There are times when we must speak up against a fellow Democrat!

I am stunned  by this article. The President of a Democratic Party  Organization has endorsed A Republican over  an incumbent  Democrat! 

http://www.news-daily.com/news/2013/oct/08/deraney-to-run-for-state-house-district-78-as-a/ 

The district includes southeast Clayton County and parts of Republican-leaning Henry County. Portions of Jonesboro and Stockbridge and all of Lovejoy are in the district.

#Parts of Deraney’s message aren’t typical for a Republican, and he acknowledges that fact. Some of the people he said should be reached out to are lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgendered individuals who are not usually embraced by the Republican party.#

But Deraney’s candidacy announcement wasn’t the typical political coming out party. From the beginning, it oozed a feeling of reaching out and inclusion when he was introduced by Young Democrats of Atlanta President T.J. Copeland, an old classmate and friend of Deraney.#

Copeland said voters shouldn’t confine themselves to one political party when trying to find a candidate to rally behind, and expressed his belief that Deraney would do a good job in the legislature.

#“The biggest thing is finding individuals that represent the state of Georgia and represent your ideology, and not just sticking to one particular person in a party, or one particular party,” said Copeland.#

“It’s about finding out who that person is and what they will represent when they go to represent you down at the Capital or in D.C., and I honestly cannot think of one individual in this district that will do a better job than Chris,” Copeland added

#Copeland also implored attendees to give money to Deraney’s campaign, explaining it could cost the candidate as much as $40,000 to run what is expected to be a campaign against incumbent Rep. Demetrius Douglas (D-Stockbridge).

 There are certain things  that  require  comment.  So here is mine


An Officer  of  a Democratic  organization endorsing  a Republican  for  a statehouse seat  when   it is occupied  by  a Democrat,  when  we are on the cusp of a  GOP super-majority is an unfathomable and unconscionable thing to do.   

I get  friendship....that's fine.    You want to vote for him?  That's your business.   You want to write a check?   OK.  But you do not endorse ANY Republican  while touting you bona fides as a YD Pres.   It is  completely irresponsible.  Moreover in  this political environment this  is,  in my view, a treasonous  thing to do.  Not simply  because   it's an endorsement but  because it has the effect of  giving the GOP  the meme that Democratic leadership  is abandoning ship.  It damages  the Democratic Brand  and is  a betrayal of the first order of those that elected you to lead  Young Democrats.

To say nothing of the  political reality   that  Kasim Reed  went to High School with Demetrius Douglas.   Which quite honestly is not  a fight you  want to need It hurts you and it Hurts the YDs.

I do not understand people who  run  for party office who think  they have no  responsibility  for the success  of the Party? 

The Atlanta  Young Democrats  cannot ignore this   because to let this stand is  to de-legitimize its value  as a party organization  and its credibility with both elected leadership  throughout the  Metro Area.  How does this organization  raise money for Democratic candidates when their  President says:

“The biggest thing is finding individuals that represent the state of Georgia and represent your ideology, and not just sticking to one particular person in a party, or one particular party,”

How  will they know how that money is going to be spent?  This is the equivalent of  Chairman DuBose Porter endorsing Karen Handel of  the Senate.


I have known TJ Copeland for a number  of years.  He is a member of the  State Committee.  He ran  for State Rep last  election.  He is a likable and smart man.   I do not understand  this AT ALL.

TJ Copeland should  either  retract  the endorsement or resign as YD Atlanta President and if he  refuses, then they should  show them the door.  Any Democrat  who  defends his actions should be shown the door as well.


In the meantime  I would encourage you  to give to  the Demetrius Douglas Campaign because  he  is almost certainly  going to be targeted by the GOP for defeat.

This says it all

Governor Jason Carter?

Galloway is reporting that State Senator Jason Carter is polling about  a run for governor in 2014.    Certainly  with  the Governor facing  some  ethics issues and two somewhat viable primary opponents challenging him on his flanks, the opportunity to  win exists.  I am not convinced  Carter is going to make a run as he has  been pretty adamant  that he had little interest in 2014.  Nothng  wrong  with polling though.

But  the news  that he might jump in  now as opposed to waiting  until 2018 with  a much more  crowded field creates  a whole host of  permutations of dominoes falling in different directions.

One has to wonder  who might jump in to other  Constitutional offices in 2014 and how quickly they  will be able to  lay the groundwork  and  freeze the field.   
One also has to wonder  what Mayor Reed  will do if  Carter runs and wins and what he does  with his considerable  campaign coffers post-primary.

One also has to wonder  about  what happens in the 2016 run  for the Isakson Senate Seat as many observers  feel  he may not be running again.

A Carter run certainly means  the state would be flush with  outside cash  for 2014 with both the  DSCC and  the DGA looking  favorably at Georgia and opening up their considerable coffers and don't think for a second that  Team Hillary is not watching very carefully as are those  wanting to  lead in-state efforts in 2016.  Money is not going to be a deciding issue for Carter but the  money game abong the Hidgh Dollars Donors is most certainly underway.

From where I sit a lot is going  to depend on  DPG Chairman DuBose Porter's ability to both  fund and find an Executive  Director and then  the ED's ability to  build  the organizational capacity to funnel national dollars for media buys and build  a field organization capable of adequately  getting  out the vote some  12 months from now.  That is a hugely important  undertaking and one in which the  candidates and potential candidates are going to be  monitoring  very closely.

Then next few weeks are going to be  highly entertaining.











  

TIME FOR A REALITY CHECK

Our approach to Statewide GOTV is a Failure

Our GOTV strategies fail our statewide candidates and the party faithful time and time again because the DPG lacks the ability and capacity to command the resources necessary to claw our way back into contention. The problem facing Georgia Democrats has never been whether the voters existed to win statewide. It has been a question of how to get them to the polls. The problem is with our ability to execute the strategy.

The confederated approach which creates loose partnerships with county parties and our usual partners simply is not getting it done.

In the last 12 years, despite a huge increase in the size of the electorate; in spite a huge increase in Hispanic residents; despite our nominee for president being African American…twice. In spite of adding 520,000 net new voters in our 31 firewall counties, the net of all our efforts was closing the gap with the GOP by 662 votes. We are still 300,000 votes down. To the Democratic outsider, both the state and the local party are defined by their closed off structures. And those structures, whether by archaic design or benign neglect are not presently capable of changing outcomes.

Obviously there are other factors in play. The problem is that lacking any other institutional mechanism that could be leveraged, the DPG and by extension our candidates have no option but to rely on a largely autonomous County Party system. We need to fix the problem. Unfortunately, we have elections every two years and we never seem to get to it.

It’s Not about Money

Money will not solve the challenges that we face. To be clear, at the moment it is a huge challenge, and while it is easy and probably appropriate and maybe even therapeutic to point fingers, it is not the real issue. Money will not solve a single one of our operational issues unless we have the will to change what we have been doing since 2002.

It’s not about Atlanta vs. The rest of the State

The supposition that we are failing because the DPG is too Atlanta-centric also needs to be fact-checked. Those of us who live in Atlanta know better. While it is true that the State Committee is dominated by “Atlantans,” that shouldn’t be confused with an institutional bias.

The DPG exerts no more influence on either the political apparatus or the political landscape in Fulton than it does in Chatham, and the institutional County Parties in the metro area exert no influence on the DPG whatsoever.

The truth of it is that the DPG’s political footprint doesn’t really extend beyond the Downtown Connector: from the Atlanta Waterworks to the Gold Dome. The DPG has no more institutional presence in Gwinnett or DeKalb than it does in Dougherty or Muscogee. And that’s the problem. What State Committee members and politicos from outside the Perimeter don’t see is that in its present condition the DPG’s geo-political orientation; influence and bias are virtually non-existent to begin with. The DPG itself is no stronger in Clayton County than it is in Clarke or Lowndes.

Does anybody really think that relocating party headquarters to Macon is THE silver bullet that will restore power, prestige and presence to the DPG?

It’s not about who is Chair

We have just concluded the tenure of a chair that was, to put it mildly, ineffective on many fronts. The natural course of organizational dysfunction is to blame the person at the top. But the truth of it is, the office of DPG chair is a weak position in charge of a weak and small organization. While the Chair certainly can control the organization by charisma and political machination, they still lack the ability to truly transform the Party.

We are a big state; the DPG is a paper thin organization with little or no apparatus for the Chair to maintain or let alone strengthen and wield either for his own agenda or on behalf of our nominees or those who call themselves Democrats. The reality is the Chair’s authority over statewide politics or statewide GOTV efforts is truly meager.

“Back in the day” maybe that was ok, when there was not a need for apparatus and we held the governorship without any effort at all. But those days are likely gone forever. And largely due to benign neglect, the position of Chair has atrophied to little more than Chief Spokesman and Chief Fundraiser rather than head of a substantive and powerful organization.

The Chair has been dealt a bad hand for years and then gets the blame for bluffing or folding.

We need a reality check. We need to stop the incessant blame game that has dominated the DPG since 2002. Any sober assessment of vote totals, or money, or organizational bias ought to bring us back to one underlying issue: The DPG lacks the visibility, vitality and vigor to lead the electorate a different political reality.

The core problem we face as a party is really one of branding and physical presence where it counts come Election Day. We are an invisible party to virtually all of the electorate.

A Critical Moment

For the last 12 years Georgia Democrats have been told repeatedly that our fortunes are about to be restored; that Georgia voters will soon return to their senses; that with a few strategic tweaks to what we have done in the past, a solid ticket and a promised demographic shift that we will be back in the game. It has not worked out yet and there is nothing that the DPG is doing today to insure that it will work out in 2014 or 2016. 

It is time to admit that we are in the political wilderness and that unless we make some significant changes we will be there for another 10 years. I just happen to  think an opportunity exists to change our trajectory sooner rather than later.