FASCISTS MUST BE ENGAGED AND BEATEN IN EVERY SINGLE PRECINCT IF AMERICA IS TO BE SAVED

The Inside-the-Beltway-Democratic Party specializes in excuses for why they're a bunch of pathetic losers. While the DCCC whines about how they can't afford to support Democrats running in "red areas," one of the most consistently "red" states in the Union has a local, GRASSROOTS Democratic Party that has just issued a Howard Dean-inspired action plan for how to contest Nebraska. I figured you might enjoy reading it, since it shows that while the corrupt powers that be (from EITHER party) will never get it, there are Democrats even in the bowels of Bush-country who DO get it. This is the url-- http://www.nebraskademocrats.org/content/310/93-county-strategy-memo/

Basically, it's a memo to Nebraska's Democratic Party's Executive Committee on how to rebuild the state party and start winning elections. The two authors point out that the crucial first step is to contest every precinct of every county in the state. It's called the "93 County Strategy Memo" and it is pure Howard Dean. The strategy calls for recruiting candidates for every single elective office from school board to congress; building a Democratic community to help with recruiting volunteers, voter registration, public relations, etc; and grassroots training. This reminds me of what insurgent reform Democratic leaders in North Carolina and Arkansas-- both in the Dean mold-- are also up to. It's definitely time to tell the corrupt old Inside-the-Beltway Establishment that if they can't keep up they should step aside. We need more Cindy Sheehans and Howard Deans and less Joe Liebermans and Joe Bidens to make the Democrats a truly majority party that represents the interests of working men and women, not the interests of Biden's and Lieberman's corporate financial backers.

Today Ruy Teixeira on his Emerging Democratic Majority blog posted an interesting piece about Ron Brownstein's L.A. TIMES article, "Campaign Battlefeld May Grow," in which Brownstein lays out the philosophical differences between the DCCC (headed by Clinton pol Ron Emanuel) and the internet activists who powered Paul Hackett's near win in Ohio's reddest district. "Both sides offer compelling arguments," writes Teixeira, "which are well-presented by Brownstein. But Hackett's near win does indicate that the '55 percent rule,' in which the Democratic Party withholds significant cash from races for districts the GOP won in the previous election with 55 percent of the vote, should be modified. Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) seems to be open to a compromise. As Brownstein notes:
'He said he had rejected the traditional milepost of only contesting seats where the GOP incumbent polled 55% of the vote or less. He said the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee would try to recruit and fund challengers in "every open seat, every seat where an individual Republican incumbent has an [ethics] issue," and in districts where Bush's performance fell short of expectations in 2004.
"We've got to get to 50 [challengers]," Emanuel said. "That's my magic number. But I can't say, 'Go to Texas and take on a guy who has 80% [support] in a district where Bush got 78%.' I am only going to have 'X' dollars."'

Of course internet activists aren't waiting around for a distrusted and out-of-touch Democratic Party to embrace their broader vision of electoral victory, especially one that diminishes their entrenched power. Instead, they will be raising serious dough for what Emmanuel and the DCCC considers long shot candidates. And watching how effectively Howard Dean can steer the Party back into competitiveness.