Louisiana Democrats pondering the drubbing we've been taking in federal elections lately (with a few prominent exceptions) should read conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly's 1964 book "A Choice, Not an Echo."
In that book, written as an endorsement of Barry Goldwater's bid to win the Republican nomination for the presidency that year, Schlafly called on her party to return to its conservative roots and declared that the party would find electoral success would only come if it embraced a separate identity from Democrats. Republicans, she said, needed to stop being the 'me, too' party.
Charlie Melancon's crushing defeat on November 2 should send a clear message to Louisiana Democrats. The message is not, as Republican mouthpieces would have us believe, 'drop dead.' It is not that the party and our candidates have no future in Louisiana politics.
The message is that Democrats will not win elections again in Louisiana unless and until our candidates stop runing as though we are the "me, too" party of Louisiana, The road to electoral success for Louisiana Democrats will open up when Louisiana Democrats stop trying to sell ourselves as Republican Lite.
The message from last week's election was clear. Republicans know who their candidates are and they are not going to settle for anything less than the 'real thing' — even when that 'real thing' has a personal history that flies in the face of much of what that party once stood for as David Vitter's personal history and the way he's managed his Senate office do. Republicans know they want that real thing. Only some Democrats (and their consultants) think Republicans are willing to accept imitations.
Heading into a Senate election year, some Democratic elected officials hope to heal internal leadership division by getting state chairman Chris Whittington to step aside. Several political sources say Whittington has agreed to resign his office if Democrats can come up with a consensus candidate that gain the support of the governing body, the Democratic State Central Committee.
The question is whether the DSCC can come to a consensus on this issue. Stay tuned ...
It is the middle of 2009, the middle of a heated national debate about monumental issues like health care reform, energy policy, and re-regulating the financial industry. There is an incumbent Republican United State Senator up for re-election next year who has moral and ethical problems that would put even other Republican members of the Senate to shame. The seat is there for the taking (with a fight, no doubt, but more winnable than anyone had expected it to be after Vitter won election in 2004).
We have a Republican Governor who trashed federal stimulus spending while bragging about the state's economic performance - which has been fueled by years of federal disaster relief dating back to the storms of 2005 and those since. That same governor is in the process of dismantling the public health delivery system by shutting down public hospitals - a long-cherished dream of Republicans and a mission that Jindal has pursued since his days working for Mike Foster.
But, the Louisiana Democratic Party is no where to be found in any of this. Not standing up for our President. Not working with candidates to develop a strategy to take Vitter's seat. Not pointing out Jindal's budgetary hypocrisy (fueled by his apparently incurable case of Blind Ambition). Not working with legislators and local government leaders to deal with the upcoming reapportionment of political districts after the 2010 Census.
The party's absence is directly attributable to the person who sits as chairman, Christopher Whittington. The actions of the executive director Whittington hired as part of his re-election bid has made the party the target of at least two lawsuits.
The highly regarded communications director left shortly after the executive director did.
The entire staff of the party consists of two people, neither of which has any executive power. They are merely at the party's Government Street headquarters in Baton Rouge to turn the lights on and off, answer the phone and get the mail.
The Jefferson/Jackson Dinner in Baton Rouge two weeks ago was a farce. James Carville spoke, but for less than 10 minutes. There were no statewide elected officials in attendance. Senator Mary Landrieu was not there. There were about seven members of the state Legislature in attendance. The event started late and ended early. The speaking ended before 8 p.m. Had Rep. Karen Carter Peterson not given a stem-winder of an address that out-lasted Carville's talk, the event would have lasted less than 30 minutes.
Word is now that Whittington has said that the party will not hire an executive director at this critical time, that "we are going to take a vacation from that."
Imagine that. A political organization taking a vacation from political work.
Anyone who has watched Whittington fight to keep his job while letting the party's work wither will not find this as a surprise. Whittington's fight has always been about keeping control of the party apparatus so that he and his cronies can keep control of the money and the favors that flow through the state party during election cycles.
The crony list includes lawyers, consultants and various hangers-on.
Meanwhile, the party does not do the basic work of crafting a message, registering voters, and winning elections.
But, that's OK with Whittington because, again, this is not about politics. It's about control of money and favors.
There are people on the Democratic State Central Committee and even on the party's executive committee whose efforts guaranteed Whittington's re-election who are now said to be disenchanted with the course things have taken. That course is no different now than it was when they worked and voted for Whittington; he is still playing the same game only now those former allies find that Whittington does not care about the party and its fate. They are shocked! Shocked I tell you! That this petty little man has turned on them.
The sad fact is that the party's constitution and by-laws are such a shambles that any attempt to oust Whittington is a waste of time and effort. He and his various legal advisers twist the interpretation of those rules to make them say whatever it is that serves Whittington's purposes.
This is not a political organization. This is not a political party. It is a club run by an ever-shrinking group of insiders who are determined to hold control of the organization for the sole purpose of demonstrating that they can.
Every additional day that Chris Whittington holds the otherwise meaningless title of "Chairman" of the Louisiana Democratic Party is further proof of his complete and total disregard for the well-being of the party and its interests.
Chris Whittington has brought this party to the brink of ruin. Why is he holding on? Why is the state central committee letting him?
While some of the many Louisiana elected officials that call themselves Democrats were in attendance at the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner (Congressman Charlie Melancon, PSC Commissioner Foster Campbell, State Rep. Karen Carter-Peterson, Mayor Cedric Glover, Mayor Jacques Roy, and a handful of state legislators in both chambers, as well as a few local elected officials), the fact remains that there are personality conflicts amongst the power brokers within the Louisiana Democratic Party. For the good of the party, they need to get over it, and come together to remove Chris Whittington from the chairmanship, and appoint a wartime consigliere to oversee the 2010 elections.
I sit tonight in New Orleans to write about the future of a once proud organization that has struggled to remain vibrant since Hurricane Katrina blew ashore. Prior to the hurricane, candidates for elective office won their elections simply by being on the Democratic Party's ballot line. Unfortunately, that is no longer the case for many elected offices throughout the state. To be fair, the decline of the Louisiana Democratic Party (LDP) started long before Hurricane Katrina. Like the manifest problems inherent in the City of New Orleans, the hurricane simply made it clear that there were (and are) structural problems with the LDP.
The point of this post is to lay out what I, as a longtime Democratic activist and blogger, see as the steps necessary to return the LDP to the prominence it once enjoyed. These steps must take what Dr. King once described as the fierce urgency of NOW ... particularly since the LDP no longer has an Executive Director or a Field Director, nor, at some point in the next few weeks (if it hasn't happened already) a Communications Director. Those steps are:
1. Fundraising: This is the holy grail. Nothing I write below can happen unless the fundraising happens first. The very first thing that a new Executive Director must do is to convince the Democratic elected officials that represent us in Baton Rouge and in Washington, D.C. is that annual party dues are necessary and vital. Obviously, the dues will be progressive ... with a statewide elected official paying much, much more than a state legislator or a City Mayor. But the days of elected officials just taking what they can get from the LDP and giving nothing in return must be over. This initial influx of cash will help the LDP start implementing what needs to be done.
In addition, to get potential Democratic donors to open their wallets to the LDP in this economy, there needs to be a vision. And that vision is below:
2. Field: This is where we rebrand the LDP. We need to have a field operation headed by a statewide field director, who, along with regional directors, will seek out and enlist volunteers to knock on doors throughout the state for every single election from here on out. The days of relying solely on a media campaign (either on the airwaves or in the mail) to get the Democratic message out are over.
As an activist, I've worked on campaigns from Louisiana to South Dakota, from Iowa to Connecticut. On those campaigns, regardless of whether I was a volunteer or a regional director, I knocked on the doors of voters asking them to consider voting for the Democratic candidate I was working for. Nothing can beat the face to face contact with a voter that a door-knocker brings forth. It sends the message to the voter that the candidate and campaign cares enough to reach out personally to them to talk about the issues and the campaign at their door. A field operation that is more than simply having sign wavers on the busy intersections in the finals days leading up to Election Day is a necessary component of the 21st century campaign that the LDP must wage to win elections.
3. Communications: The Communications shop, headed by Scott Jordan, did a good job of dragging the LDP into the 21st century with the Blue Notes, and starting up the Facebook, Myspace, Twitter niches for the LDP. But one man can only do so much. There needs to be a full-time Communications Director, along with an Assistant Communications Director, and some interns. Not only must there be a blog that is updated daily, but there should be a constant interaction with the public on Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, etc. Anytime there is an event held or hosted by a Democratic organization or official, it must be broadcast far and wide on every single medium available - email to news organizations, messages on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Blue Notes, and other niches on the internet.
4. The Democratic State Central Committee: There are members on the DSCC for whom politics is a daily contact sport. And then there are some who only can only be bothered once every four years when the National Convention rolls around. This must end. If you're going to go to through the process of getting elected to the DSCC to ensure that you go to the Convention, then you're signing up to be involved in the party's affairs as if it were a second job. You're going to be asked (and required) to join the fundraising committee, or the events committee, or the field committee, or the training committee.
The Fundraising Committee should be helping the fundraising director find potential donors, and set up house meetings for donors to meet with the Executive Director and/or Chairman and local elected officials.
The Events Committee should be tasked with setting up the annual JJ Dinner, as well as regional fundraising dinners throughout the year.
The Field Committee should be tasked with setting up field events throughout the state at festivals, and finding volunteers to staff them. When campaigns need a door-knocking program set up, whether for a city council race all the way to a state senate race, the field committee should be tasked with running that effort, from cutting the turf to recruiting the volunteers.
The Training Committee should hold field trainings, communication trainings, or campaign trainings once a year for Democrats interested in receiving such trainings for a nominal cost, which would cover the expenses of putting on the trainings.
5. Message: The current message of the LDP is muddled. Folks don't know what the LDP stands for. When election time rolls around, candidates espouse a "Louisiana Democrat" message - pro-life, pro-gun, pro-family. When did the LDP become the Republican party? As Dr. Howard Dean often says, "if folks are given a choice between Republican-lite and a real Republican, they'll choose the real thing every single time."
I am not arguing that the LDP needs to espouse a liberal social values agenda. I am asking why the LDP and her candidates stopped pushing a message of economic fairness? A message that we are all in this together? A message of standing up for Louisianan workers? A message that unions are necessary to protect the rights of workers?
I've lived in this state for 6 years, yet the only time I've ever seen the unions FIGHT for a political candidate were Don Cazayoux's elections last year in LA-06. Why did they fight for Don? Because Don stood up for Louisiana's workers. He told us he'd vote for EFCA. He told us he'd vote for a higher minimum wage. He told us he supported efforts to reform our health care system. Because of that, the unions fought for him, because, in fighting for him, they were fighting for themselves (and us).
Yet, our elected officials in the Legislature include Democrats that vote AGAINST raising the minimum wage; that vote AGAINST common sense regulation of the workplace; and vote FOR every single bill of corporate welfare.
Until the LDP and her candidates espouse a pro-worker philosophy that doesn't undercut Louisianan families, there is no reason for the voters to vote for any Louisiana Democrat that asks for their vote.
This list of things that are necessary is not all that needs to be done. It simply consists of the most pressing reforms. Once these reforms are implemented, then other reforms can be undertaken.
These reforms should be the mandate of the new Executive Director, as well as the new Communications and Field Directors. If the LDP wants to regain a fighting chance to take back the majority of the congressional seats Louisiana has in Washington, as well as a majority of the statewide elective offices, these reforms need to be undertaken. If they are not, I fear the LDP will continue to lose election after election, and with those losses, any chance to affect positive change for the families of Louisiana.
The Louisiana Democratic Party continues its makeover from the organization that was a shell prior to Hurricane Katrina. Building on the momentum generated by the enthusiasm for President-elect Barack Obama, the LDP has started two state political action committees to help Democratic candidates throughout the state - a Mayor's PAC and a Parish Executive's PAC.
On top of that, Party spokesman Scott Jordan has started a new blog on the LDP website - Blue Notes.
You can find it at the moment in the left corner. Here's hoping that they move it to a more prominent location soon.
Welcome to the 'net, LDP.
The New York Times reports that Barack Obama and his advisers believe they can pick up electoral votes in the South in this fall's presidential election.
The article takes a somewhat skeptical view of this strategy and quotes a strategist or two not connected with the Obama campaign to explain why this won't work.
Obama is right. And, Louisiana can be one of the states that move back into the Democratic column when the Electoral College meets to elect the next president. Here's the bit of the story that jumped out at me:
In 1996, for example, Mr. Clinton got the votes of 36 percent of Southern whites and 87 percent of Southern blacks, and carried 5 of the 13 Southern states.
There are two things that are relevant in that sentence. The first is that Louisiana was one of those five Southern states that Bill Clinton carried — he did it twice (1992 and 1996). He is also the last Democratic presidential candidate to spend media and campaign money in Louisiana after the nominating convention. Is it just a coincidence that no Democrat since Clinton has been elected president?
The other part that jumps out is that the percentage of votes that Clinton got from Southern white and blacks fits the broad outlines of the modern Democratic formula for statewide success in Louisiana.
The formula, established by Edwin Edwards and proven by other Democrats in the nearly 40 years since it was established is this: a Democrat needs to carry about 90 percent of the African American vote and just a bit more than 30 percent of the white vote in order to win election.
The following is the text of an email I sent to the members of the Louisiana Democratic State Central Committee today regarding changing current party rules on who gets to vote in our party primaries in the upcoming federal elections. The research on voter registration that I did for this piece led me to make this call to limit voting in our party primary to registered Democrats only.
Dear Fellow Democrat,
I am writing you today on a matter of great urgency to our party.
LA-04, situated in the northwestern corner of Louisiana, has been represented by far right-wing Congressman Jim McCrery since 1988, who was elected to finish out Buddy Roemer's term after Roemer had been elected Governor.
This district was represented by a Democrat as recently as 1988. It now has a PVI of R+7, which puts it right in line with LA-06 (PVI R+6) and and MS-01 (PVI R+10) where Democrats Don Cazayoux and Travis Childers recently won special elections.
I ask this because I just received a palm card for Paul Carmouche from the Louisiana Democratic Party. And the issues that the palm card highlights are, with comparisons to Cazayoux and Childers in parentheses:
making healthcare more accessible and affordable (Cazayoux, Childers)
promoting the creation of good paying jobs and economic growth (Cazayoux, Childers)
cracking down on internet sexual predators that prey on our children (Cazayoux)
Melinda Deslatte, one of the Associated Press's Louisiana correspondents, needs our help. Earlier today, Deslatte published an article about the Louisiana Democratic Party's attempts to find candidates for two upcoming races, Secretary of State and Insurance Commissioner. Both of these positions, Deslatte notes, have been occupied for less than a year, which is probably the main reason LA Dems have focused on other races. Yet somehow, either Ms. Deslatte or her copy editor decided to entitle the article, "La. Democrats Having Trouble Finding Candidates."
The truth, which we learned from John Diez of the Louisiana Committee for a Republican Majority in Sunday's Times-Picayune, is that Republicans are actually having more difficulty finding candidates, and aside from Insurance Commissioner and Secretary of State, the Louisiana Democratic Party seems to have its act together:
The problem for Republicans may be too few candidates.
(Eric) LaFleur, the Democratic Caucus chairman, said Democrats have at least one candidate for every seat the party holds now, though some have not committed publicly.
(John) Diez said he's still short in several districts, including Rep. Ken Odinet's 103rd House District in hurricane-ravaged St. Bernard Parish. Republicans also have struck out in Richland Parish's 19th District being vacated by longtime Rep. Francis Thompson, D-Delhi, and House Speaker Joe Salter's 24th District in Sabine Parish.
Ms. Deslatte wrote about the problems of finding two eligible and reputable candidates to run for offices that have only been occupied for less than a year, but for some reason, the article tailspins into an indictment of the entire party. The headline implies a systemic problem where none exists. How could a responsible journalist allow her work to be co-opted in such a way? Consider her source.
I've been in Chicago the last few days, attending the annual YearlyKos convention in an attempt to direct more attention to Louisiana in this critical election year, and to learn more about the art of blogging. I am new to this gig, unlike pointecoupeedemocrat, (who is MUCH better at this than I), so I wanted to take the opportunity to meet folks who have been doing this longer than I, and steal their ideas on blogging to help further progressive Democratic politics in this state.
One of the things that has been asked of me A LOT while I've been here is whether I really think that "Bobby" Jindal can be beaten. And the answer is HELL YES. Here's why:
Three months ago, Jindal was favored by 62% of Louisianans. After State Senator Walter Boasso went on the air, Jindal's support shrunk to 52%.
I can only imagine what will happen once Foster Campbell gets on the air, along with the Louisiana Democratic Party, and the other Republican in the race, John Georges.
LA-04, situated in the northwestern corner of Louisiana, has been represented by far right-wing 
