Here in PA, my progressive candidate, Chuck Pennacchio, was massacred by the Democratic machine, run by DLC darling Ed Rendell. Pennacchio took over up to 450% more votes than the ethics impaired pollsters predicted, and took strong percentages in parts of the state where progressives were assumed to have no traction. It isn't over in PA. (yes, I will be voting for and helping Casey. )
We learned one powerful way to beat the system is to become the system, to never let a committeeperson seat to go unchallenged. It's amazing how many of these elected positions are taken without a challenger. The machine just fills them. If you don't know who your committee person is and what his or her politics is, you are not yet up to snuff as an informed voter.
Let me be clear on this. The ONLY way progressives will make headway in the US, at any level, is to to start taking control of the decision making process within the Democratic party. And it is not that hard. In so many voting precincts, the committee person slot never has a candidate and the party can then appoint one. Or the person who runs is unopposed.
This is not sexy. But it may be the best way for progressive activists to make a huge difference. Find out if it's not too late in your state. If so, then get your name on the ballot. If it's too late to get your name on the ballot, then do a write in campaign. Some precint committee people get elected with a dozen votes. This is not like a big congressional or senate race and these are your neighbors. The activists who live near you will help you.
If you missed it this time,then find out who IS running and make sure you pick the best one. Don't expect to find voting literature on these candidates. Do the research.
Start working on positioning yourself next time. Spend the whole day on election day at your polling place. Introduce yourself to democratic voters. Get them started seeing you as a familiar face. Talk to them about how they feel about the candidate choices they have. Let them know you want to help them by representing them, not telling them who to vote for, as most machine committee people do.
cross posted to OpEdNews.com