[LD22exec] FW: Neighorhood Organizing and the 50 State Strategy

Sat Oct 13 14:45:40 EDT 2007

Hey,

I just wanted to send this on to you all and get your opinion.  Personally I
am pretty perturbed that our state and national chairs do not realize that
most of the active democrats are probably volunteering for the 1000’s of
local races across the nation that come to  close only 3 days after the
planned house parties.  I know that 2008 is a big year for democrats but
can’t we at least wait a few days or a week to do this after the races that
effect our lives the most are over?  

I plan on  emailing Dwight my opinion and I wanted to see if you all felt
the same, or if you think I might be overreacting.

Thanks,

Jim

From: cvc-bounces at wa-democrats.org [mailto:cvc-bounces at wa-democrats.org] On
Behalf Of Dwight Pelz
Sent: Wednesday, October 10, 2007 6:31 PM
To: Execboard at wa-democrats.org; cvc at wa-democrats.org;
wsdcc at wa-democrats.org; party-leaders at wa-democrats.org
Cc: Shawna Ousse; 'Jaxon Ravens'; 'Patrick Mead'
Subject: Neighorhood Organizing and the 50 State Strategy

Dear Party Leader, 

These are exciting and critical times for Democrats across Washington and
across the nation.  We realize that we must win the White House and expand
our majorities in Congress if we are to heal the many wounds created by
eight years of George Bush and six years of his rubber-stamp Congress.  

State Party Challenge

As we prepare for the 2008 election cycle in Washington we have two major
challenges on our plate -- running the February 9, 2008 Presidential
Precinct Caucuses in almost 7,000 precincts; and our State Party Challenge
(the new name for our Challenge from the Chair).  Both are opportunities to
expand our grassroots organizing in every neighborhood across the state.
Both are projects which will flow more smoothly as Democrats at the County,
LD, and Precinct level learn to use our new powerful online tool - Vote
Builder.  

We are challenging ourselves to step up our person-to-person organizing,
just as the DNC is issuing a similar challenge to Democrats nationwide.  The
DNC, operating through Howard Dean's 50 State Strategy, is calling on
Democrats to increase their neighborhood organizing efforts, and to record
the results of their efforts in Vote Builder.  

DNC House Parties – One Year Out

On Saturday, November 3, 2007 the DNC is asking Democrats across the nation
to host house parties in order to gather with other Democrats who care
deeply about the future of our country.  This is part of a plan to build a
national grassroots organization, state by state, that will be ready to
fight back in 2008.  In addition to receiving all of the materials they will
need to host an event, every house party host will receive a video briefing
on the national strategy and field plan featuring Gov. Howard Dean and other
party strategists.  This is the next phase in Howard Dean’s 50 State
Strategy.  You will receive more information on these house parties in the
coming weeks.  

(To provide you with background on the DNC program, I am forwarding to you a
Power Point presentation from the DNC laying our their analysis of the
changing politics in our nation, and what we as Democrats can do about it.
Click on the following link to access it online.      DNC
<http://www.wa-democrats.org/videos/DNC%20power%20point%20short%20version.pp
t>  Powerpoint

Profound Changes Underway in American Politics

Decline of The Ability of the Media to Reach People

The ways in which America receives news and information seems to change
almost annually.  Newspapers are in decline, as readership falls, classified
ads move to Craigslist, and young Americans fail to subscribe.  Seattle will
soon be a one paper town.  

Cable television has by-passed network television in viewership and
advertising revenues.  Declining network revenues are a major reason ABC,
NBC, and CBS show all those crappy, low budget, prime time reality shows.
No casts = no costs.  40% of TV viewers screen their shows with TIVO and do
not watch the commercials.  

Radio is shifting to non advertising satellite stations.  I personally am a
subscriber to SIRIUS radio – a great service as I drive around the state –
reception never fades.  The only commercial radio growing in America is
Spanish language radio.  

The number of land lines in America is shrinking fast.  In the State Party
Voter File we currently have phone numbers for about 75% of registered
voters.  But today 30% wireless users have no land line, and that number
rises steadily.  People of color disproportionately rely on cell phones.
68% of African American adults and 66 % of Hispanics own cell phones.

By 2009, 2/3rds of likely voters have internet capacity on their phone.  For
these people the cell phone may serve as their telephone, computer,
television, and music system.  

You Tube is one year old, and today receives 100 million “hits” (visitors) a
day.  325,000 people logged onto Barack Obama’s “Facebook” site, an online
community launched by a supporter with no clear connection to Obama’s
campaign.  Google will sell $18 billion in advertising this year.

Changing Demographics

Political demographics in America are changing rapidly, largely in ways
which can aid Democrats.  In my lifetime the US will become a majority
minority nation.  Franklin County recently became the first non-Caucasian
majority county in our state.  In 2008 10% of the votes cast nationwide will
be made by Hispanic voters.  This number will top 25% within 30 years.  

On September 9, 2007 the Democratic candidates for President participated in
a Spanish language debate on the Univision network.  It was the most widely
watched television show that day.  4.6 million of the nation’s 42 million
Hispanics watched the debate, or about one out of every ten Hispanics here
in the United States. By contrast, the average audience for all the
Presidential debates this year is 4.3 million. So this debate, targeting an
audience that is at most a tenth of the American population, delivered a
higher audience than the average of all the other Presidential debates this
year.

The Republicans are losing support in the Hispanic community, due to their
polarizing approach to immigration.  Their candidates refused to participate
in a Univision debate, an act which further alienated the Hispanic
community.  The Republican Party ran no Spanish language TV ads in 2006.

Changing the Ways We Contact Voters

The November 3, 2007 House Parties will urge Democrats across the nation to
change the ways in which we contact voters.  In Washington we are
incorporating these same principles in the State Party Challenge  – person
to person contact with our neighbors, then recording this information into
Vote Builder.  

Recent research finds that it takes:

§       389 contacts by mail to change one vote

§       460 phone calls to change one vote

§       14 personal, at the door contacts to change one vote

Please review the attached Power Point.  If you are intrigued or motivated
or passionate about its message, then organize, within your Legislative
District or County Party a house party to bring friends together to learn
about the ways in which we will effectively fight back in 2008   We will
also discuss ways in which we can incorporate the DNC plan into our work
based around hosting the February 9, 2008 Presidential Precinct Caucuses and
conducting the State Party Challenge.

Feel free to contact myself, Jaxon, or Tania Maria with any questions or
suggestions.

Democratically yours, 

Dwight Pelz

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