Is so, what will the Party do to show the electorate that eradicating poverty is its fundamental moral concern?

If not, what does the Democratic Party view as its primary moral concern?

I'd add a question about compensation of media consultants. "Should the compensation system be changed? What role should the chair of the DNC play?"

Top Qs from the list:

• What's the most concise way you can describe the duties and responsibilities of the chair of the Democratic National Committee?
  
• How will you allocate resources differently?
  
• What if the Democratic Party bureaucracy resists your changes? How will you deal with resistance to change from within the party?
  
• What is the major factor that has kept the Democratic Party from winning in the last two presidential elections and the last six congressional elections?
  
• How should the Dems organize to be more effective?
  
• How much of the party's problems are caused by shortcomings of the party agenda? How much of the problem is communicating the message to the electorate? How should the Democratic Party create an agenda?
  
• How can Democrats more effectively use the media?
  
• What is your strategy for achieving verifiable voting? Should this be the top legislative priority for the Democrats?
  
• Assume you are elected chair of the party. How should Democrats measure your effectiveness as party chair?

What kind of training sessions should our future party activists be going through in the near future, ie. what areas of focus?

Would they commit to a "mobile training effort," so folks don't have to travel to D.C. even if they live in Calif, Chicago, etc... 100 cities a year maybe, blue and red states?

A bit on the resources that would make a real effort in this vein possible.

Tim

Do you have a distinct strategy to appeal to these voters? Can we still win this group decisively with economic appeals or do we have to compromise on guns, gays, or abortion to win or do we just write this group off as draw?

DId you support the invasion of Iraq, and why?

How do you stop George Bush from privatizing Social Security?

Do you think corporations are exercizing undue influence in the governance of our country?

1)  The Republicans have huge base of highly skilled and well organized volunteers.  They do not only come out at election time, they work all year, every year, to promote Republican candidates and Republican ideology.  

a)  How can we build a similar base of volunteers?

b)  How can we get the to work with each other?

c)  Does a Democrat of any consequence ever say anything without another Democrat of consequence immediately criticizing it in public?  Do you think that there is anything that can be done to reduce or eliminate this?

2)  This last election cycle produced a whole new population of politically active and politically interested persons.  What will you do to convince these people to become active Democrats?

a)  What will you do to make the state and local parties encourage these people to become active?

b)  What will you do to convince people that becoming active in their state and local Democratic Parties is worthwhile?

3.  What will you do to bring the Democratic Party out of the Beltway?  And out of the Beltway mentality?

4.  Can you give one example from this last election cycle of a mistake by the DNC that you would never want to make?

5.  Name a Democrat of significance with whom you disagree on a major issue.  Tell us what you will do to make sure that this person stays in the party and works to get our candidates elected and our policies promoted.

b)  Have you ever tried something like this and been successful?

6.  Can you convince Hillary Clinton that she would best serve her country and her party by remaining in the senate?

7.  Do you think the primary/caucus system should be changed?  If so:

b)  How are going to get Democrats in Iowa and New Hampshire to go along with these changes?

Yes, it's important to see what he thinks he can do to stop Bush from privatizing social security. It's important to know how he plans to allocate resources (of course, he'd duck this one with a lame "we'll look at what we have and see where we need to expend, but mostly we need to build blah blah blah). I'd even like to see how he would like to be judged.

But there are much more important questions that Simon needs to answer if he's going to be DNC Chair...and they're questions that really go to his ability to LEAD our party in the Bush/Delay/Frist/Rove era.

1. For starters, Simon, what are your campaign credentials? Who have you worked for, and what did you do on those campaigns? What have you won? On a similar note, you claim to have "run" the Clinton campaign in 1992.  What, exactly, did you "run?"

Were you the campaign manager?
Were you the lead strategist?
Did you come up with the message?

The answers, by the way, are "no, no and no," and if Simon (a famous self-promoter) is happy to take credit for something that was so obviously somebody else's work, why on earth would people want to work with him.

Which, by the way, leads us to the next question.

2. In the past 2 1/2 years, somewhere in the neigborhood of 20 employees have quit NDN. That's a lot of turnover for an organization that's not so big to begin with. Simon, as head of the organization, what is it about your management style that people find so objectionable, and how would you do things differently as head of the large organization that is the Democratic National Committee?

And about that middle word..."National."

On 11/4, just 2 days after the election, you told NPR, "In the '80s and '90s, the Holy Grail was for Democrats to break through in the South. Well, certainly you can see a map now where we can win presidential elections without winning any Southern states. We almost did it this time. We came up one state short. Obviously, it would be better for us to be competitive in all regions of the country, but it's not necessary."

3. Simon, do you really think the Democratic National Committee should be headed by somebody willing to write off a significant chunk of the nation? Wouldn't we be better served as a party by a chairman who wants to encourage the party to grow in the South, rather than a chair who thinks several states are "not necessary?"

4. When's the last time you got your hands dirty on a campaign?

5. When's the last time you were "in the field," and what have you ever done at the grass-roots level?

6. As somebody who has a lot of respect for what Howard Dean did to engage the grass roots of the Democratic party (yet--full disclosure--isn't sure that Dean is the right choice for chair, either), I have to wonder, Simon, if you have a "core" And if so...where is it?  

You spent the last decade or so at the DLC and NDN promoting "centrist" New Democrats, but now you're cozying up to grass roots activists and others  by branding yourself a "reformer." What, exactly, have you reformed from the confines of your office at the NDN?

Sorry to disrupt the love fest, but we can't afford to put a chair in place that can't answer tough questions. And we can't afford a chair who wins us over with a bait-and-switch...claiming to be a reformer but unable to present the credentials.  

What we need is a chair with grass roots credentials. What we need is a chair who has been in the trenches, who has gotten his or her hands dirty, and who has the will to be a real reformer.

Finally, we need a chair who wants to win. A chair who refuses to write off an enitre section of the country just because we haven't won there in a while (Montana, anyone?).

I guess the question for the rest of us is: "Is Simon Rosenberg the chair we need?" And when you really think about it, the answer can't be anything but a resounding "No."

We all know this is BS... they are for small gov't except if it applies to military, security and law-n-order... but not white collar crime law-n-order. And we all know they have serious moral issues as well...

Regardless they have made these memes stick in th epublic mind.

So without saying 'we aren't them'... What do democrats stand for?

And how do you plan to get this message out so we aren't spending all of 2006 and 2008 trying to redine ourselves (after the GOP has defined us already)?

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?