iraq War wasn't even on the list of issues we could write down as a response. Give me a fucking break! This is my party, and I'm ashamed that we are still not addressing this issue. I'm concerned about the direction George Bush is taking my country, but I'm not going to say the "I" word. Fucking pathetic.
3. Democrats use every warm body they can. This has got to change. Maybe in some areas this is necessary, but there are definitely some people who don't need to be out there representing the party. One person that I needed to drop a script off to was definitely mentally challenged. She wouldn't allow my wife and I to look in her apartment, she made us stand outside for five minutes, and then she accused us of not wanting to "walk with her", even though we'd been given separate turfs. I know we like volunteers, people, but some selective activity needs to take place when we do door knocks. There's no way this lady has ever convinced anyone to vote Democrat.
4. Message confusion. I had three different pieces of literature to drop off at homes. Who the fuck wants someone to drop off a library of materials at their door? Keep it short, simple and to the point. And make sure that real issues are addressed (see point two). I looked at the three pieces, and they easily could have been combined into one nice sheet.
5. The Primary system is totally broken. In Maryland, we're still more than a month away from having a Senate candidate. What could possibly be the advantage of this? And why hasn't it been addressed? It also meant that I had to use an anonymous figure in place of a real person, when talking about Michael Steele's opponent.
6. Some black voters are buying the Michael Steele/Black GOP thing. At least, the black voters I talked to today. This is because the Democrats have done bupkis for Blacks over the past 30 years. So they buy black GOP candidates who talk about gay marriage. You know why? Because they feel that most Democrats "Show up at my door every other year asking for my vote."
So there you have it. Am I without hope? No. But I have to tell you, it drove me absolutely batshit to be out there for no other reason than to spout off nonsensical sentances about how the Democrats care about the middle class when there's a goddamn war going on, there increasingly is no middle class, and people are looking for some bold answers.
I'm still going to vote, and I'm still going to volunteer, but this party has got to fucking change. Now.