The critics...sigh
While this last election was a memorable and historic win for Democrats, we didn't win in some of the important races that we invested a lot of time, money, and energy in. Here in Washington State, that would be the congressional district races, especially the 8th and the 5th.
Look across the country, do the math, and you'll find a sizable number of netroots candidates, all Democratic challengers, who did not win - an unsurprising result. That puts Darcy Burner and Peter Goldmark in pretty good company.
If we were interested solely in our win/loss ratio, we'd probably look back at the last couple of years and conclude we made some poor decisions. (Is it any wonder why interest groups are so eager to put resources behind incumbents?)
But winning was not at the top of our priority list. And that is what critics don't seem to understand. Nobody in this organization or the larger Pacific Northwest progressive community seriously expected to win WA-08, WA-05, or WA-04 - though we all did have high hopes. And we worked hard to try and make it happen.
The plain and simple reality in America is that taking out an incumbent is extremely difficult, whether or not the winds are at your back.
Our strategy was, and is, to invest in races to make them competitive.
Nationally, we didn't much care about the political leanings of a district or state; it wasn't a factor in where we placed our resources. We were interested in candidates who were willing to put in the work to put up a strong fight even if they hardly had a prayer of winning.
We wanted to support candidates who would listen instead of just talk.
In our region, examples would include ID-01 and WA-05. We didn't win, but we forced Republicans to spend a lot of resources defending their candidates.
It all paid off. We retook both houses of Congress.
Every candidate we invested in during the last cycle was a pillar of our effort. Every one. It's interesting how they're willing to talk at length about our candidates who didn't make it over at unSoundPolitics. They keep mentioning Peter Goldmark and Ned Lamont (and now Darcy, even though she came extremely close).
But they haven't talked about James Webb, Jon Tester, and Jerry McNerney, who emerged the winners in high profile races that got national attention.
Maybe it's because those three were all victorious movement candidates backed by the netroots who triumphed over entrenched GOP incumbents. All three of them also had to make it through Democratic primaries where their opponents enjoyed a not-insignificant amount of establishment support.
They faced a hostile environment. And yet all three won. And they're not the only ones who did. Just three examples - two in Western states.
Take a look at the others and you'll notice that many of them were not first-time candidates. They were running for office again after having lost before. That's why it's so important that Darcy Burner and Peter Goldmark try again in 2008.
We didn't get any of our congressional challengers elected here in Washington State, but we enjoyed enormous successes in legislative races statewide and we won on all the initiatives. There's no downplaying the significance of that, especially on I-933, which was endorsed by the state Republican Party.
After Oregon's Measure 37, the Farm Bureau certainly wasn't expecting the huge defeat they suffered on Election Night. Neither were the folks at the "Property Fairness" Coalition. Here's a snippet of what they sent out on October 27th:
As for our legislative victories - while it wasn't so apparent that the netroots community here was invested in those races, we were.
We at NPI went out of our way to support candidates like Eric Oemig, Rodney Tom, Roger Goodman, Larry Springer, Deb Eddy, Claudia Kauffman, and so on. Particularly those first two I listed - we did interviews and or guest posts with them.
We're also strong supporters of Progressive Majority Washington, a terrific movement organization, which had a field day on November 7th. Consider this:
We're having an impact on politics at all levels, whether or not that is readily apparent on an Election Night scorecard. We're a people powered movement. The grassroots are organized like never before. The Internet is opening doors that were difficult to open before.
The future presents many opportunities. Our strength will grow. Our influence will grow. And so the political establishment in D.C., and to our critics, we say: You ain't seen nothing yet.
Look across the country, do the math, and you'll find a sizable number of netroots candidates, all Democratic challengers, who did not win - an unsurprising result. That puts Darcy Burner and Peter Goldmark in pretty good company.
If we were interested solely in our win/loss ratio, we'd probably look back at the last couple of years and conclude we made some poor decisions. (Is it any wonder why interest groups are so eager to put resources behind incumbents?)
But winning was not at the top of our priority list. And that is what critics don't seem to understand. Nobody in this organization or the larger Pacific Northwest progressive community seriously expected to win WA-08, WA-05, or WA-04 - though we all did have high hopes. And we worked hard to try and make it happen.
The plain and simple reality in America is that taking out an incumbent is extremely difficult, whether or not the winds are at your back.
Our strategy was, and is, to invest in races to make them competitive.
Nationally, we didn't much care about the political leanings of a district or state; it wasn't a factor in where we placed our resources. We were interested in candidates who were willing to put in the work to put up a strong fight even if they hardly had a prayer of winning.
We wanted to support candidates who would listen instead of just talk.
In our region, examples would include ID-01 and WA-05. We didn't win, but we forced Republicans to spend a lot of resources defending their candidates.
It all paid off. We retook both houses of Congress.
Every candidate we invested in during the last cycle was a pillar of our effort. Every one. It's interesting how they're willing to talk at length about our candidates who didn't make it over at unSoundPolitics. They keep mentioning Peter Goldmark and Ned Lamont (and now Darcy, even though she came extremely close).
But they haven't talked about James Webb, Jon Tester, and Jerry McNerney, who emerged the winners in high profile races that got national attention.
Maybe it's because those three were all victorious movement candidates backed by the netroots who triumphed over entrenched GOP incumbents. All three of them also had to make it through Democratic primaries where their opponents enjoyed a not-insignificant amount of establishment support.
They faced a hostile environment. And yet all three won. And they're not the only ones who did. Just three examples - two in Western states.
Take a look at the others and you'll notice that many of them were not first-time candidates. They were running for office again after having lost before. That's why it's so important that Darcy Burner and Peter Goldmark try again in 2008.
We didn't get any of our congressional challengers elected here in Washington State, but we enjoyed enormous successes in legislative races statewide and we won on all the initiatives. There's no downplaying the significance of that, especially on I-933, which was endorsed by the state Republican Party.
After Oregon's Measure 37, the Farm Bureau certainly wasn't expecting the huge defeat they suffered on Election Night. Neither were the folks at the "Property Fairness" Coalition. Here's a snippet of what they sent out on October 27th:
LATEST POLL SHOWS DEAD HEATThat didn't sound like a group of people who were anticipating defeat. Despite all of their efforts, they were soundly beaten, and not just by TV ads, either.
Preliminary results from a Moore Information poll commissioned by the Property Fairness Coalition shows voters evenly split on I-933, with a large percentage still undecided.
This is very good news.
Despite millions of dollars being spent to blanket the airwaves with misleading ads against us, the opposition still can’t convince a majority of voters to agree with them.
But they won’t give up. And neither can we!
We need all of you to keep up the good work talking to your friends and neighbors, writing letters to the editor, sending I-933 postcards to your family and colleagues, calling radio shows, and doing all you can to inform voters. Undecided voters need to hear from you!
We can win this campaign if we keep up the intensity!
As for our legislative victories - while it wasn't so apparent that the netroots community here was invested in those races, we were.
We at NPI went out of our way to support candidates like Eric Oemig, Rodney Tom, Roger Goodman, Larry Springer, Deb Eddy, Claudia Kauffman, and so on. Particularly those first two I listed - we did interviews and or guest posts with them.
We're also strong supporters of Progressive Majority Washington, a terrific movement organization, which had a field day on November 7th. Consider this:
- Progressives now dominate both houses of the legislature with HUGE majorities and can pass legislation over conservative roadblocks in the state Senate. In the words of one GOP blogger, we progressives scored "massive" victories.
- Progressive Majority won 4 out of 5 State Senate Races: There is now an 8 seat Democratic majority in the state Senate. The last time the Democrats had a majority this large was in 1965.
- Tim Sheldon has been marginalized. When Progressive Majority opened its Washington state office, the Senate had a one vote Republican majority. Today, the margin is 32-17. With the progressive Democrats in control, we progressives no longer have to worry about Democrats in Name Only like Tim Sheldon.
- The number of people of color in the state Senate doubled. The Senate now includes great Washingtonians Claudia Kauffman Redmorningstar, a Native American woman. She is the fifth Native American to be elected to the legislature since statehood.
- The number of people of color in the state legislature is the highest in state history, with 14. This is nearly 10% of the legislature!
- Progressive Majority won five new state house seats, while protecting five incumbents that were in danger. When PM opened its office in March of 2004, many thought that the Democrats would have a one-seat majority after the 2004 elections. Instead, we protected our vulnerable incumbents, picked up 3 seats in that election, and picked-up a lot more this election. While there are several close races still to be called, the majority could be as high as 63 - 35.
We're having an impact on politics at all levels, whether or not that is readily apparent on an Election Night scorecard. We're a people powered movement. The grassroots are organized like never before. The Internet is opening doors that were difficult to open before.
The future presents many opportunities. Our strength will grow. Our influence will grow. And so the political establishment in D.C., and to our critics, we say: You ain't seen nothing yet.
