I'm the chair, newly elected, of the Shawnee County, Kansas, Democratic Central Committee and I've been on Daliykos for ten years. I don't write many diaries, as there are many here that are far better at saying my thoughts more succinctly than I can. But on occasion, I must write because no other person can express what I can. Today is one of those times where I must write and so I shall.
First, let me state that I do not want to drag anything or anyone through the crap here. Having said that, wouldn't it be rather useful actually to understand what worked in Kansas and what didn't work before we start loping heads off? My county, Shawnee County, actually delivered for Paul Davis. He won here with almost 12k (56%) more votes that Sam Brownback, who's from here.
tmservo433, for all of his hard work on reporting to the national community about Kansas Politics, may have been more productive by not trying to crash the bus on the bodies of the people he's promoting we throw under the wheels. His points are salient, but to each story, there are multiple sides. Not to objectively listen to all the sides brings a certain bias that I'd like to think is beneath us, at least here.
For another side, a view from where I sit, join me below the orange squiggle.
I became chair of the Shawnee County (that's Topeka, the state capital) in August just after our primary election of precinct committee critters. Although the title is new, the man behind it isn't. I was Dennis Kucinich's campaign coordinator for Kansas way back in 2004, and have worked for various campaigns and in local politics for almost thirty years.
In my experience, we did things as well here as we could have, and county politics is down in the trenches folks. We are what Tip O'Neil was referring to when he famously said that 'all politics is local.' I cannot speak to who had the proper literature or in which languages the campaign should have made it available. Why not? Because hindsight is 20/20 and I will not second guess Paul Davis’ staff’s decision making on literature. I would rather learn what worked well so we can repeat that and what not to repeat in the next election cycle. Joan Wagnon’s big data is the tool I’m using to analyze and dissect the results in my county. In my opinion, I believe we need to build the party from the ground up, county by county.
Either one can be part of expanding our numbers, or one can tear down the infrastructure we have and start over from scratch. In 2004, we few Democrats who supported Howard Dean and Dennis Kucinich formed an alliance here to control the vote for national convention delegates statewide. After the election, we built the Progressive Caucus of the Kansas Democratic Party. In other words, my guy lost, badly and I used what I learned to create the best caucus for the Democrats here in some time. We are certainly the best organized, an opinion I hear year after year. Throwing Joan under the bus is not helpful; organizing your county is helpful.
Jean Schodorf, a wonderful woman, didn't win her own county, and neither did any persons running for state-wide office. I know the people who were working very hard in Sedgwick County to deliver an across the board victory for team blue. They used the same methodology we used here, but they were outspent by dark money tenfold in that market and some 30-50 mailers from every RW nut group flooded the area. Shawnee County was flooded as well, but we worked our asses off getting the vote out. I personally canvassed Tuesday evening until I couldn't read the house numbers anymore, flushing votes for our ticket out when our poll watchers reported low turnout in their precinct.
In the final analysis, I leave you with the words of Tip O’Neil one last time, “All politics is local.” Each county in Kansas is responsible for its’ own GOTV efforts and every campaign needs to ensure their GOTV efforts as well. Here in Shawnee County we did have a field office that supported all of our local candidates with walk lists, but the county furnished the manpower to staff the phonebanks, field the canvassers, and a host of poll watchers on Election Day. Building the party here will never be easy, it is Kansas, but it is doable if all Kansas Democrats work together and stop the destructiveness of personal vengeance.