Farm Teams

Have you noticed big changes in the way Democrats are building the Party these days? Gone are the years when the National Committee selected a handful of Congressional and Senate races and put all their support behind those few candidates. Gone are the days when we didn't even field candidates in many Congressional Districts. Howard Dean, as DNC Chair has implemented what's called the 50 State Strategy and a philosophy that we contest every race everywhere. This is a sea change for the Democratic Party.

Contesting every race prevents the GOP from what's been a very successful tactic for them: shifting money around the country to those few contested races. This greatly bolstered the coffers that needed the funds. For example, Joe Pitts (PA 16) was usually uncontested before Lois Herr came along in 2004. In those previous years he continued raising his campaign cash but sent it all around the country to other Republicans in tight races. This made it more difficult for us to compete. Republicans all over the country did this as a concerted strategy.

By contesting every District we make all of them play defense, keeping that money in each District for their own needs, and provide a more even playing field. The 50 state strategy is building the Party grassroots. It's also about finding and developing leaders for the future. This is an area where we've simply failed miserably, especially compared to the GOP. It shows too.

We Dems have made no attempts to find and run people for those lower level offices: township supervisors, auditors, tax collectors, school boards, and borough councils. We've never provided those who did run with any training or support. The result is an empty farm system. We don't have a pipeline of good, experienced candidates to move up to bigger positions. How many of our major candidates have never run for office before? Way too many and it shows. It's really difficult to run for Congress or the Senate and if you've never run for any office before.

Here's what I suggest. We must integrate into our 50 state grassroots strategy a way to find and develop people to run for these "entry level" positions. Then we need a comprehensive training program and support system to help them win and succeed. Every one of our candidates should get training on setting up their team, working with the media (including a local media list), developing a campaign plan and budget, doing voter contact and GOTV, provide a list of local volunteers and a list of local people who regularly contribute for Democrats.

As we develop these resources and people we'll find we're far more effective, have good people in local government and have good candidates ready for advancement. A farm system if you will. This is essential to long term success. Each state and county committee needs to develop and share these resources.