When you're building any organization, much less a DEC, you will undoubtedly run into frustration and stress. If not, you're probably not changing anything.
There are setbacks, mistakes, arguments, etc. which can bring you down. However, in times like these, just remember one thing: why you're working hard in the first place.
Is there an elected official or candidate for office at the state or local level that you think the public ought to know more about?
Submit your suggestions in our Better Know Survey and we may use your suggestion in an upcoming profile. The survey ends Tuesday August 7th at Noon.
What the blog is going on in Florida?
Susan S asked if there will be any Florida Kossacks at YearlyKos, so if you're planning to attend please give her a shout out.
Florida Republicans offer 24-hour service to $100,000 donors; Residents still await tax relief - by Michael Calderin
On Change in Tallahassee, you can vote on the Florida Straw Poll - should we have one at the Florida Democratic Party Conference in October?
Gatordem at Florida Kossacks points out that an article in the Bradenton Herald about Vern Buchanan is Not the Vern Buchanan We Know.
There's a new blog on these here internets: Praxis by Vrej Esphanian.
Last week, I put up a notice to the Netroots that we had the opportunity to interview Karen Thurman, the Chair of the Florida Democratic Party and invited you to submit your own questions. So here is our Q&A:
I have more than half of the DEC contribution stats for Q2 this year. Check it out.
Gatordem - Blog Florida Blue Logo Contest Winner
SemDem - WTF? What FL Bush Supporters Have STOOPED to ...
Florida Progressive Radio - Special guest Clint Curtis
RockRichard - A Progressive Soldier's Manifesto: Why I'm a Democrat
If you haven't already read them, kansasr wrote two nice and succinct posts on voter registration trends in Florida.
Part 1 is here.
Part 2 is here.
They come complete with maps...always my favorite part.
Celebrate this 4th Annual Blogosphere Day by saluting one of our best tools: ActBlue! With the help of services like ActBlue - we'll be able to Blog Florida Blue.
Matt Stoller - The Open Party Committee
Senator John Kerry - Blogosphere Day
Senator Dick Durbin - Actblue -- an engine for progressive change
General Wesley Clark - Blogosphere Day: Time to Invest in Our Future
Tim Tagaris - Actblue and Blogosphere Day
Act Blue has its own run down of public statements on Blogosphere Day: Blogosphere Days Supports Act Blue
We've talked about the need for better websites for DECs, and websites for DECs that currently don't have one. Fortunately for us, local Republicans fare just as bad if not worse. Here are some observations:
What is the blogosphere writing about Florida?
Well, the news about Bob Allen (R) made quite a stir, so rather than rehash all the links here, I'll refer you to the Florida's Progressive Coalitions handy dandy summary of diaries instead:
Bob Allen Roundup
Bob Allen Roundup: The Sequel
Just for good measure, check out:
Non-Sexual Florida Republican Hypocrisy
Also check out:
davidkc's post on Daily Kos Florida going green, led by an "un-Bush" Repug
jpfdeuce's post on Daily Kos FL-HD 48 Zimmermann to run again
A new diary about the JJ Weekend by thefos: Obama - thefos and bobnbob's blog for change
Congrats to Tampabay Democrat, this piece was featured in a Google News alert: Edna Walters, GOP Donor to Commissioner Higginbotham, Gets Hillsborough Cty to Pay Her Bills: GOP Commissioner Blair Obeys Donor Davis
Want to ask the Chair of the Florida Democratic Party a question? Well, now's your chance! Florida Netroots has been granted the opportunity to interview Karen Thurman, so send along your questions to me by Noon tomorrow (I know, short notice) and your question may be used in our interview.
Email Us Your Question
I've talked about the need for DECs to have websites, and what good ones can do. However, I want to plug a particular peice of the website puzzle which I've only linked to in the past: CiviCRM.
CiviCRM is really only for DECs that have people who are techies. I say that because CiviCRM is a pretty complex package to install and use. However, once you have it, I think its a really great tool.
Read More at Build Florida's DECs
Yesterday, College Progressive posted on FLA Politics the Absentee Request Information for all 67 Counties. It sparked quite a bit of discussion about how those of us in the netroots could encourage people to vote using an absentee ballot and how we could compile this information in a format that could easily be distributed offline.
Here's an interesting piece of trivia. Did you know that Florida already has something called the Mail Ballot Election?
(1)(a) An election may be conducted by mail ballot if:
1. The election is a referendum election at which all or a portion of the qualified electors of one of the following subdivisions of government are the only electors eligible to vote:
a. Counties;
b. Cities;
c. School districts covering no more than one county; or
d. Special districts;
2. The governing body responsible for calling the election and the supervisor of elections responsible for the conduct of the election authorize the use of mail ballots for the election; and
3. The Secretary of State approves a written plan for the conduct of the election, which shall include a written timetable for the conduct of the election, submitted by the supervisor of elections.
(b) In addition, an annexation referendum which includes only qualified electors of one county may also be voted on by mail ballot election.
(2) The following elections may not be conducted by mail ballot:
(a) An election at which any candidate is nominated, elected, retained, or recalled; or
(b) An election held on the same date as another election, other than a mail ballot election, in which the qualified electors of that political subdivision are eligible to cast ballots.
(1) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (7), the supervisor of elections shall mail all official ballots with a secrecy envelope, a return mailing envelope, and instructions sufficient to describe the voting process to each elector entitled to vote in the election not sooner than the 20th day before the election and not later than the 10th day before the date of the election. All such ballots shall be mailed by first-class mail. Ballots shall be addressed to each elector at the address appearing in the registration records and placed in an envelope which is prominently marked "Do Not Forward."
(2) Upon receipt of the ballot the elector shall mark the ballot, place it in the secrecy envelope, sign the return mailing envelope supplied with the ballot, and comply with the instructions provided with the ballot. The elector shall mail, deliver, or have delivered the marked ballot so that it reaches the supervisor of elections no later than 7 p.m. on the day of the election. The ballot must be returned in the return mailing envelope.
(c) A board of county commissioners may declare that a county election shall be conducted entirely by mail ballot. The board of county commissioners shall make that declaration no later than 90 days before the date of the scheduled election.
Total Registered Voters = 7,723
Voter Turnout Total = 1,292 (16.73%)
Total Registered Voters 173
Total Ballots Cast 127 (73.41%)
Some disclosure: One of the main contributors of GusWatch is a fellow manager at the Florida Progressive Coalition.
One of the many things that was discussed at the Netroots Luncheon during JJ Weekend is the need for more local and specialized blogs. The same thing was said over the weekend during the first edition of Florida Progressive Radio. I've talked about the need to set up and develop local progressive blogospheres in the past.
The blog GusWatch is an example of what we would all like to see more of...
Read More at Build Florida's DECs...
Back in 2005, I proposed to the small Coordinated Campaign team at the Marion DEC that we should really focus on municipal races (that is, city council races.) They are incredibly small and easy to win, and they pay huge dividends down the road when we're looking for candidates at the county and state level. I was basically told to go ahead, yet due to my own greenness and naivety, I really got nowhere. Besides, I had to go attend my first semester of college at UF at the end of the summer.
Yet had I been successful then, we could have started seeing some of that effort bear fruit for the 2008 elections. You see, as I alluded to earlier, city councilmen and women make great candidates for the county commission, school board, countywide constitutional offices (tax collector, property appraiser, etc...) and state representative. The bottom line is that city councils are where we incubate and develop future candidates. This, by the way, is how Republicans slowly took power in Florida: they started at the municipal level and slowly but surely worked their way up the ladder.
In areas of the state where Democrats are currently out of power, DECs should really focus on recruiting city council candidates as a way of building the bench for future elections.
What is the blogosphere writing about Florida? The Netroots will post a periodic roundup of what our fellow bloggers are writing.
a gnostic on dkos writes: Internal city memo of "vote caging" surfaces in Florida
doorguy on dkos writes: Florida Soldier to Sue Army to Stop FIFTH Deployment
Ron Mills on Broward's Blog: Army Pvt. Daniel Agami
kansasr posts on Build Florida's DECs: 2008 Florida House Targets
Sunny at Smashed Frog writes: YearlyKos is not All of Us
If I didn't attend local DEC meetings, I would have no idea how the party interacts within our community. As I learned at the DFA training in Tampa, those of us to attend party meetings (or go to trainings for fun on a weekend) are strange. Normal people don't have the time, interest, or patience for such things. However, they do care about their communities and come election time they're going to be asking themselves "what have you done for me lately" of both parties. I've discovered that even "when you're strange" it isn't easy to find out what the local party is doing. So, I've come up with a few helpful suggestions to promote local party activities to both the regular and odd Democrats out there.
