Was The DelDems Coordinated Campaign Merely An LBR Vanity Project?
You’ll notice the use of the past tense.
Word on the street is that indeed LBR’s team was functioning as the Party’s Coordinated Campaign team and that–they all just resigned and went back exclusively to LBR’s campaign. Candidates are being informed of this as the news surfaces in DL.
Our local committee had a fleeting Rosencrantz/Guildenstern glimpse into that so-called coordinated campaign as we were told that, if we were able to put together some sort of public event, LBR would show up at it and we might even get some money. The other district committees were presented with the same ‘offer’. Most committees don’t have enough time or money to put together a one-car funeral much less to coordinate such an event. Our committee did, but we decided “Fuck it”. They’re the ones supposed to be coordinating, not leaving it to the local committees to put together events starring Lisa Blunt Rochester.
Word on the street is also that Sarah McBride’s team has jumped into the lurch to try to help the down-ballot candidates, which indeed is the purpose of a coordinated campaign. To be honest, though, we on our committee had had no outreach from the so-called coordinated campaign in months. Some guy showed up back in something like April, think he was from Virginia. Crickets ever since. We’re way better off with whatever help Sarah’s team can provide. It’s not like the state Party is worth a shit, and I suspect that fundraising is in the dumps what with the Party going all-in on BHL. Although–we’ve always had something approximating a coordinated campaign in the past, usually headed by the person at the top of the ticket. For all his faults, it’s a responsibility that Tom Carper took seriously.
So. The question remains–why did this happen? Was it because Matt Denn got the endorsement for Lieutenant Governor over Ted Blunt back in 2008? Dad Blood Equals Bad Blood? (I stole that line.) Could be, because Betsy’s dad was the Party Chair then. Ted Blunt’s politics were always…malleable. ‘Slick’ is the word that comes to mind. He ran as a Republican against Lonnie George for State Rep District 1 back in 1982. Is it because Lisa is focused on something else if Kamala wins? Hard to fathom that one, but who knows?
You tell me. Plus, if you’ve got some inside dirt, spill it. Here.
The coordinated campaign is worthless and always has been. It’s a jobs program and a wealth transfer mechanism to people who don’t know anything but want to feel like they are sophisticated party bosses. Nearly to a person they were amongst the people who just lost the governors race in dramatic and embarrassing fashion.
If Lisa recognized that then I like her even more. Top of ticket pays for the wide majority of it so if she thinks Betsy is running it poorly (I’m sure she is), then why should she waste a bunch of money?
I don’t know El Som. I don’t think this current party leadership deserves a damn thing and I think the coordinated has long been a joke.
There are times that the coordinated campaign has been effective.
The only time in recent memory that I contributed to the Party was when Erik Raser-Schramm was the chair, and they ran a really good GOTV grassroots campaign that helped get some D’s elected.
But whatever the fuck it was supposed to be this year never became clear to anybody.
What I have been hearing is that the LBR campaign has been opting out of the coordinated campaign from the start. As the top of the ticket, they have the responsibility to contribute the most. But the money to the RDs was the result of them pulling out from the CC $$$-wise. They thought they could entice RDs to put together 41 LBR events around the state. I bet they got a dozen.
But my guess is that there was bad blood between LBR’s campaign manager and the state party. There was some conflict 2 years ago where he made some accusation about the coordinated. At Returns Day, the CC team had some sort of buttons co-opting his words and essentially saying “I told ya so”. But I don’t even think there’s anyone from the last CC on this years CC.
Maybe it’s LBR-driven, but I doubt it. I bet she has just told her campaign manager to do what he thinks is right.
It’s a weird strategy. They are basically handing the party over to Sarah McBride. While Sarah is great, I can’t help but think that this can come back to haunt LBR. In 6 years do we have a McBride-LBR fight for the Senate seat? Or a McBride ally stepping up?
“At Returns Day, the CC team had some sort of buttons co-opting his words and essentially saying “I told ya so”.
I believe the button stated “Malpractice Makes Perfect”, as the LBR campaign made constant objections (leading up to the election) to certain strategies made by the CC…strategies that ultimately panned out, hence the schadenfreud-ian nature of the button message.
There is no doubt bad blood between LBR and the Party. In 2022, LBRs teams came off as ‘outsider know-it-all’ types. I don’t think she gives two Fs about down ballot candidates, so seeing McBride step in gives me some hope that someone at the top of the ticket actually cares.
Hmmm, seems we just might have struck a nerve here…
For you Northerners: It is “Return Day”, not “Returns Day”. In the early decades of the State of Delaware, Sussex Countians went to the county seat- Lewes and then Georgetown-to vote. Two days later people RETURNED to the county seat to hear the results read by the town crier.
This year, on Thursday, November 7th, people will RETURN to Georgetown to hear the reading of the Sussex County results in all the races. Then the various party chairs will “bury a hatchet” in a container of sand, from Lewes beach.
Yes, the coordinated campaign sucks. It sucks even more than in previous years.
I don’t doubt that there is a some history between the campaigns, but why would LBR and her team manage the Coordinated from the start until the last month and now withdraw? The message this sends to downballots is significant. Perhaps other campaigns rightfully had their doubts about the CC, but is that not why LBR had made so many promises about funds and running it differently? And for all the party’s whining about WFP, this only pushes more downballots towards them as their door knocking capacity shifts with CC staff changes…
Perhaps WFP is rendering the coordinated campaign obsolete–for OUR kind of candidates anyway…
…can’t imagine Stell Parker Selby being overly-thrilled, though.
To date, the only door-knock I have received this cycle has been from an LBR campaigner who was COMPLETELY flummoxed that I was upset with her about multiple issues, but I’d be supporting other Dems.
They didn’t even have a way to log my dissatisfaction with her performance on specific votes.