Monday, November 24th, 2008...10:57 am
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I’ve got video of Don Bivens and Maria Weeg’s comments to the Democratic State Convention this weekend. They run a bit long, so I need to edit them for YouTube uploading.
I rode back from the meeting with a friend. His comment to me about Bivens and Weeg’s remarks: “Why weren’t they angrier?”
23 Comments
November 24th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
Angrier about what? What would that accomplish?
November 24th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
I agree with bored. I am not sure if I want them to be angry as much as tell us why they did what they did and why it didn’t work.
I realize we won’t have any complete answers until the canvass – but some acknowledgment of what went wrong would be nice.
November 24th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
Wow, they talked too long….what a surprise.
I do think there should be more of a focus on quality candidate recruitment. People who have strong resumes and good work ethics. This is something the state and county parties should be working on together. I think it is a mistake for any candidate to assume that “the party” is going to do something to put them over the top. Each campaign must have a volunteer base and individual plans to do that on their own.
November 24th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
They weren’t angry because they SCREWED UP! Don, Maria, Noah and Mallory committed an act of royal hubris. They failed to play defense. Any group that spends approximately $100,000 a piece on ridiculous long shots like Phil Hettmansperger and Andrea Dalessandro while sending a pittance, if anything at all, and losing seats in LD 10, 23 and 24 deserve to loose their job! Off with their heads.
November 24th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Aye, aye Captain! THEY screwed up! Lack of understanding of the specifics of each district, poor targeting , even worse timing…and the list goes on and on.
November 24th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
It wasn’t just hubris–I would’ve been fine with an aggressive, confident strategy. There is a difference between why we failed to make the gains we should have in relation to the national mood and why we lost seats.
We failed to make the gains we intended because of a variety of factors; Prop. 102, McCain, etc., etc. One would do well to examine why Waters and Meyer won while so many others came short. My personal theory is that they both had grassroots, field-oriented campaigns (from what I’ve heard) and demographically didn’t have the sorts of Republicans who were overly excited about 102.
Why we lost seats is the real question of strategic mismanagement, and where accountability is needed. For the entirety of the last two years, activists on the ground and outside observers alike warned about protecting our own turf; they might’ve been in the minority compared to those who were regurgitating talking points, sure, but they were there and they were talking to whoever would listen.
And yet, here we are, and the problem was never addressed, and the Party from day 1 til Election Day took districts with 06 offensive victories but under-supported Party infrastructure for granted.
Anyone could have told them that in a “change” election, we would face trouble in Pinal. Anyone could have told them that Yuma County went hard in 04 for Bush. And yet, here we are.
The real question is: will anyone hold the incumbent leadership accountable for their deafness to reason? The principal party leaders? The State Committee? Anyone?
November 24th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
The reason Dr. Meyer won in District 11? It’s simple: single shot voting. I received two separate mail pieces explaining why I should single shot Meyer. It’s the only way to win a seat in districts with a heavy registration disadvantage and one seat is better than none.
November 25th, 2008 at 9:49 am
Tedski-
On behalf of everyone in the state who has to live with both Noah et. al’s legislative campaign fiasco and Governor Brewer, I ask you to continue to lead this dialogue. We HAVE to hold people accountable! There is no one better than an independently minded democratic such as yourself to do so.
November 25th, 2008 at 9:54 am
Poor management. Failure to even return phone calls from local party leaders. Result: Assinine messaging that HURT candidates.
November 25th, 2008 at 9:55 am
P.S. – that also goes for Ms. Synema and No on 102.
November 25th, 2008 at 11:33 am
Candidates who were either current or former school board members performed well, even in competitive districts (Nancy Young-Wright, Rae Waters, and Eric Meyer). Waters and Meyer had the added benefit of representing more conservative areas of their district on the school board. I think a major takeaway from this experience should be that the legislature is not necessarily an entry-level office, particularly in tough districts.
November 25th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
The real takeaway should be that political parties prosper when they BROADEN their coalition, not when they narrow it by excluding people for personal reasons.
There was a deliberate effort during this past cycle to exclude certain people who were deemed “uncool,” or “counter-revolutionary,” or were judged to be too friendly with “the other side.”
Some were excluded simply because of personal political agendas.
As a result, small coterie decided they were smarter – and cooler – than everyone else, and refused to work cooperatively with anyone who was not part of their cabal.
Will they be called to account? Apparently not. I guess there is no Peter Principal in politics.
November 26th, 2008 at 7:17 am
I’ve waited a few days to put my two cents worth in this thread, but here goes.
I agree with most of the comments already made, but I’m also greatly dismayed at the state party’s passive strategy when it comes to anti-gay ballot measures. It’s the elephant (sorry) in the room here.
We cannot continue to put the onus of responding to these issues solely on Kyrsten Sinema or other non-closeted GLBT Democratic office-holders. It’s at best, unfair and at worst, chickensh*t and insulting to GLBT Dems.
Even if many in the party don’t give a rat’s patoot about GLBT folks and/or are secretly homophobic and hope the whole thing would go away, bottom-feeding initiatives like Prop 102 bring out scads of Republican voters.
There has got to be a more intelligent strategy than collectively holding one’s breath. The fallout has been devastating to our presence in the legislature at the most critical time in state history.
I also wonder how much of this passive approach had to do with getting the Gov nominated for a Cabinet post. It’s wonderful to see her success, but at what cost to those of us stuck in a state about to return to the Ev Mecham era?
The Napolitano machine has been positioning itself to advance to the national scene for years. Tremendous resources (volunteers, money, etc.) follow the Governor. And now it’s “mission accomplished”, although DHS is hardly the nugget that an AG appointment would have been.
I trust that the wingnut contingency will show its appalling incompetence soon enough. However, I also hope that the AZDP will adopt a comprehensive strategy to build our party from the ground up and not acquiesce so easily to the ambitions of “rock star” politicians within its ranks. The stakes are simply too high.
November 26th, 2008 at 10:09 am
I am a GLBT Dem using my REAL name. Synema is responsible for using the “AGAIN” motto that now makes future efforts to overturn 102 hypocritical. Besides being inaccurate and ineffective, it is counterproductive to long-term strategy. Ditto for broad-brush scapegoating of “politicians” without making the distinction that it was REPUBLICAN politicians who put 102 on the ballot. Synema was the leader, called the shots, and deserves the blame. She certainly would have taken the credit had 102 been defeated.
November 26th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
Well said Italiana.
November 26th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
Thanks!
November 27th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
Andrew above makes a good point as well. The Repubs have the “farm team” strategy down extremely well. In a state like Arizona, the Dems should be doing the same. We need to think ahead and get as many of our future candidates involved in the community at least a couple of years before they run for Legislature. Whether this means they are on advisory boards, running for school boards or town councils, it needs to be something to build name I.D. and reputation.
November 28th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
I couldn’t agree more, Pat. While some of this is already happening, more is needed, especially if something should happen to Clean Elections.
November 28th, 2008 at 10:42 pm
Look! We need to avoid the circular firing squad here. While it wasn’t what we had hoped, think about it; we gave McCain a scare to where he had to spend money to defend his backyard; we defended two congressional pick-ups from ‘06 and picked up another one for a congressional house delegation majority; then we picked up two Corp Com seats that we haven’t been able to do in years.
While the Legislative races were a disappointment, the ADP is till on the move and making strides. So lighten up on Maria and crew. In comparison to a lot of other recent campaign cycles, they did a fine job.
I’m proud of the Party and the staff.
November 28th, 2008 at 11:50 pm
Matt! C’mon…this level of incompetence has reached a WHOLE NEW level. I thought it was bad with Hagerty et al, but the stewardship of the party with this band of no-talent ass-clowns borders on malfeasance. It appears, tho, that in true AZ dem fashion, they’ll be rewarded to their level of incompetence – as they will all join the new administration in “Brownies” old gig while leaving the big, steaming pile of budget-excrement squarely here on our AZ desk for us to deal with.
I give them 2 years max, before their incompetence forces Janet to “…resign to spend more time with her family…” after the high-profile ball-drop they will inevidably walk themselves into.
Naturally, this will provide the R’s with PLENTY of ammunition in years to come, labelling us the tax, spend and billion dollar-hole creating liberals Janet leaves us to fend for ourselves to be.
Thanks Noah, Zimba-Waid, Maria et al!
November 29th, 2008 at 3:32 am
“The Legislative races were a disappointment”? C’mon, Matt indeed!
The state races matter. Period. Especially to those of us who consider Arizona home, rather than a step to bigger and better things (although I’m tempted, believe me.)
No one on this blog is blind to our gains at the federal level, but all of us should be concerned about Jan “I graduated from X-ray tech school, so I’m qualified to manage the most dire budget situation in AZ history” Brewer and a whole slew of far-right legislators who are about to run the joint.
If their wing-nuttery finally draws some attention to the importance of state, county and city races, good; however, this will not happen overnight.
In the meantime, another generation of kids are undereducated, nativists run amuck and rampant, infrastructure rots, abortion rights are threatened, and the meager civil rights gains of GLBT citizens are toast.
No matter how you slice it, it ain’t pretty.
November 29th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
The Arizona Democratic party’s leadership is simply incompetent. I will now either register with the Green party, or more likely, register in one of the blue states where I also have homes, Florida or New York.
I wanted to vote in Arizona in 2008 because I thought my Democratic vote would make a difference. Not in Pinal County. Not in the whole damn state.
Good luck to those of you remain Arizona Democrats.
December 1st, 2008 at 12:09 pm
The ADP, is like a dog chasing it’s tail. They constantly try to reinvent the wheel for each and every election cycle and end up never really reaching more than a pittance of what they hoped to gain.
Perhaps it is time to ask why.
I have a few questions for them: Why does the ADP hate to hire people between the ages of 40 and 60? Why are volunteers and candidates constantly being told what to do by recent graduates with none or limited practical experience? Why do people think once you’re over 40 you can no longer stay up late? (Are you sure Age Discrimination isn’t being practiced here? If Obama is “young” at 47 so are his contemporaries.)
Where I live we had a young guy who just graduated college as our “Coordinated Campaign” field worker who could not make a decision without phoning headquarters for approval, and then followed every rule exactly. He even lectured me when I didn’t follow a phone script word for word…sure I went back to help–NOT!
It isn’t the money people–we had that. It is leaving people who don’t have the right “feel” for Arizona politics in charge of every possible office who give bad advice or do silly things.
Democrats must adopt the “Republicans are people too” attitude that got the Governor & Attorney General elected because for being a “tough” western state Arizonans sure do bruise easily when Democrats point a finger at them. And just because we know their being ignorant and dumb doesn’t mean we rub their noses in it Emily Bittner. (loved the entertainment factor but man you riled republicans).
Get it together ADP we have a state to take over in 2010. And by all means hire a few people with some experience for a change.