Do any Democratic politicians or strategists read DU?

[Armstead]

There seems to be a lot of posts directly addressing the Democratic Party here atthe moment. Which raises a question.

Does anyone know if Democratic politicians, strategists and other power-brokers include DU on their list of regular reading and research?

If not the actual people, do they have anyone on their staffs assigned to it?

(I know that Elizabeth Edwards was a reader and occasionally posted. And some candidates on the local or regional level sometimes post.)

Although DU is sort of a niche, it does represent a substantial (and diverse) segment of the current or potential "base" of the Democreatic Party. It seems to me that they ought to include DU along with monitoring the polls, their own research, etc. as a way to find out what the "base" is thinking. And people have good ideas here that they could use.

Does anyone know if they do use DU as one way to get input?

[UrbScotty]

1. I'm fairly sure John Conyers does (nt)

[sasquatch]

2. No, cause that would mean they'd have to grow a pair

As long as Bob Shrum is hanging out in the halls of congress that won't be happening.

[MindPilot]

3. They probably read DU, hell probably Bartcop and KOS too

but they don't pay any attention.

[bunny planet]

8. Conyers and Obama definitely read Kos and .post there.

Cindy Sheehan posts over there too.

[Catchawave]

4. The writers of The West Wing !

They must certainly be watching as the storyline certainly seems to parallel the problems with the Kerry campaign.

So I hope at least the Dem strategists are watching West Wing !

[blondeatlast]

5. There's more good strategy in GD and GD/P on an average weekday

than in an entire month from the DNC.

I think the DNC ought to put Husb@BSparkly and a few others on the payroll.

That being said--no, I don't think they do, although I think some congressional staffers might.

[Armstead]

10. They should mine the brainpower here

[Stinky The Clown]

17. Awwwww

:blush:

You're too kind to a gnarly old, bald, fat, white guy!

(With a babe of a wife!)

Seriously, I know that some dems read here. In other cases, their staff do. But not enough.

The media also read here from time to time.

The hard part for them is that the place moves so damned fast that tons of excellent material just slides off page one.

I have shared e-mail with some media types, specifically, and sent them links to threads here and have heard back that they read them. (I won't say who, cuz I remember what happened when we all started talking about sharing e-mail with Aaron Brown waaaaaaaay back when. Nobody won that fiasco.)

[xchrom]

6. if they don't, they should.

more to the point -- there are any number of folk here who ought to be hired by these elected officials.

they are soo out of touch on what to DO.

where to appear.

what to say.

there is an effective answer to the aggressive republican tactics -- aggressive democrats.
and there are plenty here.

[Armstead]

7. Any lurking Power-Brokers or staff are also free to answer

We won't tell, promise. ;-)

[Freddie Stubbs]

9. I know of a few Hill staffers who lurk here and occasionally post

[Boo_Radley]

11. I've always thought it was more likely . . .

. . . that GOP pundits and strategists would read something like this to know what arguments are being formed, so they can start working on spin ahead of time.

I just get the feeling that they're always watching.

[Armstead]

14. That's certainly true

As evidence by the use of DU posts as negative talking points by wingers like Rush.

But it'd be sad if the Democratic Party doesn't read DU while the other side does.

[oc2002]

12. No they are too busy cowtowing to the Republicans or selling out.

the currently elected dems are about as much about nothing as nothing.

[ReadTomPaine]

13. Short answer: yes.

I know this firsthand. Not all, but a sizable percentage have staff that come here often. Some do themselves. DU matters.

[Marleyb]

15. They sure as hell ought to...

Duers are way ahead of the curve. Most of the politicians seem clueless, like they couldn't figure out Bush was lying before the war...sure. Maybe they should try reading the news on the internet. If they only get their 'news' from the corporate media it's no wonder they are just a uninformed as Bush.

Was it Harry Reid that just found out that Blackwater was on the ground in New Orleans? It's their freaking job to know what's going on, they have paid staff who already do their work for them, they make 160,000 per year for what? What do they spend their time doing?

They better start reading DU, I have just about had it with their sorry asses.

uh sorry...end rant/

[MaineDem]

16. Yes

I know some that read here daily.

[Stinky The Clown]

18. Both Elizabeth Edwards and Wes Clark, Jr., have accounts here under

their own names. Both have posted and both have responded. Neither are prolific DU'ers (understandably). I have no doubt they check in, though.

[Armstead]

19. It was good to see their posts

I wes asking about lurkers to get a sense of what the grass roots arethinking, but it's even better when they actually engage as themselves here.

[AspenRose]

24. Chris Heinz has posted here too.

eom

[mmonk]

20. Yes

Those that find us somewhat useful peruse here and post occasional (such as during the last national election). Those that disagree with most of what is posted here give speeches and talk about the radical left much like the republicans.

[Armstead]

21. I'd rather have them read and disagree than just ignore

Heck, we don't even agree among ourselves.

But I do think this is a great resource to find out what grass roots folks are thinking. Even the GOP lite ought to at least understand what is on the minds of people.

[rhett o rick]

22. I heard Harry Reid blogs some where. Anyone know where? nt

[Lexingtonian]

23. The top people don't

but they have staffers who check here to gauge the relative and absolute levels of heat and light and motivation out there among Democratic activists.

Most of the attempts at advice and analysis here are ignorant, naive, or just plain unrealistic. But what gets said and done and believed on Capitol Hill is not always substantially wiser or more knowledgeable.

I think they check on DU to see what Democrats with the publicly available information and some amount of intuition think should be done, and see that as what they have to be one or two tiers superior to.

We write the C paper on the topic of the day. They look at it to determine what they have to do for A or B level performance.

[mitchtv]

25. They look at it to determine what they have to do for A or B level perform

looks like they haven't gotten to that coveted A or B in quite sometime