November 08, 2006
The Democratic Field Heroes
Here are a few Democrats who deserve mucho credit for building an impressive ground machine.
At the DCCC, they are Sean Sweeney and Adrian Saenz, political and field directors respectively.
At the DSCC, pol. dir. Guy Cecil spent months developing GOTV programs in Montana and Missouri that effectively harnessed those states' blue waves. (Not for nothing are DSCC exec dir J.B. Poersch and DCCC exec dir. Karin Johanson old hands at "field.") BTW: the DCCC brought in guru Michael Whouley to supervise the field programs during the last two months.
In Missouri, for example, the DSCC had 5,400 volunteers and paid staff on the streets 11/7. They targeted 250K drop-off voters and 350K swing voters outside of St. Louis and Kansas City. While the Republicans bragged about making 3 million voter contacts on the Saturday before the election, Democrats made about 3.5 million contacts.
An analysis of internal RNC and DSCC/DCCC data suggests that during the final week, the Democrats made, on average, knocked on about twice as many doors as Republicans did nationally. The two parties made roughly the same number of telephone calls.
In Montana, Cecil worked with the state Democratic party and Gov. Brian Schweitzer's aides to mobilize thousands of volunteers. The Democrats also modeled the electorate in MT and MO and made selective use of microtargeting.
The Republicans' 72 Hour Task Force is no longer impregnable, but it still performed quite well given the environment. The Republican base was motivated and the program worked to turn them out. Credit goes to the RNC's unassuming but driven political director, Mike DuHaime, as well as White House political director Sara Taylor.
Republicans managed to win 14 of 23 congressional races decided by two percentage points or less and 13 of 19 races decided by 5000 votes or less. That's a testament to the durability of the 72 Hour Program. [MARC AMBINDER]
Posted at 08:47 AM
Comments
"Republicans managed to win 14 of 23 congressional races decided by two percentage points or less and 13 of 19 races decided by 5000 votes or less. That's a testament to the durability of the 72 Hour Program."
This statement makes absolutely no sense. How does knowing the margin of victory tell you anything about how much the field program contributed to that victory? Maybe if the Republican field program had worked the way it should have, the margins would have been bigger. Maybe the margins were only as small as they were because the Democrats in these districts won on the ground. There is absolutely no way to judge from the results alone.
The press always talks about this 72 Hour Program, but I've never seen any reporter produce real evidence that it's special or uniquely effective--beyond just the fact that Karl Rove says it is. I know that figuring out the actual effect that field has on election results has to do with numbers, which isn't something that reporters are good at, but it would behoove the press to at least try to make an independent assessment here.
Also, I love the fact that after a night when Republican candidates were comprehensively defeated on all fronts, you feel that you have to gin up some Republican operatives to give credit to.
Sean | 11.08.06 09:39 AM
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Looks like Bill Nelson's son. Bill Nelson, Junior, was a "field hero" too:
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/15960717.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Bill Nelson's son pepper sprayed, arrested in Orlando
BY ERIKA BERAS
eberas@MiamiHerald.com
It started as a good night for the Nelsons. Bill Nelson, the Democratic senator from Florida, easily beat his opponent, Katherine Harris.
But while his father got a second six-year term in Washington, Nelson's adult son got a face full of pepper spray and a trip to jail.
Charles William Nelson, 30, of Rockledge was arrested by Orlando police. The charges: battery on a law officer, disorderly intoxication and resisting arrest without violence.
About 2:40 a.m., police responded to calls of a fight involving 20 people at Pine Street and Magnolia Avenue. By the time authorities arrived, most of the crowd had dispersed.
Remaining behind were Charles Nelson, a second unidentified man and a woman who appeared to have passed out.
According to the police report, the responding officer asked if the woman, Kimberly Baxter, was all right. ''She is fine,'' Nelson replied. ''I'll take her to the hotel.'' Nelson appeared intoxicated, the report says.
The police officer radioed for an ambulance to check on the condition of Baxter. Nelson insisted she was fine, the report says, picked her up and began to ''drag'' her away. The officer told Nelson to halt. He dropped the woman, the report says, nearly hitting her head on the base plate of a traffic control device.
The officer said he told Nelson to leave and placed a hand on his shoulder. According to the report, Nelson refused and shoved the officer. As a crowd gathered, Nelson continued to physically resist. He was pepper sprayed for ''two or three seconds,'' arrested and handcuffed, the report says.
Thimmesch | 11.08.06 10:20 AM
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Now that's funny:
In Case You Missed It: At 4:20, Hotline projected that VA 05's Al Weed (D) got smoked.
Thimmesch | 11.08.06 10:29 AM
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So who at the DCCC desires the credit for Carol Shea-Porter's victory in NH 01?
Frank | 11.08.06 10:45 AM
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I see for the first time in years a nation uniting. I do hope the great divide between Americans has come to an end. Remember....UNITED WE STAND DIVIDED WE FALL. I feel it's time to unite and work together to bring America back to being the greatest "Honest" Nation in the world.
As for re-counting votes. I feel that it takes away from our country. If one wins by 5 votes or 5000 votes, that person has won. Why re-count votes ( unless there was a serious known problem with machines...etc)? It's time for this nation to heal.
Cindy | 11.08.06 11:47 AM
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I appreciate the comments on why we won. The DCCC did a great job. Yet, Michael Whouley did very little other then try to take credit for others work. He has done it before with campaigns I have been involved with. In fact, many of those were losing campaigns that got beat in the field.
I do get tired of overpaid and overated consultants.
Joseph Turtle | 11.09.06 04:10 PM
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