Posted: 07/14/08 16:31, Edited: 07/14/08 16:42
by Dave Mindeman
I have spent many years trying to figure out the Minnesota Democratic party, and I still feel clueless.
Democratic candidates who run for state wide or Congressional District office in Minnesota run a minefield of mandatory critieria that weigh heavily on their chances to run a successful general election campaign.
In a political climate favorable to Democrats, you would think the challenges would be getting easier.... but that's not the case.
The checklist for a Democrat seems to get longer each cycle, but some things are basic:
1) You must build a big fundraising network on your own. It is a thankless and difficult job and you probably will need heavy outstate connections. State party apparatus barely covers its own monetary needs and cooperation with other campaigns, regarding donors, is spotty at best. You have to look to the perennial big donors in the state for "permission" to run in order to have a well financed campaign.
A perfect example of how to circumvent this problem is the 2006 Amy Klobuchar Senate campaign. She established her own network of fundraising through her district attorney connections -- many of her early donors were from outside Minnesota. She was able to put together surprisingly high initial fundraising numbers which she was able to parlay into an "aura" of invincibility. It carried her through the primary process without having to really deal too much with the other issues on this list.
2) Need to meet the politically correct criteria of a number of special interest groups. The DFL in Minnesota is really a coalition of special interest groups. Labor, Women's Groups, and Environmentalist are the major key holders to any endorsed candidacy in this state. The demands of political correctness have become more demanding in recent years. But one starts to wonder what is more important....politically correct language as a candidate?... or the right votes from an election winner?
In the endorsement process, this is the reason candidates have to veer so hard to the left to get nominated. A candidate has to be careful to not establish a position that can't be moderated... and it is often a difficult trap to avoid. It has resulted in Governor candidates that have had disastrous campaigns...Jerry Janezich and John Marty come to mind.
3) You must build your own grass roots field army. Outside of a few heavily Democratic areas, the DFL precinct level organization is virtually non-existent. The ideal situation would be a network of precinct organizers (that's why we elect precinct chairs isn't it?) that carry over from cycle to cycle or at least carry forward information that can be utilized by any campaign field network. The DFL has never invested in this and the result is that statewide campaigns (including Presidential campaigns) have to build their own network and they often compete for resources and workers. It is woefully inefficient and a recipe for lackluster results.
Every cycle, I get calls from the various levels of campaign -- Presidential, Senator, Governor, Congressional, State Rep... they all want a precinct captain; they all need doorknockers, they all have phone banks. Nothing is coordiated (at least as far as what's allowed) -- it is grossly inefficient. Precinct chairs should be building their own network that can be utilized for any endorsed candidate....and they should be working for the party as a whole...not any individual campaign.
4) Dealing with meddlesome insiders. I call this the "Betty McCollum" factor. This problem is an offshoot of #3...the lack of grass roots field workers. When a campaign runs into any kind of problem, party insiders always feel the need to "fix it" from the outside....and too often they do it publicly.
I single out Betty McCollum because her interference with the Franken campaign allowed the Republican attacks on Franken to gain credibility. It turned a one cycle news story into a week long fiasco. It's not the first time McCollum has done this kind of damage. In 2006, Coleen Rowley's campaign in the 2nd District was disrupted by interference from the DCCC (McCollum and Rahm Emmanuel) trying to "fix" things for her. They wanted her to change her "look", her "message", her fundraising, and, in some ways, her principles. And all of this, without any monetary help from them. It's like running a war on two fronts.
These are inherent problems in the DFL. They don't go away -- they simply have to be dealt with to get a campaign off the ground. It makes it harder to win.... but that's the Democratic party in Minnesota.... DFL = (Definition For Losing).
