Dear Lisa,
I'm not going to sugarcoat it. I'm as frustrated as you are that more hasn't gotten done in this Congress. Like you, I want to see more progress on getting us out of this mess in Iraq, getting more folks health care, and kicking our oil habit.
But I want to be clear: That's not the fault of the horses we have. It's because we need more horses. Fifty-one Democrats in the Senate just isn't enough. Don't just take it from me. Stu Rothenberg is the gold standard of political analysts and he just said "Sixty seats is what it's about. And if the Democrats can get close to that, then they really can do things."
Come 2008, we can turn this country around, but that means electing more Democrats, and electing more Democrats means supporting the DSCC. The DSCC has laid out a goal of what it's going to take to win the Senate seats we need, and that translates into a fundraising goal each and every month. Right now, they're only $94,363 away from the November target. Give by midnight tonight and you can put us over the top.
Fifty one seats is a majority in the Senate, getting 60 seats or 70 seats is not going to change anything. The real issue is the House, and the Democratic Party is not putting money into races where Democrats are facing Republicans. All you have to do is look right here in Ohio at the Fifth Congressional race to see that there are no mass influxes of money going to the Robin Weirauch campaign. Either from the Ohio Democratic Party or the National Democratic Party. You have Democrats publicly saying how important it is for Robin to win, yet privately they are not putting their money into the race and they are saying she's not going to win. It's the typical double standard that I've seen before when local Democrats have tried to take on Republicans, the Democratic Party here in Ohio does not give them the assistance they would need to be able to pull off a win. I watched the exact same thing happen to Mark Dansack, he was given very little support financial or otherwise from the local or state Democratic Party, the Republican Party spent huge amount of dollars to make sure the incumbent Republican retained the Ohio House seat. It was heart breaking to watch because the reality is, without financial support under our current election system, it's extremely difficult to win.
So Mr. Carville, we do need more horses, but new horses and where they are needed rather than just being part of a stable...
3 comments:
Lisa Renee,
Thanks for the mention. In my case, I'm proud of what we did with minimal resources, but it is what it was.
I had a good time running and garnering the support we did with hard work and shoe leather.
Probably should have spent more time fund-raising, but I preferred meeting people door to door, rather than begging for donations.
Anyway, I check in from time to time on your blogs and consider them entertaining and informative.
Thanks for what you do and I hope you and your family have a great holiday season.
Mark
Mark, you did what you had to do to try to reach as many people as possible, it's impossible to concentrate both on getting the message out there and fund raising and it's unfortunate our local political party did not step up as much as they could have to help.
I hope your family and friends also have a blessed holiday season and I appreciate your kind words.
:-)
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