Nothing new here. It has all been said a million times. I just wanted to type that headline. The truth of it keeps rolling around in my head. I mean, have you ever seen such a sad sack bunch of hapless losers? Pitiful.
A clear set of core values sure would make elections easier for Democrats, but who am I? I’m not some fancy DC consultant pulling down big bucks to tell Democrats that’ll they better keep investing in carefully worded TV ads and mailers or risk losing “the middle.”
Why would the DNC and DCCC put so much money into TV ads and mailers when the same money spent on a field effort could have better, more sustained results? The answer, in large part, is because these party institutions and in fact the Democratic Party as a whole are dominated by interests and attitudes which empower the consultants and undermine the field organizers.
“Field is really hard work it’s messy work,” one veteran Democratic Party field organizer from Texas told me on condition of anonymity. She’s won tough races in some of the least likely areas of the state and helped Democrats win races around the South against steep odds with field work. She sees class discrimination and sexism playing a role in this problem, even among Democrats.
