Submitted by DCblogger on Thu, 03/14/2013 - 11:23am
We are having a special election for DC City Council At Large, and a candidate, who shall remain nameless, is complaining about his posters being torn down. The poster wars are a feature of every campaign and no one cares save the candidates. Ordinary people regard political posters as little better than litter. Read below the fold...
Submitted by twig on Tue, 11/06/2012 - 2:04pm
I'm not sure if this is as bad as it looks, but I'm interested in seeing what other people think. In danps's post on emergent party laziness, I commented that Greens were irrelevant in California, because other than the presidential race, there are none on our ballot. Boy, was I wrong.
I completely forgot about the recently passed "top two" legislation, which is now spreading to other states -- where it is preventing third parties from even appearing on voters' ballots.
Here's "top two" in a nutshell: Read below the fold...
Submitted by DCblogger on Thu, 03/31/2011 - 6:46pm
I chose New Jersey because it has voter registration by party and has elections this year.
2000
12,944 registered Independents, no other emergent parties listed
2004
18,077 registered Independents
632 registered Green
448 Libertarian
56 Natural Law Party
97 Reform Party
62 US Constitution Party
2008
154 Conservative Party
953 Green Party
1023 Libertarian
29 Natural Law
67 Reform
117 US Constitution
2010
1001 Green Party
1387 Libertarian
65 Reform Party
136 Constitution
31 Natural Law
317 Conservative
2011
1008 Green
1441 Libertarian
63 Reform
138 Constitution
31 Natural Law
337 Conservative
note - the Independent Party disappears after 2004 Read below the fold...
Submitted by DCblogger on Thu, 02/10/2011 - 7:31pm
In my limited experience, emergent parties lack what I call the discipline of winning. Their members are usually well informed on issues, but lack the knowledge of nuts and bolts get-out-the-vote operations. So here is my list of things that every local emergent party committee should have in order to win, if not this year, then by 2016.
Every local committee must have a chair, which they already do. This chair must be able to recruit and delegate. Read below the fold...
Submitted by DCblogger on Fri, 02/04/2011 - 1:19pm
After campaign finance reform passed in 1975, limiting contributions, a new breed of fundraiser emerged, the bundler. Bundlers contact numerous contributors and put together large pools of money. If you know 1,000 people who are able to donate $1,000, you can raise a million dollars. If those thosand people know other donors, you can put together a very powerful money raising network. People who assemble such networks flex some very powerful muscles.
They are not interested in emergent party candidates who will get 1% of the vote if they are lucky.
Except...
Except when they get sick of the cynicism, and sick of the never ending calls for ever more contributions. Some of these people needs to go over to the emergent party cause. Read below the fold...
Submitted by DCblogger on Wed, 02/02/2011 - 5:28pm
Digby
Pushing The Left
Lynch basically wants to put the Democratic Party up for bid to big business, telling labor and liberals in the party to get with the program or shut the hell up. The people shall have no say in who represents them. This shall be done solely by the powers that be
.
We're not wanted. What do you think that Rahm meant when he said "Fuck the UAW." What do you think Andrew Cuomo means by busting public employee unions. We are not wanted. Read below the fold...
Submitted by DCblogger on Sat, 01/08/2011 - 2:47pm
Submitted by DCblogger on Sat, 11/20/2010 - 3:59pm
Next year the entire state legislatures of Virginia, New Jersey, and Kentucky will be up for election. Also, there will be municipal elections across the country.
If you are thinking of running for office as a Green or any other emergent party, local office is the way to go. At the local level personal and volunteer energy can often make up for a lack of funds. A modest direct mail combined with an narrowly targeted online advertising will be all the formal advertising you need. TV and radio usually do not play a role in municipal politics. Read below the fold...
