New chairman meets party members informally

It was a pleasure to meet our new Miami-Dade County chairman, Richard Lydecker, and hear his aims for moving ahead. We are a group that needs moving ahead, if only from the unfortunate reputation of being dysfunctional. I’ll grant that meetings of our Democratic Executive Committee can be tiresome, but we are the people who made a big contribution last year to electing Barack Obama president and this year we have helped Democrats gain local office. This is a lot more than dysfunctional, and before Richard Lydecker was named to chair the DEC, there was considerable agitation to fire up the nucleus of the highly effective campaign arms of 2008.


Your blogger is not going to retell the individual stories that led to the decision by state party Chair Karen Thurman to replace BJ Chiszar as county chairman. It happened. By the luck of my surgeon’s schedule, I was under anesthesia when BJ was ousted and for most of the next week I was on my back with icepacks on the incision where my hernia was repaired, and so the temptation to mix it up, blogwise, was lost on me and my pain pills. Just as well. I have not wanted this blog to dwell on personal matters but rather on issues. On local matters, especially, I try to avoid gossip. The blog is open to Democratic candidates at any level, but I hope those who take up the offer will not attack Democratic primary opponents on these electrons. For the general election, all gloves may be taken off.

That said, it was a pretty happy group that got together Monday evening in the ground-floor restaurants where Lydecker has his law offices on Brickell Avenue in downtown Miami. The Steering Committee was the vehicle for the meeting but close to 40 people attended, as many activists had also been invited. No formal meeting ever happened; instead, people talked in groups, ate, drank, acted like Democrats and introduced themselves and their hobbyhorse issues to Lydecker individually. Finally, someone convinced him to talk to the group.

His main job, he said, was to develop a plan to go forward. He wants to help Democratic candidates gain office, to elect Florida’s first woman governor (Alex Sink), to elect the state’s first African-American US senator (Kendrick Meek), to elect a Democratic attorney general and thus control the state cabinet. And he wants to have good DEC meetings to draw out the membership and let them see leading Democratic candidates. His official message can be found on the DEC Website.

On the topic of more functional, Lydecker said the DEC office would be moved to Miami Beach to be a neighbor of the national Democratic campaign arm, Organizing for America, and the party should be able to provide tools like buses and polls to make things happen.

First up is the mid-December gala, Florida Blue Celebration, in a little more than two weeks. Let’s get up a big turnout for this event and launch ourselves to the election year of 2010. As first vice chair Daisy Black said, “I want to go into 2010 on a united front.”

One place for this to start is at the gala: Firefighters Memorial Building, 800 NW 21st Street, Doral FL 33122, 7 pm Friday Dec. 18. Sign up here.

UPDATE: From the content of this little blog post, it seems as if the elusive Blue in Miami blogger was at the same event I attended with Lydecker.

Voter Reg numbers increase job for us in these last weeks

There are 14-hour days ahead for thousands of unpaid and lightly paid campaign workers.

Your unpaid blogger will be sitting in front of the computer for 6-8 hours a day pondering stuff and every so often writing, and then going out to meetings, events, canvasses and phone banks – piling on 6-8 hours more.

Those who aren’t bloggers can just figure on 14 hours of canvassing, events and phone banks. Y’all can ponder while waiting for the pizza delivery. If you have a job, try to avoid dismissal. It’s tough out there, baby.

Forget about a day off, mowing the lawn, servicing the car, the doctor or the dentist. This is it!

Voter registration is finally over, and the numbers are awesome, and each of the added individuals is a challenge that will require work to produce a vote.

How many challenges? My neighborhood guru, Dan Jonas, captain of North Beach for Obama, says 40,000 new voters in one day, or 200,000 since Aug. 1, have been added to the number of challenges.

Let’s see: how many volunteers does it take to contact 200,000 newly registered Democrats and ask if they have received their absentee ballots, if they need a ride to the polls, if they know where their early voting site is located? And how’s Aunt Tilly and the kids?

“We need help more than ever.”

That’s the word from Dan Jonas and every neighborhood captain, field organizer, deputy field organizer (Welcome the new hires bearing that title, of whom I met one talented example Monday at the unperformed Jay-Z concert), campaign director and on up to Barack Obama himself.

Now is when we win, with the right performance by all of us. Our candidate is doing splendidly. We have a tremendous role model to emulate.

I’m kicking it off this evening by going to a party, a debate-watching party at the Arsht Center in downtown Miami jointly sponsored by the Miami-Dade Democrats. 8 p.m. Y’all come.

Meanwhile, here is word from the Florida Democratic Party on our surge in voter registrations:

With the voter registration for the 2008 General Election now closed, new voter registration numbers provided by the Department of State show another huge surge of Floridians joining the Democratic Party during the month of September.

During the month of September, 20,119 more newly registered Floridians signed up as Democrats than registered as Republicans. Between the beginning of January and the end of September, 170,341 more newly registered voters joined the Democratic Party than joined the Republican Party.

"Floridians are enthusiastic about change and are excited to elect Democrats up and down the ticket. Residents in every corner of the Sunshine State recognize that Democrats will rebuild our economy, create good jobs, lower homeowners' insurance rates and end our addiction to foreign oil, which is why they are joining the Democratic Party in record numbers," said Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Karen Thurman. "Now that our unprecedented voter registration effort has come to an end, we must focus on making sure that every voter in Florida casts their ballot between now and Election Day for Barack Obama and other Democrats. Our tens of thousands of volunteers will be helping their friends and neighbors request absentee ballots, encouraging people to early vote or making sure they get to the polls on Election Day."

According to the Department of State, 72,189 Floridians registered as Democrats while 52,070 people registered as Republicans, during the month of September. Between Jan. 1, 2008 and Sept. 30, 2008, 803,909 people have registered to vote, including 360,478 Democrats, 253,294 Independents and NPAs, and 190,137 Republicans.

Most striking is the net gain numbers, which factor in newly registered voters, party switchers and removes people who are no longer voters in Florida. Since January, the Florida Democratic Party has had a net gain of 415,580 voters, while the Republican Party of Florida has only gained 169,841. This shows that the gap between Democrats and Republicans in Florida has grown by 245,739 voters this year alone.

Here let me stop and repeat the overall lead the Democrats had in Florida in early September:

• Democrats 4.4 million
• Republicans 3.9 million
• Non-party and minor parties 2.3 million.

This should give us ample reason to keep on working, because all those independents are out there waiting for your contact to decide which way they will vote.

Note: in coming days we should hear final numbers of people eligible to vote for president and all else. This will be our final number of challenges to give Barack 27 electoral votes.

Netroots meeting with FDP chair

Karen Thurman gladly welcomes Netroots Coalition during JJ day program
in Hollywood. Message: no more nay-saying about importance of the
netroots.

UPDATE: Fyi, this photo was taken with my iPhone and then sent as an email attachment to a particular Google address, which then published it as the blog post you see above. It took about two minutes from the time I took the photo.

Please do go and vote on Jan. 29

I am giving Bill Nelson the benefit of the doubt and will consider his lawsuit a publicity stunt. Good. We need all the publicity we can get. Even bad publicity is useful, some say.

In any case, here is the word from Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Karen Thurman following the dismissal of Sen. Nelson's suit against the Democratic National Committee.

It boils down to: Please vote in the Jan. 29 primary.

"The Florida Democratic Party remains committed to participating fully in the state-run Presidential Preference Primary on January 29, 2008. We strongly urge all Florida Democrats to get out and vote in this fair and open election.

"No matter what anybody says, Florida Democrats will make the primary count by going to the polls and casting their votes on January 29th. The nation will be paying attention, and Florida Democrats will have a major impact on the race.

"Accordingly, the Florida Democratic Party will respect the voters' choice on January 29th in determining the allocation of our delegates to the 2008 Democratic National Convention. We are confident that the Democratic Presidential nominee will seat Florida's delegation at the Convention."

There's www.makeitcountflorida.com for further information.

Also relevant is that it's time to start applying if you'd like to be a delegate to the Denver convention. You will be seated.

Joe Garcia wins Golden Gavel

More news from FDP Convention. Party Chair Karen Thurman gave awards to DEC leaders around the state who've done especially good jobs organizing the party, and Miami-Dade party Chair Joe Garcia now has a fine new Golden Gavel.

Congratulations, Joe!

MORE Joe: Our chair also is all over this Huffington Post piece previewing the FDP convention.

Best line at FDP convention goes to Dan Gelber

My convention was fun and interesting. Not like my first, two years ago, when Howard Dean, John Edwards, Barack Obama, Mark Warner and Tom Vilsack were strong orators, stirring the crowd and displaying the strength that the Democrats would present for the 2008 election. It was still only 2005 then, but it was already clear how badly the Republicans were leading this beloved country, and what an opportunity it was for us in the ’06 midterms and the ’08 presidential elections.

I made up my mind then as to who was the best presidential candidate. This blog, however, is neutral, and you have to know me personally to see whose button is on my shirt. I haven’t changed my mind. I’m laying this out so the reader will understand why I’m not upset that the Democratic candidates are staying away from Florida. I don’t need any more information to make up my mind. Those who gnash their teeth about the supposed lack of attention paid to Florida are wasting their dental enamel. Florida will NOT be ignored. Its needs WILL be met. Even if the candidates stay away right up until November 2008, Florida is too important to be left out of the federal budget or limelight. Squealing and wailing is, to me, a sign of insecurity.

The Florida delegation at the Denver nominating convention will be seated, one way or another, and their votes and our votes in the primary will count. I confess to feeling annoyed when the media report that the Florida primary will all be in vain, or votes won’t count, or even that they won’t be counted.

Sorry, this is a Rovian conspiracy to keep Democrats from voting. The Republicans always are trying to get Democrats to stay away, and this entire affair has been a Karlish trick to drive down Democratic participation in the Jan. 29 election. For a while, they were trying to slip some wild property tax change through as a referendum, but now it looks as if they have screwed it up too badly for that to happen. We’ll know for certain about this by Monday night, when the legislature must pass something to get it on the ballot by Jan. 29.

That area (the budget and taxation) needs more careful consideration than something slammed together behind closed doors and presented at the deadline – though that’s the way the Jebbian party operated for eight years, so we must be careful that it doesn’t happen again.

So my appeal goes like this: Please, stop suing others in the Democratic Party. Please, stop shooting ourselves in the foot. Instead, be united as Democrats. Concentrate our fire on Republicans.

A little ridicule is good. Here I’m taking Dan Gelber as my model, and I see that his raking comments at the convention were picked up by the media. Let the Republican candidates campaign in Florida as much as they like, the leader of the state House minority Democrats said.

“The truth is, the Republicans are here almost in excess,” the Orlando Sentinel quoted him as saying in his Saturday speech. “You see these Republican candidates everywhere. And the more you hear about them and see them, the less you like them.”

The Miami Herald picked out a different line from Gelber’s speech: “All they do is trash our candidates and pander to their base,” he was quoted as saying. “I think we should keep them in the state of Florida as much as possible.”

The Herald also opined that the posters distributed for Gelber's speech were “deliberately ambiguous” in that they said he was running “for Senate” without saying exactly that he is running for the state Senate. Wow, it could also mean the U.S. Senate, and the bumbler incumbent, Mel Martinez, will be up in 2010.

The plot thickens. And lengthens.

As we speculate on that, let’s follow Karen Thurman’s admonition. Concentrate on building the grass roots, the state party chair said.

And we have the wisdom of our own Miami-Dade County veteran, Maria Roberts: “I feel very positive about building the Democratic Party, and that’s what this convention is all about,” the Herald quoted her as saying.

To that end, the netroots gang showed up 60 strong for a series of workships Saturday afternoon on how to do a better blog, a better website, how to organize an on-line community, how to be a candidate with an on-line presence. We're at the heart of the Florida Democratic Party now, and we need to continue getting ready to we can pounce into action when the nominee becomes known -- February, shall we say?

UPDATE: This post vaulted to the front page of the Florida Politics blog Monday morning. Check it out at this link. And read on there, too. Florida Politics performs a valuable service in summarizing what's happening, what's reported, in our political scene.

EVEN MORE: The Netroots blog has more detail here on the Netroots workshops. A lot of good information was transmitted, and we could watch in awe as the tech experts made those laptops work.

Mel Martinez out as "general chair"

Mel Martinez is out as so-called “general chairman” of the Republican Party. I have a little comment up on DailyKos pointing out the announcement, and also asking whether this can be taken as confirmation that the Republicans are shifting further racist on immigration. Can’t stand having a Hispanic on top? Is that right, fellows? He must have shrunk in his guayabera a year ago when the Republicans were running a TV ad making Hispanics out to be potential terrorists. That's your party, Mel. Were you no longer willing to be their front man? Or did they give you the boot?

I don't know which to hope for. My hope is for the Republicans to be an honorable opposition.

UPDATE: State Democratic Chairwoman Karen Thurman put out a statement Friday evening counting Martinez' departure as one in a series of Republican debacles this week, featuring their vote in the House to uphold the SCHIP veto. They need better Republicans, Thurman said, offering a spoof web site devoted to drafting Katherine Harris.

Check it out at www.draftkatherineharris.com and have a couple good laughs.

Vote on Jan. 29: Your vote will count

Sometimes we can be so pessimistic. Vote on Jan. 29? Heck no, it won't count ... will it?

Wait a minute. Yes, Florida has some problems with votes not counting. But that doesn't mean you should give up just because of a Republican-engineered flip of the finger at party rules.

The Florida Democratic Party made it official Sunday at a news conference in Pembroke Pines with Chairwoman Karen Thurman : Yes, vote on Jan. 29 "and make it count."

"The nation will be paying attention on Jan. 29, and Florida Democrats will have a major impact in determining who the next president of the United States of America will be," she said.

A score or more of state and local Democratic leaders stood with her as she made the announcement and fielded questions from a skeptical bunch of media reps who seemed to have swallowed the Rovian line that the vote wouldn't count, the delegates wouldn't be seated, the candidates will ignore all of poor Florida's desperate needs, and the sky will fall.

After Thurman declined to answer the third or fourth iteration of that list, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-20) stepped in and said she would urge all to vote for the nominee of their choice. "We will make sure they count," she said, and the Florida Democratic Party expects the state's delegates to be seated at the Denver convention next summer.

Sen. Bill Nelson said in the party's written statement that the vote will certainly count, and "On Jan. 29, there will be multiple elections and other important issues on the ballot in Florida, whether the DNC recognizes the vote or not."

Miami-Dade Chairman Joe Garcia said, "Florida elects presidents. On Jan. 29 we will have a bigger impact than any caucus or small-state primary. The eventual nominee will seat our 210 delegates next year and our voice will be heard."

One of the keys to this, my friends, is to cease fighting among each other over the whole affair, and proceed to get out the vote. One way or another, the vote will count.

The other thing on Saturday

Yes, there will be Democratic news Saturday beyond the fund-raiser that Barack Obama stars in. In Washington, the Democratic National Committee will be considering Florida's perhaps illegal scheduling of the primary election on Jan. 29.

It's been a while since I've seen so much gnashing of the teeth.

Here's a post by Kos on DailyKos that tries, in Markos' infinite wisdom, to cut through the groans of despair.

Earlier, my inbox registered an appeal by the state Democratic Party to back party chair Karen Thurman as she heads to Washington to argue the case for keeping Florida free of sanctions -- such as losing delegates to the national presidential nominating convention next year. Here's the way the Miami Herald summarized it -- more groans: why are we fighting the national party?

Thurman herself broadcast her views by email, and then a further appeal went on DailyKos with a diary posted by the state communications director, Phil Perry. The comments below the diary are truly anguished. If you go into them, don't miss Floridagal's worry that we Dems might be unleashing the Feds on us for an investigation.

This is a very disheartening topic. Politics can be so nasty. And that's why we need to get Republicans out of the majority all over the place and get back to rational legislating and governing. Like good Democrats, right?

Karen Thurman on THAT question and others

Here is the Florida Democratic Party Chair on the record about her lobbying job and other topics about taking the party forward.

A voice in support of Karen Thurman

The Miami Herald's political blog found an editorial backing Karen Thurman, who is apparently still not talking about her lobbying. Read it in Naked Politics for yourself. There's a link there to the editorial in the Ocala Star-Banner. First time I'd read that paper.

Karen Thurman ignites political blog

Finally some excitement in Florida Democratic politics. You may have seen the Herald story the other day about Karen Thurman, chair of the Florida Democratic Party, getting paid by a big Republican for some lobbying. The story migrated over to the Herald political blog, Naked Politics, and I've never seen so much comment -- it looks like the main page of DailyKos. Read and learn, maybe.

UPDATE: And in Saturday's Miami Herald there is one more airing of this story.

Political donations help victory -- It happened here

You probably wonder what happens to the money when you dig into your pocket and send the Democratic Party a donation. Maybe it’s only $25 on your stretchy credit card. Maybe more significant amounts. Well, here we have a report from one of our rare paid staff from the Florida Democratic Party on what the money means: Victory in a special election for the Florida House! Money puts feet on the ground to convince and activate voters. It happened in the past week in the Orlando area. A Republican seat became a Democratic seat.

So, my friends, please be generous when Karen Thurman or Joe Garcia or Howard Dean asks for financial help!

Here’s BJ Chiszar’s report on a month he spent seconded away from his Miami-Dade post to help Darren Soto’s campaign.

Hello fellow Democrats!

Every member of the statewide field team was in Orlando/Osceola for the final month of the Darren Soto campaign. Soto defeated GOP heavyweight Tony Suarez in a close race decided by about 300 votes.

Soto, a 29-year-old civil rights attorney, built a solid coalition with labor, firefighters, teachers, ACORN, and many other progressive groups. One group stood out -- the Young Democrats of Orange County were an amazing field force, knocking on almost every door in the district.

The Florida Democratic Party focused our efforts on absentee ballots and GOTV on election day. I was joined by Ted Miller and the Young Democrats of Dade and also Michael Calderin and Georgi Blumenthal of DFA came up to get in the fight. It was awesome to have Dade county people in Central Florida, demonstrating our commitment to victory in 2008!

It also must be noted that our House Victory Director Steve Schale joined us on the ground, as well as Executive Director Leonard Joseph and most of the senior staff from Tallahassee. This showed leadership by example and let Democrats all across the state know that we mean business as it relates to winning elections.

We are excited about the renewed buzz around the state about our party! I hope that you will join us in our efforts to create positive change in America.

If we all do just a little, then together we can achieve so much!

UPDATE:

Here's a fresh angle on this from Beth Reinhard's column in the Saturday Herald. Fair to say that people in politics are looking at this Orlando result with strong interest.

Lessons from Orlando column.

UPDATE 2:

Yet another angle from The Buzz, St. Pete Times political blog. Hillary Clinton is said to be the only presidential candidate to help with this race, and here's her congratulatory message to Darren Soto.

Buzz link re Hillary.