Hello, fellow Democrats! I'm part of a group called Frederick Blue. We're a group of (currently) nine people in Frederick County, Maryland building a communications infrastructure for the local Democratic Party. It's the first phase of our plan to turn our "red" county "blue" in 5-10 years.
Frederick County is currently solidly, but not overwhelmingly, Republican. It's a red enclave in a blue state, and looks like Maryland and the nation in microcosm. It's got a good-sized city in the middle, suburbs scattered throughout, and a large part of it is still rural. Reflecting its German heritage (Bavarian farmers settled this area in the mid-1700s), Frederick County is generally conservative, but not right-wing.
However, right-wing candidates here have begun using the Southern GOP playbook (raise lots of Bible Belt and Big Business money, then foist trumped-up social issues on voters) to oust mainstream Republicans in primaries. Then they go after Dems in general elections.
Disgusted by what Republicans are doing nationally, alarmed by what GOP candidates are doing locally, and frustrated with our own party's limp response, we nine members of Frederick Blue got together to turn things around, starting at the local level. The group includes a Web server administrator, an entrepreneur, a pastry chef, a software engineer, and a couple of ex-military folks.
First, we drafted a plan to create a new Web site for the county Party, and new systems to help local Dems communicate and organize: listservs, online bulletin boards, a member database, the works. The plan also calls for launching a political news/opinion online newspaper centered on the County.
This communications infrastructure will be the foundation upon which we'll build a powerful Democratic organization in the County. Within five years, we want to see a couple of thousand dues-paying members, organized down to the block level, spreading the good word about Democratic principles, and working to get our candidates elected.
Once everything is operational (we're aiming for a mid-spring rollout), we'll make the tools, techniques, and templates that we develop available free to any Democrat who wants them. We'd love to see other local Democratic groups use them!
Frederick Blue is not some sort of rebel-alternative Democratic offshoot. We welcome the engagement of "establishment" Democrats, and welcome any support we can get from the state and national parties. In the long run, we expect to integrate this with the DNC's contest-every-seat strategy, but we're not waiting for the DNC--there are some big elections in Maryland this year.
I will be posting here every week or two with updates on our progress. Let's all break out the blue paint!
Photo from our first meeting at a member's house:
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