Jackson County Democratic Committee

This just in from Tony Messenger, Jo Mannies,Jake Wagman and Virginia Young of the ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH:

For more than a year, Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt’s administration has defended itself against accusations that it has ignored laws that guarantee an open government.The administration contended that a fired staff lawyer never offered advice about the governor’s policy requiring public records, including e-mails, to be retained.

But he did.

Blunt’s staffers said the administration did not regularly conduct state business out of public view on campaign e-mail accounts.

But they did.

And the governor’s then-chief-of-staff denied the existence of e-mails showing he had engaged in political activities on state time.

But hundreds of them exist.

Did you ever think otherwise? Read the whole story here.

It is being rumored in Democratic circles that Sen. Claire McCaskill will replace Gov. Howard Dean as head of the DNC at the end of his term in January.  Dean, who is widely credited with the 50 state strategy that lead to the resurgence of the Democratic party, says he wants to step down at the end of his term.

To: Interested Parties
From: DNC Communications
Date: 11/5/08
RE: A 50 State Strategy: Rebuild, Show Up, and Ask for People’s Votes.

When Governor Dean became Chairman in February 2005, our Party had come through a dismal election cycle. We had just lost a national election to an incumbent president whose approval rating hovered at or below 50 percent. Republicans had gained 3 seats in the House and 4 in the Senate, leading to speculation about the possibility of a “permanent Republican majority.”

Governor Dean’s first step was to assess our Party’s strengths and weaknesses and put in place a strategy to address those issues. Dean developed a business plan to rebuild the Democratic Party, modernize our operations and expand the electoral map. The emphasis was on lessons learned and best practices, and it included the following key components:· Rebuild the Infrastructure of the Party – After assessing the needs on the ground, we hired full-time permanent staff in all 50 states, trained staff and activists, introduced new measures of accountability, and developed a unified technology platform. Over the past four years we’ve held 140 trainings for candidates, campaign staff, organizers, Party leaders and activists in all 50 states.

· Upgrade and Improve the Party’s Technology/Modernize the Way We Do Grassroots Organizing – Over the past four years the DNC has made significant investments in technology, creating a truly national voter file, improved micro-targeting models and developed 21st century campaign tools that merged traditional organizing with new technology.

· Diversify the Donor Base – Shifting the emphasis of Party fundraising to include both small donors and large donors, the DNC brought in more than 1.1 million new donors and raised more than $330 million from ’05 – ’08. The average contribution over the last three years was $63.88.

· Amplify Democratic Message and Improved Outreach – Created a national communications infrastructure to amplify the Democratic message and reach out to groups we haven’t always talked to and expand the map to regions where Democrats have not traditionally been competitive – including the South and the West.

· Professionalize Voter Protection Efforts – Created a year-round national, state and local effort to ensure that every eligible voter has the opportunity to vote.

When Obama Became the Nominee:

As a result of those efforts, when Barack Obama became our Party’s nominee, we had unprecedented resources in place, including:

· Trained, Professional Staff on the Ground in All 50 States
· A State of the Art Voter File and Micro-targeting Tools
· The Neighbor-to-Neighbor Organizing Tool
· Initial Polling on McCain
· A political roadmap for 24 states

Change.gov, the official website of the president-elect,  has lots of great information about the coming administration.  You need to give it a look.   Josh Marshall has taken a peek and says that it demonstrates the kind of radical change feared by John McCain and Sarah Palin.  As proof of the Obama team’s radical tilt Josh points to an organizational chart showing that

not only has the president been demoted to a position under the constitution. But the vice-president . . . has had his own fourth branch revoked and been reassigned to the executive branch …

What a wonderful night.
Everyone, in their own way, left it all on the track.  Door knocking, voter protection, donations or taking coffee to folks waiting in line – Democrats in Missouri achieved amazing things.  As Democrats, we had many wonderful candidates that won.  Obama, Nixon, Carnahan, Cleaver, Koster, Zweifel and others.  Folks of all political stripes pulled together to help these wonderful people across the finish line.  As Democrats, we also had many wonderful candidates that did not win.  Barnes, Page, Aust, and others.  These people gave all they had and are deserving of our thanks.   Please take the time to pen them all a note of thanks.  As a party that cares about certain values, we all won.

The real work now begins.  While Barack has a house and a senate, Jay does not.  Governor Nixon needs our help to work with Missouri legislators to reverse the effects of the Blunt end of the stick.  We should celebrate and then go about being the change that we wished, prayed and worked for.  You are the Democrat party – thanks for your hard work.

Stephen R. Bough

This video from VersusPlus is entitled Amazing Race. Think back to the Barack Obama speech about race relations. He took a giant risk and talked to us like grownups. Yesterday his risk was rewarded.

Congratulations to President Elect Obama, to Governor Elect Nixon and to their outstanding campaigns.  Never have I seen anything like them.  The level of organization and hard work they brought to the election is the stuff of long memories.

While Democrats have travelled far and achieved a lot, we Democrats in Jackson County, especially in Eastern Jackson County, have much to do.    We need to take back our state legislative seats.  We have to build bridges to those who don’t believe we represent them.  We have to prove we are relevant and that we are not one election wonders.  In short, now we have to do the hard party building work that can’t be dropped in by parachute.

Look for the Jackson County Democratic Committee to lay a good foundation for the future.  Be vocal.  Demand a lot.  It is the only way we can achieve.

In a few hours we are going to know if America is moving in a new hopeful direction. We will know if we are restoring the soul of our nation. In these last hours before the decision, I thought I would go back to where I started in this campaign. Win, lose or draw, I am Fired Up, Ready To Go.

I received a video from my brother this morning.  Produced by MoveOn,  the video is designed to make the recipient the person whose failure to vote cost us the election.  It is a fun way to remind your friends and fellow supporters of Obama to get out and vote.   You can check it out here. I would post the video, but don’t know how to handle the embed.

The Obama Campaign has a video full of  helpful hints for Missouri voters.   You should watch it before going to the polls Tuesday.

How is your “community organizing” going? Just 4 more days.