Yesterday afternoon, Patrick Botterman, a suburban Chicagoland activist, Campaign Manager, consultant and local Democratic leader died of a massive heart attack. I thought he was 43, but the local paper today says 44.
Pat could be a public person when he needed to, but I think he was most effective behind-the-scenes, and had his finger into so many things for which this Kos community stands.
He will be missed by many. I miss him.
"Botterman" (as he preferred to be called and as he always answered his phone) and I first met on the Bean (IL-08) race in 2002. I had "retired" from the political game in 1996 and thought I had it out of my blood. Silly me.
When the cold call came and the voice said, "I'm calling for Melissa Bean..." I interrupted and responded with "I'll give money to ANYONE running against Crane."
"No," the voice said, "We hear you do..." and my adventure began. Or more realistically, I got back on the train.
Pat didn't win that race, but he set the stage for Melissa. He put a good system in place. In 04 a new young CM made the system better, and showed that "The Little Campaign That Could - DID." And a third CM came on two years later and continued to enhance a good campaign structure already in place. And made his belief a reality that suburban metro areas were turning blue, and that the first victory was not a fluke.
Three totally different bosses who became three of my closest and dearest friends, and now I've lost one of them in the prime of his life. Pat left us as he lived - without any notice and without huge fanfare.
NOTE: This post is by no means a slight of Melissa Bean in favor of her staff. She is an amazing woman who, unlike some others, didn't expect the seat to be handed to her, and worked like a slave to get where she is today. While MLB is often hated and criticized by some members of this community, she well represents her community, and is as blue as IL-08 can be for now.
One needs to know the history of races like Bean's, for that history tells the story of Pat Botterman. Officially Pat left that race in 02, yet he kept his finger on the pulse of that race, just as he kept it on so many other races, large and small, in the metro area. And kept providing sage counsel to any of us who sought it from him.
In business Pat was all business. Not much fooling around until work was done, and only then did staffers see his sly sense of humor. He could be a demanding boss and expected the best. But he was an amazing friend. Someone posted elsewhere today that conversations with Pat just picked-up where they left off, no matter how much time had transpired in between. That was Botterman. And that was my friendship with him.
I'm old and perhaps too idealistic according to my younger friends. I'm at that stage where I don't need to work full-time anymore. Botterman knew that, and as a result he only sent me his best clients and best races, the most recent being Mark Pera in the IL-03 primary. Yeah, we lost that one big-time, but Pat put together a great team with a great candidate and got everything out of that race they could.
I've posted before about well-run campaigns versus headless disasters. I see examples of both this cycle at the national level. There was never a question of where the buck stopped with Botterman. He was a penny-stretcher. Not a penny-pincher, because he paid well for services. But he expected to stretch every penny as far as he could to get the best from his staff and his vendors. And he did. And he built incredible loyalty to each race, each candidate, and strong relationships with clients, staff, and vendors.
Patrick Botterman leaves a huge legacy. Not his name in lights. Small things. Like his local township Dems. Like his years of quiet dedicated service on the local community college board. Like his extended family.
Most of all Pat leaves all of us with "The kids" - incredibly well trained young people he mentored and gave their first job in this business - who are out there as I write this, finding every voter, every dollar, and making every vote count.
My phone and my g-chat were going crazy last night well into the morning hours and then again this morning. "The Kids" were popping up from everywhere - local races, Ohio, DC, Virginia, Arizona, Wisconsin. They have been bumping into each other nationwide for the past two months.
Races are won by doing things. Pat Botterman was a doer. I spend way too much time reading, writing, and talking. But people like Pat have shown me that it doesn't take that much more effort to email the media, call a Congressman, a TV network outlet, a campaign, and make one's thoughts count.
I guess my hope is that one person reads this diary and decides to take their own DailyKos posts and do something bigger with them. Nag the media, volunteer to do "doors" for a race, contribute to the candidate of their choice. If that happens, then that person will have also become a part of Pat Botterman's legacy.
A lot of people will miss Botterman, but, DAMN, I miss him already.
EN