First off, if you've never worked on a campaign ... you must. There's simply no way of really understanding some things about politics without experiencing it. We on the outside tend to over-estimate things like messaging and media and under-estimate the sheer inertia of politics in the form of organization and incumbency.
But, after living a campaign against an incumbent for months, let me tell you: what happened this week was truly historic.
Taking over Congress was a bigger feat than I really would've known ... so below the flip, I'll give you a perspective of a net-roots guy who suddenly found himself inside. And tell you why the 50 state strategy works (and why the DNC is only the tip of that), and, btw, update you on Kossack Kandidate DrBob ...
I'm a netroots guy (and a filmmaker) who finally had enough. I volunteered for my local Congressional candidate, did a little work in early summer, took a staff job as Internet and Media Advisor in August, took more responsibility seemingly every week, and finally ended as the General Consultant of the campaign. I worked for Dr. Bob Johnson in New York's 23rd District.
I was under no illusions about the race; I knew it was an extreme long-shot. But, what the hell? It was a Democratic year, especially in New York, and the incumbent (John McHugh) really doesn't inspire any kind of strong support. And Bob's a great guy ...
It's a truism in political discourse: it's tough to beat an incumbent. But I don't think you can really feel the incredible inertia in politics unless you experience it first-hand. We were on the right side of almost every issue to the district, our ads and messaging were both superior to McHugh's, we had energy among the volunteers, we built up some great last-minute support from all of you guys in the net-roots ... and we got blasted by just over 20 points. The support from the net-roots and our messaging managed to create a real campaign and shrink the gap from the last run by over 20 points points, but ...
Organization is key. I arrived too late to be there for the building, but by October I was dealing with ours and seeing McHugh's. And, most of all, I was seeing the county committees that form the real bedrock of politics, especially in NY. These are things that just don't get built up in a year; they are the products of slow processes of personal connections integrating a political committee into every-day life. A political campaign can't recreate that, it can only tap into it and harness it. It's a symbiotic thing: without strong campaigns the committees wither away, and without strong committees a campaign can't gain traction. You need to commit to building this from the ground up. And I'm sure every one of you is thinking "50 State Strategy" right now.
It's true. This is what the strategy is all about, building up these committees and running candidates in every race to give those committees direction and purpose. But here's the thing: the 50 State Strategy is a state of mind as much as it is a strategy from the DNC. In a way, Paul Begala and the rest of the skeptics had a point, or at least they would've in the political world in which they cut their teeth. Dean's DNC could never pull off the plan by itself.
Take our race. We didn't get much of anything from the national Democrats. Not a dime of money, just a few hours of research from the DCCC folks (very nice and helpful, btw), an endorsement from Chuck Schumer (which was mostly because of hundreds of calls from the net-roots), and an event with the Big Dog. That's it. But what we had were a bunch of people committed to making McHugh earn his seat, starting with DrBob. What we had was a determination by the people in the district that no seat should go unchallenged, that we all deserve a debate. Our "challenge and build everywhere" attitude came from the bottom up, not from the DNC down. And, the end result notwithstanding, it worked.
We energized a lot of people to get in touch with their committees that never would have otherwise. We forced McHugh to spend his money in the district rather than send it to other Republicans, as he usually does. And, perhaps most of all, we created a sense of the Democratic Party as a locally relevant entity (one major paper in our district called our campaign "the best Democratic campaign in this district in over 100 years" ... and they weren't being hyperbolic).
But, like I said, all of this takes a long time to grow into a real political force, and it still needs a perfect storm to beat an entrenched incumbent (a top-flight candidate running a great campaign in a wave environment like Carol Shea-Porter, or a large mistake by the incumbent like Curt Weldon or John Sweeney). It's an enormous undertaking, requiring huge resource expenditures to take down an incumbent. And that's especially true on the local level, where the disparities in organizational strength can often be huge. Which is why this week was so important. All of these factors are now working for the Democrats. It's like a big protective wrap was just placed around the 50 State Strategy.
It doesn't matter all that much what the reasons were for the change in the House. Again, the media is focused on messaging and platforms and all that. And they're all great and important in their way, especially for Senate and Presidential races.
But when it comes to the House, the inertia in our political life is now favoring the Democrats. And by a good margin. Democrats are now the incumbents in so many places, being very hard to dislodge. Incumbents can build organizations, and it's in their selfish interest to do so. The long-term prospects of the Democratic Party took an enormous leap this week, and I don't think the pundits (most of whom have never worked a race) really understand why. It's like a huge shot-in-the-arm to the 50 State Strategy, while buffering the Party from the winds of politics in the meantime.
And, of course, you can't forget money. We got outspent over the last two months 20-1. But ... that happens. We still made an impact and didn't need that much more money to spread our message (another $75,000 would've done it). With organization and some netroots support, you can make a race of it anywhere. So, if Howard Dean can stay in his position long enough to truly change the culture of the DNC, and Democrats use the majority in the House properly, this will be the beginning of a major realignment of American politics.