Retrospective: MA Democratic Convention
As I’m sure you’ve read from other blogs, and some comments on my Friday entry (great report, Jesse!), there was a fair amount of controversy generated by the process of the state Democratic party convention. To which I can only say, what were you expecting? This has been standard operating procedure for the state party for a number of years, and is not likely to change any time soon.
The Deval Patrick campaign operation certainly came on strong this weekend. This should come as no surprise, either. Patrick’s campaign is not the insurgent campaign that we saw four years ago from Bob Reich or Warren Tolman, but very much the insiders campaign. Patrick clearly has the backing of much of the state party establishment that followed John Kerry to Iowa and beyond. His language, however, reaches out to the social activists that want to believe that he is one of their own. Perhaps his strongest hook is a Dean-like insistence that the grassroot members of the party have a role to play.
Friday night of the convention I attended a party volunteer meeting where the field staff of the party laid out an embryonic approach to the next eighteen months’ field activity. The most interesting aspect of it appears to be an approach that will free local volunteers to do whatever they want, rather than relying on a top-down approach. At the same time, the communications staff intends to have a two-way conversation about what’s working in the community, so that new ideas would get tested at the pilot level and then the successful ideas would get pumped out to all activists state-wide.
Finally, look for some feedback here in the coming weeks. I intend to survey the delegates from my local senate district to find out their opinions about the convention and the party process, with an eye on letting people in the state committee know what we need to do more of and what we need to fix. I’ll share some of the conclusions on the blog.
The Deval Patrick campaign operation certainly came on strong this weekend. This should come as no surprise, either. Patrick’s campaign is not the insurgent campaign that we saw four years ago from Bob Reich or Warren Tolman, but very much the insiders campaign. Patrick clearly has the backing of much of the state party establishment that followed John Kerry to Iowa and beyond. His language, however, reaches out to the social activists that want to believe that he is one of their own. Perhaps his strongest hook is a Dean-like insistence that the grassroot members of the party have a role to play.
Friday night of the convention I attended a party volunteer meeting where the field staff of the party laid out an embryonic approach to the next eighteen months’ field activity. The most interesting aspect of it appears to be an approach that will free local volunteers to do whatever they want, rather than relying on a top-down approach. At the same time, the communications staff intends to have a two-way conversation about what’s working in the community, so that new ideas would get tested at the pilot level and then the successful ideas would get pumped out to all activists state-wide.
Finally, look for some feedback here in the coming weeks. I intend to survey the delegates from my local senate district to find out their opinions about the convention and the party process, with an eye on letting people in the state committee know what we need to do more of and what we need to fix. I’ll share some of the conclusions on the blog.
posted by Patrick Abegg @ 6:08 PM
2 Comments:
At 6:25 PM,
Abby said…
What are your opinions of the different candidates. Whenever I hear about O'Reilly or Galvin, I think that Patrick is the one to go with, but then I listened to Patrick's speech oline, and I was unimpressed.
My single biggest issue is reforming healthcare, but nobody is radical enough for me on that score.
At 11:00 PM,
Patrick Abegg said…
First of all, I believe that the real Democratic candidate is "Not-Romney." That is, the election will be all about the incumbent, and that the real difference will be made at the grassroots.
What most people miss, when they spend so much time worrying about the candidates, is that any Democratic governor would (a) follow the legislature's lead on legislation, and (b) bring back good people into the state bureaucracy, where many people have left or become discouraged.
For instance, on health care, the legislature will really craft the solution on this issue, and the governor will be responsible for implementing it. So the best question for you would be, which candidate can bring the best health care reformers to the table?
My questions are: does Galvin want it enough, can Reilly tell us why he wants it, and what exactly does Patrick want to do besides inspire us?
My personal commitment is to work towards building a unified Democratic Party for the day after the primary. If that means I'm not on anyone's team right now, so be it. All I'm certain of is that Massachusetts can't afford another Democratic loss in November 2006.
Post a Comment
<< Home