Here's the headline:
SAN ANTONIO - U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar defeated former congressman Ciro Rodriguez early Wednesday in the Democratic primary in House District 28, riding phenomenal strength in his home county to avoid an April runoff election.
As I sit here reading that one bitter sentence, I'm letting it sink in. Not just thinking about what it says, but REALLY letting it get down into the marrow in my bones. . .letting it go to the deepest part of who I am. After a minute or two, I sigh like my little girl does when she's really tired. . .you know. . .the kind of sigh where when you draw the breath in you draw it in rapidly and in spurts, only to release it in a steady stream of air that finds your shoulders collapsing along with your chest.
This headline bothers me. . .REALLY bothers me. What's interesting is the reason it's got me in such a funk is not the obvious: that Ciro Rodriguez, a man with a vision, lost, or that Henry Cuellar, the man with a (D) at the end of his name but an (R) everywhere else, won. No, it's much deeper than that. What really has me rankled this evening is this one thought:
A man who PURPOSELY has made a serious effort to hug the President and sit on the Republican side of the aisle at the State of the Union Speech won the DEMOCRATIC primary for his seat.
What's going on here? I read the various diaries about the issue here, numerous websites elsewhere, with all the pundits throwing out analysis. But the loss, while sad, has left me feeling hollow and looking at a much larger picture. As Kos so eloquently put it, "The bottom line: we helped a campaign that was the walking dead and gave it new life, pumped in resources, and made it competitive. We did much to even the playing field even if ultimately we came up tantalizingly short."
We have become so obsessed with winning back control of the Congress, and with good reason. Checks, balances and oversight, by and large, are a thing of the past and in spite of scandal after scandal, Bush just keeps chugging along. The problem is, we've forgotten how to eat an elephant (how appropriate a metaphor!): One Bite At A Time!
The Republicans won in '94 by nationalizing the races. I'm not convinced that this is going to work for us. It is my belief that what we managed to do in TX-28 should serve as the blueprint for how we're going to make it happen this November and 2008. Let me explain.
Ciro is a good candidate with good ideas. Nobody here doubts that. What Ciro was missing wasn't message, but transportation. We began with an uphill battle and turned it into a footrace by getting back to grassroots strategies. Had this idea occured to us earlier, we might not be dealing with what could have been, but would be basking in victory. Ciro NEEDED people like the Kos faithful to do what we did for him. Think about it. . .by and large, the thing that made this a race at all was our focused push, not because of the party's involvement or lack thereof. With just basic, down-to-earth activisim, we made a race where there was none. Now that the race is over, it's time to eat the watermelon and spit out the seeds. . .take what worked and trash what didn't.
Here. . .let me show you. . .
In Missouri State district 138, the representative there is Sara Lampe. Sara's story is interesting because it mirrors what happened with Ciro, just on a smaller level. Sara was an educator for over 30 years in the district in which she lived. She took an active role in developing cutting-edge programs for gifted kids. . .a segment largely overlooked in most states. After retiring as the principal of the Phelps School Of The Gifted in Springfield, Missouri, she decided to run for public office. She had been active in lobbying at the state capitol for gifted education and as a result, she had an opportunity to watch the slow, grinding and deliberate pace in which good legislation was often stalled to death on a state level. She decided that she had a unique perspective on how things should be done and so, armed with her message, she went to the local Democratic party and announced that she wanted to be their candidate.
No.
The local party told her that they already had a candidate that they were backing and that while they appreciated her activisim, she need not apply. They made it clear that their priority and their money would be behind their already-established choice.
Undaunted, Sara decided that she had a message, but not a mechanism to get it out. So, she began to talk with some of the legislators she had the chance to work with for over 30 years.
No.
They informed her that while she was an excellent activist, they already had made their choice.
What to do?
Enter: Grass Roots.
She began to press the flesh with the common person. She shared her dreams with former students and parents with whom she had worked with for so many years. She made it a point to articulate that she really wanted to do something to help this community. She looked people in the eyes. She listened to their fears. She paid attention to their travail. In short, she went directly to the electorate. . .not the party. . .the people.
Underfunded by a nearly 8-1 margin compared to "the chosen one", she had enough money to do a couple of 30 second tv spots that ran after the nightly news at 10:35. In the meantime, she continued to press on doing what she could with what she had. I think you know where this is headed.
On primary day, she won handily. In November, still with minimal support from the party even AFTER her primary win, she went on to win the seat.
Wow. No money. No support from the party. No huge media blitz. Just one-on-one and the help of those who believed in her vision and she won. Beginning to see the parallels?
It's time we quit running candidates out there just because they can fog a mirror. It's time that once somebody's been decided on, that we quit sitting on our hands and waiting for the party to jump in and help. Don't forget that it's SHEEP THAT BEGAT SHEEP, NOT THE SHEPHERD. It's up to us.
Here's my plan, for what it's worth:
1) Specifically as it relates to TX-28, why not encourage Ciro to run as an independent? It's not unheard of and he STILL managed to get a substantial amount of the vote. There's no reason that the grassroots (netroots) effort that was begun here couldn't be kicked up another notch or two. If Ciro runs as an independent, that gives us another 8 months of Cuellar butt-kissing to exploit and more importantly, puts Cuellar back on the defensive, where he belongs. Think about it.
- More generally, let's take the time and target some WINNABLE races. There are a lot of vulnerable Republican seats out there and if we pick and choose correctly, these seats could be won. Will we win enough to take the House or Senate back? Who knows? That's not the point. The point is to get away from the "throw as much mud against the wall as you can and see how much sticks" campaigning and go after targeted and intelligent campaigning. Let the big races take care of themselves. The party WILL step in on big seats with big names in play. WE have to step in for the rest of them. It's stealth in thinking, but it's also plausible to pick up enough seats this way. While the Republicans are paying attention to DeLay and Ney, we can be getting our bites of the elephant.
- Use what we've got! This site, more than probably any others, has fanned the fires of activism within me like nothing else has. My days and nights are now spent looking for the next opportunity to exploit a Republican weakness or to magnify a Democratic strength. We've already shown what can be done in a short time. Heck, we've got 8 months. . .let's take the "Fighting Dems" idea to the next level and feature others. . .champions of education, environment, civil liberties. . .why not?
- Take the fight to the places that make the biggest difference: the local races. Let's face it. . .while EXTREMELY important, the national races don't affect me near as much as races for city council, county commission and school board ultimately could.
Did we want Ciro to win? Of course. But if nothing else, it has taught us how to fight the dragons when the party gives us a pocketknife to do it with.