So, our illustrious Chair and 1st Vice-Chair decided that it would be best to hold our precinct organization meetings this past Saturday at 10:00 a.m. They also decided to have 36 of 40 precincts meet at just 4 locations. The only advertising or notification done by the party was a write up in the local papers.
There were 13 precincts assigned to our location, they were all from the most densely Democratic area in our county and represented about 1/3 of all voters in the county.
My sister-in-law and I sent out 949 postcards to Democrats in our precincts who voted in 2004. And from that we got 3 new people to come to our meeting that we didn't know about before.
I was severely depressed.
Now you can argue that it's better to call people, and I would agree that calling them in addition to sending them a postcard would be much more effective than the card alone (which we would've done w/more time and resources). A call alone is good, but I personally think a postcard on the fridge is helpful to remember the details.
And of course, I can't tell you how many times I've been told that it takes 6 methods of contact before people will pay attention to your message. I suppose it should make me feel better that we got that first contact out of the way. But it doesn't.
And two of our active Dems in my precinct (one who donated postage) were very happy with the effort and money put into this venture because they felt it was good publicity. That we've at least let the greater body know that we are here and active--and any future notices will just reinforce that.
All true, but I'm still very disappointed.
A look at the numbers says that we are still very much a county in trouble. A demographic of people so demoralized by having no viable party for so many years that they've stopped looking for us.
We had 22 people at our meeting, representing 6 precincts. Seven of the precincts that should've been represented had no one there. My sister-in-law and I had enough people at our precincts to consider it organized (minimum of 5). No one else did.
Prior to Saturday our county had 8 of 40 precincts organized. Now I think we have 10 or 11.
I plan on sending a card to 3 new people who showed up and welcome them into the fold. Hopefully a little hospitality will help keep them motivated and feeling involved.
On a positive note, the people who came to the meeting left feeling motivated and inspired and have already went back into their neighborhoods and started working. I had a wonderful email from a lady in her late 70's who came to our meeting who responded to an email someone else in the county sent about George Bush.
Were you at your precinct meeting this morning? We Demos are pathetic. We gotta stop talking about doing something and actually do it. Who was at ours? Old ladies like me. The average age of the women was perhaps 73. (Almost as old as I.) At least the guys were a little younger (60 or so). Unless we Democrats bring in some new blood pronto, we're going to die for being so passive. And I am just as guilty. The bravest one of those attending was our very own rector. I'm so proud of him. It takes guts for the clergy in our church to face the consequences of being a loyal, working Democrat (Look what happened to [our previous Rector]. This among other things were held against him.) Seriously, [my Co-Chair] and I are going to really get to work here in the [my] precinct to get our Democrat act together. Will you do the same in your precinct? Maybe we Democrats should have a Shag Night and other big blasts as a recruitment tool! Your motorcycle buddies could come up with something that could draw their own to the "Democratic Way." I'm very, very serious. Does such interest you?
So, the question of the hour--should I still be depressed?