To do the plan proposed for five CDs the group has to organize 130+ precincts ("wards" in Wisconsin) per week for eight months. Doesn't this seem too big to organize on a volunteer basis?

I also don't want to rely on progressive activists. To pull something this big off all the Dem Party coalition needs to be pulling on the oars, including political bosses and their patronage armies, unions, Black churches, students and progressive activists. If the Democratic Party is scared enough to work together, it should be a powerful force.

Good luck in Minnesota. It seems like doing a project like this hubbed out of Twin Cities going after five-six districts in Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin and maybe even the Dakotas and eastern Nebraska.

But this only peripherally connects with this proposal.

I'm for shooting for wins in more districts than the cureent Dem leadership. But it's a waste of resources to recruit candidates that can't win.

What's your plan to have the DNC fund a captain in every precinct?

I love your enthusiasm but you seem to want to sprint to the finish before you can walk.  This is a marathon.  We need to do this with the next 50 years in mind, not just the next 2.  We may not see super results in 2006 but if we start in this area and other groups start, by 2008 or 2012 we may have a precint captain in every state and precint.  Ultimately, that should be the goal but remember a journey of a 1000 miles begins with a single step.  Don't kill an idea by trying to bite off more than can be chewed.  Seems we as a party and other progressive issue groups have been doing this as of late and it has been hurting their cause more than helping.  Patience Grasshopper...I know it is hard with Alfred E Neumann and the usual gand of idiots running the country, but we need to concentrate on establishing ourselves and setting the table for the next 50 years instead of just for the next 4.  

And most of us are expecting to be indicted by the DOJ attorneys, anyway.

This is a good idea, although your (or someone's) point about cost and managing something of this scope is well-taken. Right now, you could start regionally, planning and beginning to look at voter rolls and identified direct-mail lists for who your people might be. Sometime mid-2005 is when you start recruiting your leadership for a January 2006 kickoff nationwide.

In some states/precincts (Virginia, Twin Cities, etc.) there are major elections next year, so you could run test models a la SEIU/ACT's GOTV test-runs in Wisconsin and Philadelphia in 2003 and March, 2004. Then you'd know where your weaknesses were and what sort of infrastructure you'd need for the big dance.

Also what you'd need to do now is identify how to manage the terabytes of data you're going to have to process. If I were to guess, part of the reason why neither ACT, nor KE04, nor the GOP did a full-scale nation-wide program is because of the inability to manage the amount of data that entails. As a result, we did targeted precincts, and managed the data locally. It actually worked well for both sides, but they had a wider scope and better coordination than we did.

The lesson is that whoever recruits the precinct leaders needs to be ready to follow all the way through and run the GOTV. Everything in-between would also be included, such as building community, keeping people motivated, and raising money. In effect, you would be replacing the county party organization. If that's the case, wouldn't a better alternative be simply to run for county party offices, taking over the infrastructure already in place?

Both these two are weasels in their own right. I wouldn't get complicated and try to tie them to DeLay with "low attention" voters. I'd make the case that they are opportunists. Their statements and actions that are designed to project "moderation" are cynical calculations so they can do what's necessary to acquire power. Sorta reversing the way the GOP portrays Dems waffling or evolving opinions as being cynical.

But even if the Dems don't win it will be easier to convince Kirk and Biggert to break with party leadership if they are getting lots of contacts on an issue from a district-wide precinct organization.

BTW, from what I hear Gash was a strong candidate that ran the wrong campaign. The national Dem consultants pushed her to raise money and run banal TV ads. It took Gash out of her forte of retail politics and discussing her legislative record which included many respectable accomplishments. Instead they had her sitting on a bench with her mom on TV and talking about prescription drugs. Wrong campaign for the wrong district.