Originally published here.
It's no secret that Democrats are dependent on a loyal multiracial and multi-lingual base to win elections. It's time that their dollars are invested in those who can speak to communities of color.
That's why PowerPAC+ just announced an audit of Democratic Party spending. Politico covered the story here. Reading the article, it's clear that respected Party veterans and our friends at the Congressional Black Caucus share the same frustrations.
"There is a racket. Everybody inside the Beltway is already connected, so it's always been difficult to expand opportunities for women and minorities to have a seat at the table," said the trailblazing Democratic strategist Donna Brazile" "It is rather disturbing that women owned and minority owned (firms), along with GLBT and others may not have as much access as needed to help these candidates."
Where Democrats Put Their Money Matters
Now is the time for Democrats to make necessary changes to build a progressive multiracial majority in America. For a Party dependent on a coalition of Latinos, African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Native-Americans and white progressives for its survival, ignoring political experts from communities of color means they will be increasingly out of touch unless they make meaningful changes in 2014.
You Might Say, Why Now?
This year alone, the Democratic Party establishment -- including the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Senate Majority PAC -- will spend more than $500 Million on ads and campaign activities.
And recent political races illustrate the importance of campaigning to communities of color. The 2013 Virginia Governor's race saw Terry McAuliffe invest in organizing and mobilizing voters of color, and outside groups such as People for the American Way ran ads targeted at Latinos. That proved to be an effective approach to build support among those key constituencies and helped to deliver the election to McAuliffe.
However, candidate Alex Sink lost her recent election in Florida's special congressional election by fewer than 4000 votes despite spending $3 Million. We believe that had $50K of that money been dedicated to communicating through digital and television vehicles to turn out voters of color, she would have come much closer to President Obama's vote margin in that district in 2012 -- resulting in victory.
Our Audit is Already Underway
Supervised by Dr. Julie Martinez Ortega, the research team is analyzing Federal Election Commission filings from 2010 and 2012 to review Party spending. We will be announcing the results at our upcoming conference in June, "Race Will Win The Race."
Sometimes it is necessary to take a good, hard look in the mirror to see the problems and what's needed to fix it. It's a lesson we hope the Democrats take seriously in 2014 if they hope to be successful winning elections this year and beyond.
Read the full Politico article and let us know what you think.