- First, the fifty-state strategy, as it operated under Howard Dean, was almost entirely about the DNC paying the salaries of organizers chosen by all fifty state parties. Read the DNC's description of the program, and their post-campaign memo for clarity on this. In total, about 200 of these organizers were on the DNC's payroll by Election Day in 2008.
- In November, these 200 organizers were all laid off. This is exactly the same thing as suspending the fifty-state strategy.
- Yesterday, I posted an article describing what was going to happen next, based on information given to me by an anonymous source. The reason I did not publish the source's name is that I don't want anyone else to get fired. I asked the source if I could say where s/he worked, but s/he said no. And no, it wasn't Matt Stoller. If that isn't good enough for you, fine. There are good reasons to be skeptical of anonymous sources. I trust the source, and I will keep publishing what s/he tells me. If that offends you, there are thousands of other political blogs around.
- As my article indicated, the source said that there would be as many, if not more, organizers re-hired in many, and possibly most, states. The two differences were, first, that these organizers would be assigned by the DNC, rather than chosen by the state parties and, second, that the distribution of these organizers will be more swing state focused for the 2012 election than they were from 2005-2008.
I wasn't trying to be inflammatory, just informative. I have been seriously taken aback by the frenzy of discussion. Here is the only clarity I wish I had added:
- I have no information that any states will be abandoned entirely, only that the focus will be more on swing states for re-election than on long-term infrastructure. I didn't even mean to imply that any states would be abandoned entirely, just that there would be a shift in focus. While the percentage of resources spent in swing states will increase as part of the new focus on re-electing Obama, I also wrote that "many, if not most, states will have more resources spent on them during the next four years than during the previous four years." Did people somehow miss this part of the article?
- I actually agreed with some Open Left commenters when they said there are probably some state parties where it would be better if the organizers were chosen by DNC HQ. Some local parties are a real mess--seriously. Decisions like these are probably best made on a case by case basis, in conjunction with state parties and independent analysis of the performance of the program from state to state. This is why I wrote that "both [approaches] have their advantages." I seriously meant that, and again wonder if people missed that part of the article.
The only real problem I have with this change in strategy, if indeed it is what will happen, is what I wrote at the end of the post: "firing the 200 state party organizers a real blow to the long-term development of local Democratic Party talent and infrastructure." It is a fact that these organizers were fired and, in my opinion, the vast majority of them should have been kept on rather than being replaced by new organizers. We need local talent, not just DC talent. We need long-term organizers, not just people moving from job to job every four years.
In other fifty-state strategy news, Blue Hampshire notes Ray Buckley has been elected President of the association of state chairs. This is important since, from what I have heard (yeah, I know, this is also based on a different anonymous source, but whatever) Buckley is a true believer in the fifty-state strategy. The strategy is very popular among the state chairs, which in and of itself probably guarantees that every state will get at least one DNC organizer.
As a final note, I don't take verbal support for the fifty-state strategy as worth very much. The important thing will be the details, specifically which states receive more resources and which states receive less. While we don't have those details yet, as I noted earlier, I expect every state will still have at least one organizer, and that many, if not most states, will see an increase in their resources.
Now please, commence freaking out about this story too. |
