One of the things I'm dis-satisfied with on this site is the ratio of anti-Republican to pro-Democrat focus. We spend way more time tearing down Republicans then we do building up Democrats. And that is a mistake in my opinion.
This is just one comment from one of my past posts. However, it is a complaint I have seen expressed here at Dailykos on more than one occasion.
Well, here is an opportunity to prove them wrong.
Introducing: The Progressive Ticket
Also, is it possible to embed google spreadsheets?
The Progressive Ticket is a crowdsourced list of political candidates who the Dailykos Community at large support for their respective elections. The candidates will be chosen largely from community-wide debate and consensus. The goal is to have a Progressive option for every election in November, write-in or otherwise.
In my last post, I explained why I thought this project would be beneficial:
Building a deeper Progressive Bench
One of the problems Progressives have is finding candidates who truly represent our values. For every Elizabeth Warren, there's ten other Progressive candidates out there, struggling just to make it onto the ballot in some backwoods somewhere. This is an opportunity to build their exposure and name recognition, align them with other Progressives, and perhaps even discover the next Warren. And overall, identify and enumerate the Progressive candidates that are out there.
Unifying the base of the Democratic Party
The more Progressive options we identify, the more options we have to support, to campaign for and phone bank for and donate to, or even if it's just supporting them at the polls.
One of the greatest problems Democrats face, especially in midterms such as 2014, is getting our base to turn out. First and foremost, if we want them to turn out, they need strong candidates that they will be energized to turn out for. And better yet, having more than one to vote for.
Taking the power back from the oligarchs and returning it to the masses
Let's face it, most of us feel left behind by the Democratic Party's leadership, who kowtow to their corporate masters about as much as one would expect from the GOP.
This would be one way to take some of that power back. If we do not like the candidate that the Party is putting forth, now we can identify and rally around one we do.
This is my first version of
The Progressive Ticket. Which, admittedly, does not include much crowdsourcing (if three's a crowd, I guess I need input from two more people).
One thing you will notice is that there are a lot of blanks spots on the ticket. This is not because there aren't any Democratic candidates in the election. Rather, there is more than one Democratic option, or the filing deadline hasn't passed yet, so there is potential for more to still enter the race.
And frankly, I don't know enough about most of these races to determine the best Progressive options out there on my own.
And so I need your help.
See a name missing from the ticket that deserves to be there? Write it in the comments, with a brief explanation. (Just a reminder, Dailykos is explicitly for supporting Democrats)
See a name on the ticket that most surely does not deserve to be there? Write that in the comments, too.
Think there is an election with more than one deserving candidate, and is worth a more involved debate? Put it in the comments, including who the options are and what makes them worthy. In future posts, we'll put it up to a vote, and the winner will make it on the ticket.
Or maybe you want to write the post yourself. Just be sure to include "Progressive Ticket" in the tags, so it gets seen by the group.
There are so many elections this cycle where I think Progressives like us need to make our voices heard. The Pennsylvania and New York gubernatorials are some examples. Should Cuomo really be the Democratic option just because he's the incumbent?
The Montana Senate race is another example. Should we aim for a really Progressive candidate to replace the infamous Max Baucus? Even though the state went for Romney in 2012 55%-42%? Let's put it to a vote.
Here is the chance to put in your two cents on these issues.
Do you really think the Dailykos community doesn't spend enough time building up Democrats? Here is your chance to rectify that.