Socialists made strong showing on election day

[Ichingcarpenter]

It’s a far cry from a revolution, but socialists had a surprisingly strong showing in two city council races on Election Day, November 5. In Seattle, Kshama Sawant picked up 46% of the vote while challenging 15-year Democratic incumbent Richard Conlin. And in Minneapolis, Ty Moore is only 131 votes behind Democratic candidate Alondra Cano.

While Sawant and Moore both trail their opponents, neither race has been officially called. And even if they both lose, they will have received an unusual amount of grassroots and institutional support for two avowedly anti-capitalist candidates running in major American cities. Additionally, they both received major labor union endorsements, and Moore even managed to raise more money than the Democrat in the race.

“This is an indication of how eager people are for real change,” Sawant told msnbc. Both she and Moore ran as members of the Socialist Alternative party, an organization alternatively described as Trotskyist or democratic socialist.


http://www.msnbc.com/all/here-come-the-socialists

[eridani]

1. Apparently Socialist Alternative has decided that standard electoral politics--

--voter outreach methods are worth learning. I'm glad to see it--beats the shit out of fighting with all the other splinter parties about who has the correct line of the week. I'm betting that if they had done it the Bernie Sanders way, as independents, they'd have stood a much better chance of winning.

[OutNow]

5. Agree 1000%

I supported the Sawant campaign for city council in Seattle. It was a real campaign, with phone banks, outreach, neighborhood rallies, etc. And nary a mention of the dictatorship of the proletariat.

Here is a summary of the campaign and some ideas about what should happen next.

http://www.socialistalternative.org/news/article10.php?id=2226

[eridani]

7. Thx for the link

I know a guy who knows the Sawant database manager, and he's impressed with the campaign sophistication in this area. I've stayed with the Dems because of the VoteBuilder resource (which I think I used pretty effectively in the Sue Peters campaign--and yes, I am resisting the techie urge to brag about the details of what we did), but I have to admit to occasional cold sweat nightmares about what the corporate Dems might do with it if they decide that the "wrong sort" (ie, advocates for the 99%) are using it too effectively to win.

It may just disappear--after all, the Obama campaign had access to far more of the VAN bells and whistles than the state party could ever afford, and the most well-heeled candidates could easily re-invent their own version of VAN every election cycle. In that case, the Socialist Alternative database would still exist, even if in only a few places. I get the sense that they aren't going to throw it away as a one-off, but keep building on it. That is pretty unprecedented for socialists as well.

[Deep13]

2. If the Ds are not representing the interests or ordinary people...

...one has to expect they will seek alternatives. The U.S. Senate has one socialist member and he's always right.

[Ron Green]

3. K&R. The anti-capitalist message has a place in politics,

and it's way overdue.

[idwiyo]

4. Very enthusiastic K&R!

[arthritisR_US]

6. Ditto! nt

[merrily]

8. Much preferable to staying home on election day.

[xchrom]

9. du rec.