First, a little bit about me:
I volunteered for the Kerry/Edwards campaign in Pennsylvania this past fall. Specifically, I worked in Upper Darby, which is a "first ring" suburb right outside of Philadelphia. I set up all of the computers at the PAVictory04: Delaware County headquarters in Media. On Election Day I was site manager at a church near Upper Darby. My wife drove around all day dropping off food and drinks to the voters. Up until about midnight that was a great day.
November 3rd I stayed in bed. November 4th I got angry.
Now look what I'm doing : I'm running for office.
What office am I running for? Sorry, I'm not running for congress, nor am I even running for state rep. (YET) What I'm running for is a bit
more local: I'm running for a seat on the Upper Darby Township Council (to be precise: Upper Darby Township Council -1st Distirct.)
Sounds boring doesn't it? Let me try to make it exciting.
Even though Upper Darby has voted for the Democrat at the top of the ticket in the last three elections, every council member is Republican. Every School Board member is Republican. Also, Upper Darby is constantly helping to send Curt Weldon back to congress and Republican State Senators and Representatives back to Harrisburg (where they give Ed Rendell a hard time).
Why is Upper Darby like this? Because the local Democratic party has
been weak for a long time and hasn't been able to field candidates at all. This year (yes, 2005) that's going to change. This year we have a candidate for every seat up for election in the township (That would be school board seats, township council seats and so on). The candidates and their campaign staff are made up of long time local Dems, Kerry Campaign volunteers, a former candidate for state assembly, local activists and people who are just done sitting around waiting for something to happen.
What's important about this race? Upper Darby has been a Republican stronghold for the last 35 years. When the state GOP party needs
Republican turnout in Delaware County, they go to Upper Darby. If we Democrats win here, if we take away some of these seats that have just been handed to Republicans for years, it will be like giving the Republican Party in Pennsylvania a bloody nose. If we win in Upper Darby, it will be
something Republicans will feel across the state. Also, it will make things that much harder for Santorum in '06, it will be that much less support he has in Southeastern PA.
Why am I doing this? You mean you haven't read "What's the Matter With Kansas" yet? This is what THEY do, THEY run for EVERYTHING.
Here's another reason, from Howard Dean:
Voting is not enough.
Like most public officials, I've been to hundreds of schools and colleges over the years, exhorting young people to vote. I don't do that
anymore. In my mind, voting gets you a D if you want to live in a healthy democracy. If you want an A, you have to vote. And you have to work in a campaign for a candidate for any office three hours a week. And you have to send your favorite candidate five or ten or fifty dollars. ... To get an A+, you have to run for office yourself. Run for the school board, county supervisor, state legislature, Congress. Run for student council or library trustee. If ordinary Americans like you don't run, people from the right wing or the Christian Coalition will. That's how we
got where we are now.
If you want your country back, you have to take it back. Believe me - the right-wingers aren't going to be nice about giving it back.
Damn straight. When your back is up against the wall, the only thing left to do is fight.
Please visit my website: www.fieldsforupperdarby.org
How do I plan to win? Old style politics. I'll be going door-to-door and introducing myself to as many people as possible. In addition to the
door-to-door work, we'll be dropping off literature and a couple of mailings. Hopefully we'll have a chili contest too, just to have some fun.
Thanks for reading and thanks for checking out the website.
I know a lot of organizations are making requests for time and money these days. But if you can offer me either, I will put it good use.
While larger campaigns may be taking down some of the branches of the Republican tree, these smaller campaigns like the one I'm in are eating
away at the roots.
Don Fields
Upper Darby Township Council Candidate - 1st District
Update [2005-6-7 0:0:11 by dfields]:
Just dropping a note here to give a great big "THANK YOU" to everyone for their advice and recommendations (and for recomending this diary)
I have another diary here