I want to hear someone defend grassroots Liberalism and I think this question leads to that.

Then, what sort of gotv program do the Democrats need to build that fits the demographics of our voters?

Starting the aftermath of the 2002 midterm elections and accelerating in response to the Iraq War, this last election cycle saw an unprecedented number of what we might call "new people" getting involved in politics.  Some of these people were new to politics, some had been active in their youth, but had not volunteered or donated money for years.  While the reasons these "new people" were not previously involved are varied, and while they were animated by a range of issues, the difference in this last cycle was their belief that their participation would make a difference.

In the wake of the disappointment of this election, and the possibility that many of the "new people" will revert to their previous non-participation:

What will you do to keep these people interested in political activism?

What will you do to get these people to be active in the Democratic Party, as opposed to a campaign that was focused on defeating a Bush?

What would you do to encourage state and local parties to attract and welcome the "new people?"

On another and slightly related subject.  The presidential primaries/caucuses left most of the country feeling that it had no impact on the process.

Do you support changes in the presidential primary system, and if so, what changes and why?

The Republican "ownership society" platform links directly to their messages of small government, less taxes, pro-small business, etc... which then lead to their policy initiatives of reforming SS, reforming the tax code, etc...

With all those reforms, sounds like the Reps. will become associated with the word.

So again, what will we do to create a 4C message that all candidates can run on, and what can we do to once again become the party associated with reform.

It's pathetic that basic American values still have to be sold to the American people, but it's absolutely true.  The Dems need to be the party that lifts up our Bill of Rights from the garbage heap the Reps have thrown it into.  We have to be able to sell the Constitution to the American people as if it were a new concept, because for 51% of the voters, it surely is!  

1. "What makes you think that after the DNC did virtually nothing, as little as possible in the face of obvious election tampering, election fraud and yet another stolen election that people are going to fall in line and vote for whichever candidate you put up in the next election?"

2. "What makes you think that after doing virtually nothing to stop rampant job outsourcing for more than a decade that the millions of un-employed who are deliberately ignored by the government and both political parties are going to support your party?"

3. "What makes you think that after voting for the Bush agenda down the line that people actually are stupid enough to continue to believe there is any real or meaningful difference between Democrats and Republicans?

That's enough..obviously I got carried away....

a. Do you consider yourself to be a born-again Christian?

b. Do you believe in the Rapture?

If yes to either a. or b., end interview immediately and move on the the next interviewee.

B) Would you draft and promote a progressive Democratic corollary to the infamous 1994 Contract With/On America, to clearly set forth the historic principles that bind us as Democrats, that reaffirm why the Democratic Party is the party for ordinary Americans, and that commits us to a defined set of measurable goals, beginning after the 2006 midterm elections?

C) Would you ever set foot, even for a moment in the actual, physical office building/palace that Terry McAuliffe built for himself with our money(realizing that your chief of staff and vice chairs could do that to administer Committee business), and if not, would you commit to be 100% either on the road, helping federal candidates, doing those TV remote interviews from Members' district offices instead of from DC, or else in DC only for the purpose of meeting Members and other important groups, at their place, on Capitol Hill?

But as long as everyone wants to remain serious. My big point for the day is simple.....
OPEN LOCAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY OFFICES PERMANENTLY.
We need to be hanging around them, having a coke there, meeting people face to face.

Define these labels in terms of ideology:

• Liberal

• Moderate

• Centrist

• Conservative

-- zabouti (Chapel Hill, NC)

In the answer, I'd like to see acknowledgement that the media is hostile to us, rather than to Republicans and that public pressure will be brought to bear to get fairer coverage (or no coverage of obvious Republican lies).

How will you determine the new message?

What makes people anxious about modernity? How should the Democrats respond?

What's the biggest risk you took in life that worked out? What's the biggest risk you took that flopped?

What's the job the DNC chair? How have previous DNC chairs interpretted the job? How will you interpret it differently?

In the Congressional races between '96 and '04 (five cycles) could the Dems have won back Congress in any of these races? How?

How should the Democrats organize for Congressional campaigns?

What's wrong with the process of nominating presidental candidates?

Should the party implement rules that limit the number of delegates that one candidate can win in any given state to force the primary process to include more states?

In four years, how should we evaluate if your term has been successful?

Why did the GOP win in 1994? Why did Bush win in 2004?

How should the Democrats handle economic globalization?

How long can the Democratic Party continue to function while out of power at the federal level? How long before powerful constituencies and ideologies in the Democatic Party decide they are bettter-off as third party movements than as coalition partners in a party perpetually out of power?

What will a winning Democratic coalition include? How will it be different from winning coaltions of the past?

Get that question answered, and you're off to the races.

2.) Would you favor shutting down Congress to compel DeLay and Haster to allow a vote on HR 2239, the Verified Paper Ballot legislation?

3.) Would you use your influence to keep errant Democrats from giving Bush and the Republican party political cover on destroying Social Security? What tactics and punitive measures would you encourage the party to apply to wayward Democrats who collaborate with the enemy?

4.) On a panel discussion hosted by CSPAN Carl Cammeron said Republicans put out 25-30 pieces of opposition research for every 6 that Democrats put out and that was typical of the whole campaign.

5.) Are you aware that Ken Muelmann, Rove and the Swiftboat vets have raised the bar for negative campaigning? Are you prepared to match their negative campaigning tactics even if the media doesn't approve? What plans to you have to improve the opposition research of the Democratic party to match the GOPers in 2006?

6.) Will you provide assertiveness training seminars to Democrats who are in dire need of spinal adjustment?

7.) Are you willing to sacrifice corporate contributions if that is necessary to push middle class and working poor kitchen table economic issues?

8.) What haven't Democrats complained more aggressively about massive Republican deficits? Where is the Democratic party's Senator Proxmire who publicly condemns specific Republican pork barrel spending projects?

9.) Are Democrats too busy feeding off the leftover scraps of pork barrel spending to have any legitimacy in criticizing Republicans?

10.) What steps are you willing to endorse to assure the American people that the Democratic party will put a stop to pork barrel spending?

11.) Is the Democratic party capable of ending corporate welfare?

How will you respond if voting rights activists within the party make such pledges an issue in candidate nomination processes?

Why didn't the DNC immediately upon announcement final totals take full financial responsibility for funding of the recounts in the Washington State governor's race? As DNC chair, would you have done anything different there?

Will you as DNC chair ask the Carter Center for a full report on voting process integrity in the 2004 election, and use the full resources of the position of DNC chair to ensure it's implementation? Will you ask for aid from the international community if barriers are placed to prevent a full implementation of recommendations of a GAO or Carter Center report?

A. Tell the Young Democrats to hold for a minute because you need to take the call

B. Tell your assistant to take a message because the future of the Party is more important than the past

C. Fire your assistant for violating your rule against anyone in the DNC talking to From

• your 30 second response
  
• your 1 minute response
  
• your five minute response

What would the new DNC do to assert county-level authority in a fashion that would allow:

1. The repair of Dem-controlled districts that were ill-prepared for voting volume, irregularities, difficulties, innovations, etc.

2. The emergence of Dems to either control or at least assert a strong voice in more county elections offices.

If Dean would study recent history, he would realize how absurd his remark really is.  Anyone reading this remember President Clinton?  When he was chief executive, he worked with Republicans on everything from Supreme Court appointments to welfare reform.  He was the Democratic model for Reagan bipartisanship.  And no one in the democratic party will dare argue that he wasnt a successful president.

Fast forward to the present and Dean and Soros and move on are shifting left, left, left.  Why, following a three million vote defeat of a classic liberal, would the party want to go even farther in that direction, thereby conceding half of the electoral map?

I would like to ask, given President Clinton and this past election, why rely on a losing strategy?  Why not swallow your pride and embrace the strategy that can win?

On a personal note, please visit the home of my organization Republicans and Democrats for Positive and Issue Oriented Politics (http://www.rdpiop.com).  We have launched our Revolution '06 campaign, so please feel free to visit, sign up, read stories, from 150 newspapers daily, and correspond on our blog as well.

1. Do you see an opportunity to strengthen the party by making progressive politics a more appealing professional path?  If yes, how would you do it?  

2. Do you see an opportunity to strengthen the party by encouraging party donors to support new initiatives by outside groups?  If yes, how would you reach out to political entrepreneurs launching new initiatives?

3. A common criticism of the Democratic party is that jobs are given on the basis of political jockeying rather than merit.  Do you agree with this criticism?  If yes, how would you go about addressing that problem?

4. Would you give any priority to any of the interesting ideas you just put forth, or is this just part of a job interview for you?  Can you convince us in 30 seconds that your answers aren't just lip service?

• What is your position on campaigning in the South?

• What is your position on national support for state and local party organizations?

One of Chris' commenters would like to open out the convention to be a sort of trade show.

I think this is a good idea, but I'd like to see it in the context of a mid-term convention, a la 1974. Consultants, software vendors, media producers could all take booths (revenue producing for the party) and "sell" their wares and themselves to the party, to state parties, to candidates. Potential candidates (for Congress, Senate, President) could be available and on display too, to be vetted by attendees.

By the way, we got this notice from a member of the DNC from California:

"Several members of the California Delegation to the DNC will be conducting a hearing on January 15, 2005 from 12 noon till 4 PM on Saturday, January 15, 2005, at which members of Democratic Party Members are invited to address the members of the DNC.  This is a great opportunity to let us know your views on the future of the Party, its direction, and your thoughts on the next chair as we will also getting together the following week to interview candidates for chair and this hearing may help influence our questioning of the candidates as well as our eventual votes for Chair at our meeting in Washington, D.C. in February.
 
There will be no speeches, nor responses from DNC members as we want to hear from you and to do so would detract from your input.  We are listening!"

We are listening! they say. Well, let's hope so. I plan to be there, along with a number of other Santa Barbara activisits.

If somebody is actually running for DNC Chair and answer's YES, you need a follow-up...

FOLLOW-UP QUESTION: Did that strategy prove to be successful in winning the election?

1. Are you aware of the Republican Noise Machine? [David Brock]

2. If so, what do you intend to do to counter it?

1. Are you willing to become the Karl Rove of our party? Are you willing to fight dirty? I mean it. Are you willing to have the cameras rolling so that the Republican candidate will be caught by the news media with a dead hooker?

2. Are you ready to forgo short term gain for long term electability? Are you willing to play "pretend" with the DLC'ers, liberal and other wings of the party, the news media, indeed, the American people, and instead focus on leadership that is simply about being a plain spoken man of your word (so long as the cameras are rolling that is)?

3. How will you try to inspire people? Not, your policies or idealogy, but do you "get" the American dream?

4. Tell me why you think we lost the last few election cycles? Why do you think Clinton won?

5. Describe leadership to me using 4 core principles?

6. Use five words to decribe the enemy? Use 5 to describe Democrats?

7. Where would you like to see the Republicans in 5, 10 and 20 years?

8. What about us? Where would you like to see us?

Will you target based on precinct performance or do you believe that with modern technology we can cherry pick Democrats even in the reddest of counties or states?

How will you involve the grassroots in the day to day activities of the party?

Will you have a conversation with red America?  Will you talk at them or listen to them? What specifically have you done to date to validate that you will do this?

Who will you promote as talking heads for the party?  Will they be diverse?

Will promoting Democrats on security be a top priority?

Will you look for the best innovators or will you keep the same circle of people on as advisors?  Who are those people?

Do you think either party has really adjusted to a post 9-11 America?  Should Democrats?  How would the DNC facilitate such a thing?

Will you build the permanent research and communications staff to match the republicans that has been promised so many times before?

What have you done that prepares you for this job?

How would you work to counter this strategy?

(This is left open on purpose so that people can claim we need to be Republican lites and we can reject them and so people can ignore voting irregularities so we can reject them.)

(2) Will you empower the precinct-level organizations by establishing a structure that they control to counterbalance the influence of large donors?

(3) Will you further empower them to have influence on national and state-wide policy and strategy, as well as in their own back yards?

(4) Will you put everyone in the Democratic Party--from Senators and ex-Presidents on down to precinct-level organizers--through a 1-day workshop on framing, designed by the Rockridge Institute?

(5) Will you develop a permanent infrastructure for framing positive initiatives by Democrats and responses to Republican initiatives?

(6) Will you fight until every last vote is counted, rather than turning tail, like Kerry did?

(7) Will you promote a amendment to put the right to vote into the Constitution?

(8) Will you aggressively recruit Iraq War veterans to run against GOP chickenhawks and take back the House in 2006?

(9) Will you call George Bush a liar?

1.  What can you do to reassure me that when they sit you down next to the likes of Enron Ed and stick a camera in your face that you won't wilt like hot lettuce?

2.  During the third debate, Bob Shieffer said he got more emails on the subject of immigration than any other topic.  Are you intent on tapdancing around this like every other double-talking political hack, or do you have the guts to face the big elephant that's sitting in the middle of the room that nobody wants to talk about?

1.   If you've spent most of your career in Washington -- Rosenberg, Frost, Roemer, Ickes -- how will you understand what the grassroots is talking about?  If you've spent most or your career outside Washington -- Kirk, Fowler, Dean, Webb, Malcolm -- how will you understand Washington?

2.  Are you actually committed to running -- Webb, Frost, Fowler -- or are you just thinking that you maybe should consider possibly putting yourself and your reputation on the line -- Dean, Rosenberg, Malcolm, Ickes, Kirk, Roemer?

Or, how to debunk the liberal stereotype that democrats love abortion and celebrate in the streets when one is performed....?