It's October, and soon something far more frightening, far more sinister than the worst ghouls of Halloween will descend upon America. A Republican last minute pre election advertising blitz lurks around the corner, and no force on earth is powerful enough to halt it's approaching fury. No Foley scandal, no National Intelligence Agency Findings, no Bob Woodward best seller or escalating Iraq Civil War, will stop it from arriving right on schedule; packing lies, horrendous smears, and more damnable lies, just as the clock runs out on Election 2006. They do it every time, and while Republicans are never conservative with their accusations, they have absolutely nothing to lose this time, except for the power they so desperately want to keep. It will not be pretty.
How badly do we want to win this November? How hollow a victory would it be for Democrats to fall one seat short of controlling the U.S. Senate? How much pride could we take in shaving the Republican majority in the House to a mere two seats? It's true, things have been looking up for the Democratic Party over the last two weeks. Truth IS on our side, but then again it was in 2004 also. Iraq was already a disaster, health insurance was already unaffordable, good jobs were already fleeing our shores, and Republicans still retained Congress AND the White House. Democrats no doubt will make gains this year, but how much ground is enough? Even if Democrats narrowly win one or both houses, consider this. Think of your absolutely LEAST favorite Democrats in Congress, then imagine them acting as a swing bloc, cutting deals, holding the balance of power on legislation that effects each and every one of us. Far better that then the status quo which gives Republicans control of every committee, but now, while Election forecasts remain fluid, is the time for each of us to ask, am I doing enough?
Every seat we can add to a Democratic majority in either House of Congress makes the vote of the most conservative Democrat in that House one vote less important. But even winning a narrow majority in either House is by no means certain. Gerrymandering made sure of that, gerrymandering and big money, which the Republicans are calling on now for all that their slavish servitude to major corporate interests is worth. Consider a few quotes from the October 9th issue of Time Magazine, from an article titled:
The G.O.P.'s Secret Weapon
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1541295,00.html"...What they know is that just six days after George W. Bush won re-election in 2004, his political machine launched a sophisticated, expensive and largely unnoticed campaign aimed at maintaining G.O.P. majorities in the House and Senate. If that campaign succeeds, it would defy history and political gravity, both of which ordain that midterm elections are bad news for a lame-duck President's party, especially when the lame duck has low approval ratings. As always, a key part of the campaign involves money--the national Republican Party is dumping at least three times as much into key states as its Democratic counterpart is--but money is only the start. "Panic results when you're surprised," says Republican National Committee (R.N.C.) chairman Ken Mehlman. "We've been preparing for the toughest election in at least a decade."
Thanks to aggressive redistricting in the 1990s and early 2000s, fewer than three dozen House seats are seriously in contention this election cycle, compared with more than 100 in 1994, the year Republicans swept to power with a 54-seat pickup in the House. Then there's what political pros call the ground game. For most of the 20th century, turning out voters on Election Day was the Democrats' strength. They had labor unions to supply workers for campaigns, make sure their voters had time off from their jobs to go to the polls and provide rides to get them there.
Now, though, Democrats are the ones playing catch-up when it comes to the mechanics of Election Day. Every Monday, überstrategist Karl Rove and Republican Party officials on Capitol Hill get spreadsheets tallying the numbers of voters registered, volunteers recruited, doors knocked on and phone numbers dialed for 40 House campaigns and a dozen Senate races. Over the next few weeks, the party will begin flying experienced paid and volunteer workers into states for the final push. The Senate Republicans' campaign committee calls its agents special teams, led by marshals, all in the service of the partywide effort known as the 72-Hour Task Force because its working philosophy initially focused on the final three days before an election."
Yes that was written before the full ramifications of the Foley scandal began breaking, but not before it first surfaced. Democratic activists can not afford to become overconfident IN THE SLIGHTEST. Our opponents don't play this game inside fair territory, and far too much is riding on this election. If the invasion of Iraq has already brought this much suffering, this much sacrifice, and this much danger, what will happen if the United States now attacks Iran?
OK here's the pitch. How much time do we each spend talking to each other on Democratic oriented web sites each day, and each weak? An hour a day, a few hours a week, a few hours a day? Whatever it is, from now until Election day, are we willing to match that total hour for hour, with direct campaign support work for Democrats fighting to win tough races? With the growth of the internet and unlimited long distance calling plans almost anyone can make phone calls from home on behalf of Democrats running for Congress. Those calls can sometimes be tedious, but they are critical to winning. A volunteer coordinator for John Halls Democratic Congressional race passed on a simple truth to us volunteers who signed up make mobilize your base and get out the vote calls, something he said an old pro told him once which he never forgot. Campaigns that make those calls win, and campaigns that don't make them lose.
Obviously there are other ways to help in addition to making phone calls, ways like increasing our individual cash donations, writing letters to the editor on behalf of good Democrats, doing door knocking in neighborhoods, and yes stuffing envelopes. Plus blogging, we all know that blogging IS important also. I'm sure as hell not going to give that up, but it's time to step it up a notch and hit the touch tone phone pads AND the streets. In the morning I'm bringing voter registration forms, plus information about several Democrats running to take seats away from Republicans in districts scattered across my State, to an all day political rally. It means time I won't have to spend on Democratic Underground, but it's worth it.
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