Clark & Dean supporters, at some point grassroots will make the difference

[wndycty]

Up until this point the grassroots have had little or no effect on the race, but I believe that sooner or later there may be a race in which the grassroots supporters can make a difference. . .any guess which race that will be.

[Democrats unite]

1. Yes it will & I believe it is still going to happen in this Primary.

eom

[Bad Thoughts]

2. Grassroots should be most powerful force in this campaign

I wish that there were some way of supporting the authenticity of grassroots support in a way that does not compromise one's support for his/her favorite candidate.

[wndycty]

3. I might be wrong but. . .

. . .it seems like Clark and Dean are the only candidates with strong national grassroots support and I am wondering if that will enable either one of them to overtake Kerry in some states that he is leading the polls in.

[returnable]

4. I agree

It'll be interesting to see how motivated each candidate's supporters are to Get Out the Vote on Tuesday.

I'm guessing some folks may have a greater sense of urgency than others :hi:

[wndycty]

5. Clark supporters should call AZ and OK. . .

. . .I am here in AZ (Phoenix) for the primary and I am telling you Gen. Clark has an excellent shot of winning. He has more ads on TV than Kerry and more importantly he has actual on the ground presence (yard signs, bumper stickers). I am thinking he can pull off an upset here.

[MoonAndSun]

6. I was listening to our local NPR this a.m. and I was so disgusted

with what I heard. The Dems here in Arizona have fallen into the Kerry meme of "electability". All of the top 4 candidates can beat bush* so why go with the establishment Kerry, and go for the ones who are not afraid to bash bush*, Dean and Clark.

This drives me nuts!!

[HereSince1628]

7. A couple of days ago I would have been more confident...

I'll admit to being a Dean supporter who is a bit shaken.

I had absolutely no trouble with the rallying cry, and I think the campaign not only overcame it, but also came to own it.

My concern is the problems of possibly having no money. Advertising helps open the door for the canvassers and also reminds folks of the message left by canvassers or telephone calls.

Without money...no advertising. Without advertising this is going to rely on the political equivalent of "Tupperware" parties.

Not impossible, but much, much, more difficult.

[Larkspur]

10. DFA said that they have $5 million left after bills

He's not out of money but has to be lean for now and they are looking to Hollywood and other ad companies to develop better ads. Will this be enough? Don't know.

[slinkerwink]

8. yes, there's a huge grassroots base in MI and NY

[Larkspur]

9. Grassroots are most effective in local and possible state-level

campaign. They also have effect on national issue orientated campaigns if they are driven by national groups like NOW, Sierra Club, etc..

What Dean did was trully extradinary. He took MoveOn.org's Internet fundraising and issue campaign methodology and built a successful national grassroots campaign, minus the primary wins. What he did prove is that Dem and Progressive leaders can tap with the Internet a more cost effective way to raise funds for candidates so that they didn't have to sell their political souls to lobbyists. What Dean failed to do was to use that cash raised to fully fund the traditional type campaign -- TV & radio ads plus personal visits -- once the Primaries and Caucuses started. He did do some of that, but his TV ads were not effective in telling voters, who tuned in the last couple of weeks, his bio, achievements, and vision for America. He got trapped in the negative spin battle with Gephardt and that did not help him at all. Once he got back on message in NH, he recovered but did not have enough time to really challenge Kerry for the lead.

Dean's Internet success will be the future for Democratic and Progressive candidates because it depends upon a candidate who is a good and eithical politician and willing to address the issues that concern people the most. It is a way for a candidate to have some independence from the herd mentality that Al From of the DLC wants.