I had the opportunity last night (March 15) to give a presentation to the LSU College Democrats as part of their "The Truth About ..." series.
The topic of the discussion was health care reform — The Affordable Care Act (ACA), officially; "Obama Care" according to many of the law's critics.
I believe critics of this law will regret the day that they decided to start referring to ACA as Obama Care as the reality of the law and its provisions set it. It is not anything like the hysterical claims of the opponents have alleged. It does, in fact, fall right in the great American tradition of incremental approaches to fixing the American model of health care, which is employment based health insurance coverage.
ACA is a last ditched effort to save the system from its excesses. This presentation helps explain why.
Showing posts with label Democratic opportunity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Democratic opportunity. Show all posts
Friday, March 16, 2012
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
A Call for True Believers
Build is right word because there has never really been a Democratic Party in Louisiana. There has been a Democratic banner under which candidates have run for office, but there has never been much of anything resembling an actual party organization. There have been factions and organizations built around personalities, but there has not been a party organization per sé.
That is one reason why the Louisiana Democratic Party is in shambles today. It has never been more than a device to aid in the election of the top Democrat on the ticket in any particular election year. This year, there was no Democrat at the top of a statewide ticket — in fact, there was not a statewide ticket. There were House and Senate caucuses that managed to stave off Republican efforts to win veto-proof majorities in the Legislature, but there was no party behind any of those efforts. The state party was a mailing permit and a checking account.
This is just what the party was in 2010, only this time there were no statewide Democratic candidates on the ballot that could in any way be considered to have been standards bearers of what passed for the party this year.
The qualifying that opens today provides the opening to begin to change that.
The 210 seats on the State Central Committee are open for qualifying as are the 986 or so seats on the various parish Democratic Executive Committees.
These are the bodies charged with building and maintaining the party at the state and local levels. Based on the results over the last four years, the leadership at the state level has been an abject failure. That failure has many sources, but none more glaring than the fact that the party has not appeared to stand for anything; or, if it did, it could not articulate it. As a result, the party sat in silence as what passed for public policy debates took place (can there really be a debate when only one side is talking?).
For the Democratic Party to have a future in this state, we need committed Democrats to turn out at Clerk of Courts offices across the state and qualify to fill those state and parish party committee seats.
But, not just any Democrats need apply.
What we need now are true believers. Democrats who burn with a passion for our party and its principles (see "What It Means To Be A Democrat" for some ideas). Democrats who stand ready to build a political organization that will provide the boots on the ground for Democratic candidates at the local, state and federal levels. Democrats who will fight the Republican assault on working families, minorities, teachers, public employees and others rather than seek an accommodation with those who are out to dismantle the essential public services that are the pathways to social mobility in this state and this country.
We need zealous Democrats to turn out to qualify for these positions, run strong Democratic campaigns for those seats, and then to engage in the work of party building after those elections are settled in March.
In the church that is the Democratic Party, the state central committee and the parish executive committees are akin to the clergy. They are the keepers of the flame of the party, where the passion must be the greatest and the belief must be the strongest. Why? Because the members of those respective committees swear oaths of office to promote and build the Democratic Party in this state.
As in religions, there are many levels of faith and conviction in our party as is the case in other political organizations.
But, when it comes to party committees, the job calls for the efforts to be focused on building the party and advancing its mission — not in finding middle ground with our opponents.
That is the work of elected officials who serve in the Legislature and other government positions.
We need to look no further than our opponents to catch a glimpse of what the role of party organizations are relative to elected officials — parties put the stake in the ground on issues; elected officials find the middle ground that is somewhere inside of where their party put that stake. One problem with our side is that our party has not put often enough and thus ceded the defining of the terms of the argument (the framing, if you will) to the other side. A result of that has been a radicalization of the other side because not enough of their crazy ideas have been challenged.
Democrats who care about the future of this state, who care about the future of the middle class here, about access to public education, about access to public services, about the ability of their children to find rewarding and challenging work in this state, need to commit to at least four years of work aimed at protecting those things that encompass what we have long stood for as a party and as a people.
We need you to turn out to qualify. We need you to commit your time, effort, and creativity to the task of building a political organization that can first stem, then turn the tide of greed-driven anti-social behavior that masquerades as public policy that spews like an uncapped gusher from our opponents in the party that now appears dominant in our state.
We did not get in this mess overnight. We won't get out of it overnight either. But, if we commit to work harder and smarter to reverse this we can, because as a great American once said, "the arc of moral universe is long but it bends towards justice."
If you're ready to fight for your party and your state, go qualify for a party position this week — and let's get to work!
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
What It Means To Be A Democrat
(This is a speech delivered at the Lafayette Parish Democratic Executive Committee's fourth annual Lifetime Achievement Awards Banquet which was held on October 6, 2011. I got to deliver the speech by virtue of the fact I was the Democratic candidate for Lafayette City-Parish President.)
There are a lot of people thinking about this these days, particularly in our state and in our parish. Our state party was not able to field a single well-funded candidate for statewide office this year. The so-called smart money has abandoned us. Republicans have achieved the kind of dominance on the state level that some in this room have come to accept to here in Lafayette.
While conventional wisdom has it that these are bad times to be a Democrat, I believe we are exactly where we need to be in order to put our party in working order. There is no recognizable advantage to being a Democrat, so the opportunists have left us for greener pastures.
Clearly, for our party, the time has come to get back to basics. With most of the deadwood out of the way, we can now get down to the work of rebuilding our party.
In preparing for this speech, I went back to the very basics, starting with the root word “demos” in an effort to understand literally what it means to be a democrat.
The dictionary defines “demos” as being the common people of an ancient Greek state.
But, in the centuries since it originated, Demos has come to mean “the common people” in any political unit.
That form of government based on the notion of power flowing from the consent of the governed is called Democracy. Again, based on demos.
Democracy is defined as government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.
The United States and Canada are democracies, although there are some in our own country who are working hard to restrict the right to participate in our elections. They are anti-democratic in both the little “D” and big “D” meanings of the word.
Democracy is also defined as a state of society characterized by formal equality of rights and privileges. That is, there is only one set of rules that we all agree to play by and that those rules produce a level playing field where your chances for success rest at least as much on what you know as who you know.
There can be no privileged class in a democracy. We are all equal in terms of rights, duties and privileges.
So, demos is the common people. Democracy is rule by the common people, in a place having free elections, and where people have equality based on rights and privileges.
A democrat is an advocate of democracy.
That is, a Democrat is a person who believes in the political or social equality of all people.
We know this is an accurate definition, because for the past five decades in the South, our friends in the other party have used our commitment to equality as a wedge to turn some people away from our party. It worked so well on race, that our friends in the other party have tried to turn our support for equality for women, gays and others into wedges that they can use not just here but across the country.
In Louisiana, a state where we have 32% African American population and 37% total minority population, this tactic has worked to some extent, but has no long term chances for success here, so long as we remain true to our roots.
Our party, you might have read, no longer constitutes more than 50% of all registered voters in the state. We’ve known for a long time that not all people who are registered as Democrats actually support or event vote for Democrats.
The key to rebuilding our party is to embrace who we are and to run with it.
That is, to return to our great Democratic tradition of standing up for equality for all people. We stand for equality for women, for African Americans, for Asians, for Hispanics. We stand for equality of gays. We stand up for those who cannot defend themselves. The poor. The elderly. The infirm.
But also for the people who are the foundation upon which the wealth of this nation was built and continues to be produced. The people who build our roads; who clean our schools and offices; the people who wash those fancy cars; who mow those beautiful lawns; who work two or three jobs to ensure that the lives of their kids will be better than their own; those who teach our children; who work in the oil patch; those people who work countless hours trying to turn their small businesses into a bigger one.
Standing up for those people is the work that once defined us as a party. And that history shows the way up off the canvass and back into the fight.
Our friends in the other party like to defend the people they call “the job creators.” Fair enough — although they don't seem to be doing it very well now. But, let’s call the hard working people that we defend by their true name — They are the wealth creators. Nothing more and damned sure nothing less. These are our people — The people Democrats need to stand up for, to defend, to protect and to champion.
It is the work that we were called into being to do. It is the work upon which our future depends. If this is work that you are not willing to do, then you’re in the wrong party.
This is the work that makes calling ourselves Democrats meaningful. I'm Mike Stagg and this is what being a Democrat means to me — and I hope to you, as well.
There are a lot of people thinking about this these days, particularly in our state and in our parish. Our state party was not able to field a single well-funded candidate for statewide office this year. The so-called smart money has abandoned us. Republicans have achieved the kind of dominance on the state level that some in this room have come to accept to here in Lafayette.
While conventional wisdom has it that these are bad times to be a Democrat, I believe we are exactly where we need to be in order to put our party in working order. There is no recognizable advantage to being a Democrat, so the opportunists have left us for greener pastures.
Clearly, for our party, the time has come to get back to basics. With most of the deadwood out of the way, we can now get down to the work of rebuilding our party.
In preparing for this speech, I went back to the very basics, starting with the root word “demos” in an effort to understand literally what it means to be a democrat.
The dictionary defines “demos” as being the common people of an ancient Greek state.
But, in the centuries since it originated, Demos has come to mean “the common people” in any political unit.
That form of government based on the notion of power flowing from the consent of the governed is called Democracy. Again, based on demos.
Democracy is defined as government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.
The United States and Canada are democracies, although there are some in our own country who are working hard to restrict the right to participate in our elections. They are anti-democratic in both the little “D” and big “D” meanings of the word.
Democracy is also defined as a state of society characterized by formal equality of rights and privileges. That is, there is only one set of rules that we all agree to play by and that those rules produce a level playing field where your chances for success rest at least as much on what you know as who you know.
There can be no privileged class in a democracy. We are all equal in terms of rights, duties and privileges.
So, demos is the common people. Democracy is rule by the common people, in a place having free elections, and where people have equality based on rights and privileges.
A democrat is an advocate of democracy.
That is, a Democrat is a person who believes in the political or social equality of all people.
We know this is an accurate definition, because for the past five decades in the South, our friends in the other party have used our commitment to equality as a wedge to turn some people away from our party. It worked so well on race, that our friends in the other party have tried to turn our support for equality for women, gays and others into wedges that they can use not just here but across the country.
In Louisiana, a state where we have 32% African American population and 37% total minority population, this tactic has worked to some extent, but has no long term chances for success here, so long as we remain true to our roots.
Our party, you might have read, no longer constitutes more than 50% of all registered voters in the state. We’ve known for a long time that not all people who are registered as Democrats actually support or event vote for Democrats.
The key to rebuilding our party is to embrace who we are and to run with it.
That is, to return to our great Democratic tradition of standing up for equality for all people. We stand for equality for women, for African Americans, for Asians, for Hispanics. We stand for equality of gays. We stand up for those who cannot defend themselves. The poor. The elderly. The infirm.
But also for the people who are the foundation upon which the wealth of this nation was built and continues to be produced. The people who build our roads; who clean our schools and offices; the people who wash those fancy cars; who mow those beautiful lawns; who work two or three jobs to ensure that the lives of their kids will be better than their own; those who teach our children; who work in the oil patch; those people who work countless hours trying to turn their small businesses into a bigger one.
Standing up for those people is the work that once defined us as a party. And that history shows the way up off the canvass and back into the fight.
Our friends in the other party like to defend the people they call “the job creators.” Fair enough — although they don't seem to be doing it very well now. But, let’s call the hard working people that we defend by their true name — They are the wealth creators. Nothing more and damned sure nothing less. These are our people — The people Democrats need to stand up for, to defend, to protect and to champion.
It is the work that we were called into being to do. It is the work upon which our future depends. If this is work that you are not willing to do, then you’re in the wrong party.
This is the work that makes calling ourselves Democrats meaningful. I'm Mike Stagg and this is what being a Democrat means to me — and I hope to you, as well.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Laying Claim to Louisiana
Progressives and Democrats from across Louisiana will gather in Alexandria on Saturday, August 27, to unite behind a strategy to plug grassroots activists into Democratic legislative campaigns this fall.
The event -- "Laying Claim to Louisiana"-- is the first part of a 500-day strategy to renew and revitalize the Louisiana Democratic Party and change the course of electoral politics in the state.
At the core of the strategy is the belief that all politics is local and that the key to renewing the state party is to harness the enthusiasm and passion of Democratic activists who have been motivated and engaged primarily by national campaigns and national issues.
The organizers of the event include officers and members of the Louisiana Democratic Party at the state and parish levels, traditional Democratic constituencies, and the in-state leaders of organizations active in national Democratic campaigns.
The goal is to build a new, working coalition that begins with electoral politics but extends beyond that into joint work on legislative and public policy issues.
The redistricting process completed earlier this year by the Legislature provides a new map from which the leadership of the Louisiana Democratic Party will be elected next year (qualifying is in early December). The state party leadership is going to change because the legislative map has changed.
We will plug in these activists into that new map to bring new vitality and energy into the state party through the election of members to the state party central committee, as well as to parish Democratic executive committees. The aim is to utilize the structure of the Democratic Party to channel the efforts and enthusiasm of the activist base into Louisiana state and local politics. We want to build a functioning political party that can provide resources, technical skills, and people to help Democratic candidates win election across the state.
It's a model that has been shown to work for Democratic parties in other states. Hell, it's worked for the Republican Party in Louisiana.
The election calendar provides the road map to guide this effort. The October 22 primary election and the November 18 runoff provide great opportunities for activists to connect with Democratic legislators and their allies to help those legislators stave off the attacks coming at them from Republicans led by David Vitter and Bobby Jindal.
Many of the activists who have been drawn to politics by national campaigns have not been as active in Louisiana politics. They have been turned off by Democrats who tended to run 'Republican-lite' campaigns. The exodus from the party of many of those candidates combined with the explicit targeting of Democrats by Vitter and his operatives, Democratic candidates must now follow the model of their Republican peers and understand that winning campaigns begin by securing their base — not in trying to themselves from it.
In Alexandria, there will be a list of targeted races presented where activists will be asked to help Democrats win election. That cooperation can serve as the springboard to greater cooperation between the activist wing of the party and legislators who, prior to this year, tended to operate independent campaigns with little or no regard for party.
The explicit external threat posed by Vitter's Louisiana Committee for a Republican Majority has produced a willingness to engage the party's activist base among Democratic legislators that did not heretofore exist.
That opportunity to cooperate shows the path forward for the entire party, not just the legislators.
The entire 500-day plan will be discussed in detail in Alexandria. Keynote speaker Melissa Harris-Perry will put our fight in the national context of other fights in places like Wisconsin and Ohio (the same anti-labor, anti-women, anti-democratic forces at work there, are working with Vitter and Jindal here).
The days of Democrats being able to hide their party label are over -- Vitter and the Republicans have seen to that. The path forward is to embrace to our party. We are the only multi-racial, pro-middle class, pro-education, pro-small business party in our state.
If we lay claim to our party, we can once again lay claim to our state.
See you in Alexandria on Saturday!
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Doing the Math
The 2009 American Community Survey (released in December 2010) revealed that African Americans comprise almost exactly one-third of the state's population.
Louisiana is a Voting Rights state, meaning that special attention is paid to the protection of minority voting rights in our state due to our history.
So, while much talk in recent weeks has centered on ideas like creating a coastal district stretching from Texas to Mississippi, more serious consideration is going to have to be give to creating a congressional reapportionment map that responds to the fundamental demographics of our state.
One-third of six is two. Can two majority African American districts be created? Or, can one African American majority district result in five other districts with significant African American voter bases in them?
This could significantly shift the ideological makeup of our congressional delegation for the better.
White Democrats will have to learn to vote for African Americans. If we can, we can transform politics in our state. If not, we will keep on losing.
Monday, October 4, 2010
St. Martin Parish Democrats Get Out the Facts on Health Care Reform
The St. Martin Parish Democratic Executive Committee will run this 30-second spot on Cox Cable's Eastern Acadiana System through the end of October.
It was a pleasure to work with these committed Democrats!
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Will Some Democrat PLEASE Run Against Charlie Melancon in the Party Primary?
Congressman Charlie Melancon represents Louisiana's Third Congressional District but is seeking the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate so that he can run against David Vitter.
I can't for the life of me figure out why!
On Saturday, Melancon voted in favor of the Stupak amendment which banned any public option money and any insurance program in the insurance exchange created in the healthcare reform bill. The vote on the amendment was seen as a necessity by Speaker Nancy Pelosi in order to get the votes needed to pass the overall reform bill.
But, even with the abortion funding ban language included in the bill, Melancon could not bring himself to vote for the bill. He was one of more than 30 Democrats to vote against the bill. Republican Anh Cao of Louisiana's Second Congressional District provided the sole Republican vote in support of the bill, but Melancon could not bring himself to support either his party or his president and support this legislation.
So, the question is this: Why is Charlie Melancon running as a Democrat for the Senate?
I don't get it.
He is not going to pick up any Republican votes with his healthcare votes today. The Republicans have their rock-rib, anti-abortion, anti-government, anti-Democratic, hypocrite candidate in David Vitter. Why would they take Vitter/Republican Lite when they've got the real thing?
Why, too, would Democrats vote for Melancon when the congressman is more likely to oppose President Obama and Democrats in the House and Senate?
At the Lafayette Parish Democratic Executive Committee's Lifetime Achievement Awards Banquet a couple of weeks ago, Foster Campbell described a Blue Dog Democrat as "a Republican with a significant number of black folks living in his district." Congressman Melancon says he is a Blue Dog Democrat.
We have party primaries in federal elections once again in Louisiana. The place to get these questions answered is for a Democrat to run against the Republicrat Melancon in the party primary next fall.
For any Democrat who is interested, Melancon just handed you your issue.
I can't for the life of me figure out why!
On Saturday, Melancon voted in favor of the Stupak amendment which banned any public option money and any insurance program in the insurance exchange created in the healthcare reform bill. The vote on the amendment was seen as a necessity by Speaker Nancy Pelosi in order to get the votes needed to pass the overall reform bill.
But, even with the abortion funding ban language included in the bill, Melancon could not bring himself to vote for the bill. He was one of more than 30 Democrats to vote against the bill. Republican Anh Cao of Louisiana's Second Congressional District provided the sole Republican vote in support of the bill, but Melancon could not bring himself to support either his party or his president and support this legislation.
So, the question is this: Why is Charlie Melancon running as a Democrat for the Senate?
I don't get it.
He is not going to pick up any Republican votes with his healthcare votes today. The Republicans have their rock-rib, anti-abortion, anti-government, anti-Democratic, hypocrite candidate in David Vitter. Why would they take Vitter/Republican Lite when they've got the real thing?
Why, too, would Democrats vote for Melancon when the congressman is more likely to oppose President Obama and Democrats in the House and Senate?
At the Lafayette Parish Democratic Executive Committee's Lifetime Achievement Awards Banquet a couple of weeks ago, Foster Campbell described a Blue Dog Democrat as "a Republican with a significant number of black folks living in his district." Congressman Melancon says he is a Blue Dog Democrat.
We have party primaries in federal elections once again in Louisiana. The place to get these questions answered is for a Democrat to run against the Republicrat Melancon in the party primary next fall.
For any Democrat who is interested, Melancon just handed you your issue.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Why Louisiana Needs Healthcare Reform
The debate on healthcare reform is intensifying in Washington and across the country. This is not a debate taking place in the abstract.
Louisiana stands to benefit greatly from reform — if the final package includes the so-called "Public Option." The public option is a proposal by President Obama to offer working-age Americans the opportunity to buy health insurance coverage similar to coverage currently available to those over 65 through Medicare.
Health insurance companies oppose this, saying that the government will ultimately drive them from the field; that they won't be able to compete. The public, according to polls, is not buying that argument. Various polls report public support for the public option to be running 70 percent and higher.
That probably has something to do with the experiences those with insurance have had with insurance companies over the years. The insurance companies have not endeared themselves to the American public through their arbitrary denials of coverage, refusal to pay claims, and general ripping off of consumers and businesses over the years.
The case for reform is becoming still more urgent in Louisiana coming on the heals of a disastrous (for providers and patients; analysts say the Governor did well) legislative session for healthcare. Medicaid is a big-ticket, unprotected item in the state's budget and the poor have no well-healed army of lobbyists to work the Capitol for them. As a result, the only opposition raised to a quarter billion dollars in Medicaid cuts were hospitals who will lose money through reduced reimbursements.
And, while the initial pain will fall squarely on the poor, ultimately those of us with health insurance will pay for these cuts, as hospitals and other providers shift costs onto those with coverage to recoup the lost dollars resulting from the state budget cuts. Oh, there is also the matter of the thousands of healthcare jobs that will be lost as a result of these cuts. But, it's all good because taxes were not raised and the Governor's presidential ambitions remain in tact.
Healthcare reform on the national level, specifically the public option, holds real promise for Louisiana. First, Louisiana has historically had a large percentage of working age people without health insurance coverage. The latest figures are that only 54 percent of employers offer any form of coverage. In many small communities across the state, local governments offer coverage for their workers but the workers can't afford to pay the premiums based on the small salaries they receive.
The public option will bring competition to insurance markets. In Louisiana, there is not much competition. Blue Cross has 61 percent of the market. Combine that with the second largest health insurer and 74 percent of the market is owned by those two companies. Introduction of the public option would immediately bring cost discipline to the health insurance markets that is sorely missing now.
You can find these and other great facts about the current state of healthcare in Louisiana here.
Any requirement to force companies to offer health insurance or to require individuals to buy health insurance coverage without the inclusion of a public option is nothing more than a gift to the very companies that have produced this financially ruinous system that is responsible for at least half of the bankruptcies in the U.S. each year.
The public option is the minimal requirement for any program worthy of the name healthcare reform.
Senator Mary Landrieu needs to know that Louisiana voters support the public option. So far, only her insurance company lobbying friends are getting through. Call her office. Remind her that you have stood with her and now you expect her to stand with you in support of the public option.
The public option will be good for us, good working Louisiana families, and good for our country.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Can Louisiana Democrats Pass this Test?
The New York Times reports that Barack Obama and his advisers believe they can pick up electoral votes in the South in this fall's presidential election.
The article takes a somewhat skeptical view of this strategy and quotes a strategist or two not connected with the Obama campaign to explain why this won't work.
Obama is right. And, Louisiana can be one of the states that move back into the Democratic column when the Electoral College meets to elect the next president.
Here's the bit of the story that jumped out at me:
The other part that jumps out is that the percentage of votes that Clinton got from Southern white and blacks fits the broad outlines of the modern Democratic formula for statewide success in Louisiana. The formula, established by Edwin Edwards and proven by other Democrats in the nearly 40 years since it was established is this: a Democrat needs to carry about 90 percent of the African American vote and just a bit more than 30 percent of the white vote in order to win election.
This formula has broken down somewhat in recent years as a string of increasingly conservative Democratic candidates emerged via the open primary system. Over time, the appeal of these candidates among Democratic African American voters has waned as the perception arose that white candidate pledges of responsiveness to the interests of these voters was rhetoric, at best.
This has fed a resentment among African American voters towards white candidates that manifests itself in distrust ("why do they only come around here during election time?") or indifference as expressed in declining voter turnout among African Americans in state elections.
African American turnout has not fallen as precipitously in federal elections, in part because the lines between the parties are more sharply drawn at the federal level than in state politics.
Louisiana voters (white and black) care more about who gets elected president than we do about who gets elected governor, as turnout in presidential elections runs 15 percent higher than elections for governor. Could it be that our open primary system, which was supposed to polarize our politics on the extremes, has actually watered down out politics to the point of diluting it of meaning? If voter turnout is an indicator, there may be something to this line of thought.
A Historic Moment
Whatever else might be said about the upcoming election it is that this will not be politics as usual. Barack Obama is the first African American to become the nominee of a major party in this country. His campaign and its message have inspired African Americans to turnout in primaries in record number. But, his appeal has not been built on race and that is why his campaign has succeeded where other African American campaigns for president in the Democratic Party have not.
But, the question at hand is this: Can Barack Obama carry Louisiana this fall?
Judging by the numbers that Bill Clinton drew and by the outlines of the traditional Louisiana Democratic formula for victory, the answer is a resounding "Yes!"
Yes, we can put Louisiana's nine electoral votes in the Obama column.
No doubt African American turnout in Louisiana will be at historic levels. Voter registration among African Americans has been growing all year. Concerted efforts are underway to push those numbers still higher as the historic opportunity becomes clear.
The real test, though, will be for white Louisiana Democrats. As everyone knows, a high percentage of whites who are registered Democrats rarely vote for people carrying the party label. Why these people continue to cling to the label of a party to which they have such tenuous connections (if not outright disdain) is beyond the scope of this piece, but might well earn someone a Ph.D.
But, can Obama attract the votes of about 1/3 of white voters in order to carry our state as Edwin Edwards, John Breaux, Kathleen Blanco and Bill Clinton did? Or, put the other way, have about 1/3 of the white voters in this state moved beyond the prejudices that are loose in our culture and can they then bring themselves to vote to elect Barack Obama president of the United States?
This is the test of our party and its leadership at this historic moment.
Work To Be Done
As we have seen in recent weeks, there is substantial tension in the party between African American office holders and the party leadership over the perceived preference the party gives to white candidates in campaigns where African American candidates are also running. The current flash points are the 4th and 6th congressional districts where there is virtual parity between white and black registered Democratic voters in those districts (see June voter registration figures below).
The party's decision to open the newly re-established party primary system in federal elections to independents and minor party voters has had the effect of tilting the racial balance in those primaries in favor of whites since independents and small party voters are predominantly white.
We'll know by July 11 whether prominent African American lawmakers Lydia Jackson and Michael Jackson decide to run as independents in the 4th and 6th districts respectively. Doing so would guarantee them spots on the November 4 general election ballot. It would also likely guarantee the election of Republicans to each of those seats. The 6th is held by newly elected Congressman Don Cazayoux. The 4th is an open seat that has a real chance of moving into the Democratic column, but not unless the some kind of accommodation can be made in that district.
In the 7th District, State Senator Donald Cravins, Jr., has declared his candidacy as a Democrat for that congressional seat.
Ultimately, the party must prevent the splintering of its traditional coalition or doom Obama's electoral chances here. The collapse of this coalition would shatter the party and inflict deep — and possibly irreparable — harm.
With African Americans constituting something like 45.71 percent of registered Democrats and (based on the voting behavior of white Democrats) a higher percentage of people who actually vote for Democrats, the end of that coalition will mean the end of the Democratic Party as we know it in Louisiana.
Renewing Our Coalition
In sports, franchises can achieve greatness, fall from the pinnacle and rebuild over time. The New York Yankees, Boston Celtics, and New York Giants are franchises that have done this repeatedly over the decades. The teams and their fans carry the same banner, but the make up of the teams changes over time reflecting changes in the game, the aging of players, and changes in coaching and even ownership.
Louisiana Democrats find ourselves at the lower end of the cycle now, but the path back upward, toward consistent electoral success at the local and state level is clear. We must renew the political coalition that has served us so well, but it must include the willingness of white Democratic contributors as well as voters to wholeheartedly support African American Democratic candidates — just as African American voters wholeheartedly supported Democratic standard bearers in our illustrious past.
The future of this party depends white Democrats getting into the habit of casting their ballots for African American candidates in offices up and down the ballot. If enough of us can get into the habit of doing that, we can not only put Louisiana back in the national Democratic Party column, we can get our party back in the habit of regularly winning elections up and down the ballot all across this state.
We can do this only if we can prove that our coalition is something worth preserving; that it is something more than a one-way street working for the benefit of white Democrats but does not respond to the aspirations of African American political leaders and the people they represent.
The Heart of the Matter
This gets us right to the heart of the matter: race.
It is no accident that the Democratic Party is the party where the first African American presidential nominee has emerged. It was, after all, the Republican Party under Richard Nixon that developed its "Southern Strategy" of exploiting Southern white racial resentment to the Civil Rights movement and the end of segregation. It is a strategy that has been the Republican Party's basic playbook for national politics since 1968.
Barack Obama could only emerge as the nominee of the Democratic Party because our party has been the party of racial inclusion harking back to the days of Franklin Roosevelt. Because Republicans have used race as a tool to divide people for their political advantage, they are not capable of dealing with the impact of racial division in anything other than a politically calculating way.
But, the days are gone when being "not a Republican" was good enough to be considered a good Democrat. The times demand that being a Democrat mean something in the affirmative. That affirmation is a deep and abiding commitment to true multi-racial politics. That means white Democrats electing blacks to office even in districts where whites still hold a majority. It happened here in Lafayette Parish in the District One parish council election of 2007. It can happen anywhere.
It needs to happen in the 7th Congressional District this fall.
As we move deeper into the 21st century, America faces many great challenges. Louisiana, because we trail the nation so badly in so many categories, is doubly challenged. That is not cause for despair, but it is reason to recognize that if we are going to break the bonds that tie us to such this legacy of failure, we will need to draw on the capabilities and talents over every Louisianan.
We can no longer afford the luxury of our prejudices. Because of the history of the two political parties on matters of race over the past half century, only Democrats are capable of delivering that message — and, in so doing, delivering Louisiana into a new era.
Democrats across the country voted in primaries and caucuses to deliver that message. By huge majorities, we rejected racism and we rejected sexism. We declared ourselves ready to redefine our party and our politics. We voted to move into a new era bound not by the politics of fear but inspired by the audacity of hope.
The Choice Before Us
Now, the general election campaign is upon us. White Louisiana Democrats now have a choice to make. We can try to cling to the vestiges of a failed past and find some lame excuse not to embrace Obama's historic candidacy (and, in the process, recommit our nation to another four years of Republican corrupt failure and neglect). Or, we can rise to the occasion, seize the opportunity to launch our nation, our state and our party into a new era of forward looking consensus building.
This test will measure whether white Louisiana voters who call themselves Democrats have truly rejected the Republican siren call of race-based politics. Or, has it just been a game we could play to our advantage because whites and blacks had "their own" political safe zones?
The future of the Democratic Party in Louisiana depends on whether white Democrats can pass this test. For our party to have a future, it must be like the Obama campaign: multi-ethnic, inclusive, and transparent.
Are we up to it?
We're about to find out.
The article takes a somewhat skeptical view of this strategy and quotes a strategist or two not connected with the Obama campaign to explain why this won't work.
Obama is right. And, Louisiana can be one of the states that move back into the Democratic column when the Electoral College meets to elect the next president.
Here's the bit of the story that jumped out at me:
In 1996, for example, Mr. Clinton got the votes of 36 percent of Southern whites and 87 percent of Southern blacks, and carried 5 of the 13 Southern states.There are two things that are relevant in that sentence. The first is that Louisiana was one of those five Southern states that Bill Clinton carried — he did it twice (1992 and 1996). He is also the last Democratic presidential candidate to spend media and campaign money in Louisiana after the nominating convention. Is it just a coincidence that no Democrat since Clinton has been elected president?
The other part that jumps out is that the percentage of votes that Clinton got from Southern white and blacks fits the broad outlines of the modern Democratic formula for statewide success in Louisiana. The formula, established by Edwin Edwards and proven by other Democrats in the nearly 40 years since it was established is this: a Democrat needs to carry about 90 percent of the African American vote and just a bit more than 30 percent of the white vote in order to win election.
This formula has broken down somewhat in recent years as a string of increasingly conservative Democratic candidates emerged via the open primary system. Over time, the appeal of these candidates among Democratic African American voters has waned as the perception arose that white candidate pledges of responsiveness to the interests of these voters was rhetoric, at best.
This has fed a resentment among African American voters towards white candidates that manifests itself in distrust ("why do they only come around here during election time?") or indifference as expressed in declining voter turnout among African Americans in state elections.
African American turnout has not fallen as precipitously in federal elections, in part because the lines between the parties are more sharply drawn at the federal level than in state politics.
Louisiana voters (white and black) care more about who gets elected president than we do about who gets elected governor, as turnout in presidential elections runs 15 percent higher than elections for governor. Could it be that our open primary system, which was supposed to polarize our politics on the extremes, has actually watered down out politics to the point of diluting it of meaning? If voter turnout is an indicator, there may be something to this line of thought.
A Historic Moment
Whatever else might be said about the upcoming election it is that this will not be politics as usual. Barack Obama is the first African American to become the nominee of a major party in this country. His campaign and its message have inspired African Americans to turnout in primaries in record number. But, his appeal has not been built on race and that is why his campaign has succeeded where other African American campaigns for president in the Democratic Party have not.
But, the question at hand is this: Can Barack Obama carry Louisiana this fall?
Judging by the numbers that Bill Clinton drew and by the outlines of the traditional Louisiana Democratic formula for victory, the answer is a resounding "Yes!"
Yes, we can put Louisiana's nine electoral votes in the Obama column.
No doubt African American turnout in Louisiana will be at historic levels. Voter registration among African Americans has been growing all year. Concerted efforts are underway to push those numbers still higher as the historic opportunity becomes clear.
The real test, though, will be for white Louisiana Democrats. As everyone knows, a high percentage of whites who are registered Democrats rarely vote for people carrying the party label. Why these people continue to cling to the label of a party to which they have such tenuous connections (if not outright disdain) is beyond the scope of this piece, but might well earn someone a Ph.D.
But, can Obama attract the votes of about 1/3 of white voters in order to carry our state as Edwin Edwards, John Breaux, Kathleen Blanco and Bill Clinton did? Or, put the other way, have about 1/3 of the white voters in this state moved beyond the prejudices that are loose in our culture and can they then bring themselves to vote to elect Barack Obama president of the United States?
This is the test of our party and its leadership at this historic moment.
Work To Be Done
As we have seen in recent weeks, there is substantial tension in the party between African American office holders and the party leadership over the perceived preference the party gives to white candidates in campaigns where African American candidates are also running. The current flash points are the 4th and 6th congressional districts where there is virtual parity between white and black registered Democratic voters in those districts (see June voter registration figures below).
The party's decision to open the newly re-established party primary system in federal elections to independents and minor party voters has had the effect of tilting the racial balance in those primaries in favor of whites since independents and small party voters are predominantly white.
We'll know by July 11 whether prominent African American lawmakers Lydia Jackson and Michael Jackson decide to run as independents in the 4th and 6th districts respectively. Doing so would guarantee them spots on the November 4 general election ballot. It would also likely guarantee the election of Republicans to each of those seats. The 6th is held by newly elected Congressman Don Cazayoux. The 4th is an open seat that has a real chance of moving into the Democratic column, but not unless the some kind of accommodation can be made in that district.
In the 7th District, State Senator Donald Cravins, Jr., has declared his candidacy as a Democrat for that congressional seat.
Ultimately, the party must prevent the splintering of its traditional coalition or doom Obama's electoral chances here. The collapse of this coalition would shatter the party and inflict deep — and possibly irreparable — harm.
With African Americans constituting something like 45.71 percent of registered Democrats and (based on the voting behavior of white Democrats) a higher percentage of people who actually vote for Democrats, the end of that coalition will mean the end of the Democratic Party as we know it in Louisiana.
Renewing Our Coalition
In sports, franchises can achieve greatness, fall from the pinnacle and rebuild over time. The New York Yankees, Boston Celtics, and New York Giants are franchises that have done this repeatedly over the decades. The teams and their fans carry the same banner, but the make up of the teams changes over time reflecting changes in the game, the aging of players, and changes in coaching and even ownership.
Louisiana Democrats find ourselves at the lower end of the cycle now, but the path back upward, toward consistent electoral success at the local and state level is clear. We must renew the political coalition that has served us so well, but it must include the willingness of white Democratic contributors as well as voters to wholeheartedly support African American Democratic candidates — just as African American voters wholeheartedly supported Democratic standard bearers in our illustrious past.
The future of this party depends white Democrats getting into the habit of casting their ballots for African American candidates in offices up and down the ballot. If enough of us can get into the habit of doing that, we can not only put Louisiana back in the national Democratic Party column, we can get our party back in the habit of regularly winning elections up and down the ballot all across this state.
We can do this only if we can prove that our coalition is something worth preserving; that it is something more than a one-way street working for the benefit of white Democrats but does not respond to the aspirations of African American political leaders and the people they represent.
The Heart of the Matter
This gets us right to the heart of the matter: race.
It is no accident that the Democratic Party is the party where the first African American presidential nominee has emerged. It was, after all, the Republican Party under Richard Nixon that developed its "Southern Strategy" of exploiting Southern white racial resentment to the Civil Rights movement and the end of segregation. It is a strategy that has been the Republican Party's basic playbook for national politics since 1968.
Barack Obama could only emerge as the nominee of the Democratic Party because our party has been the party of racial inclusion harking back to the days of Franklin Roosevelt. Because Republicans have used race as a tool to divide people for their political advantage, they are not capable of dealing with the impact of racial division in anything other than a politically calculating way.
But, the days are gone when being "not a Republican" was good enough to be considered a good Democrat. The times demand that being a Democrat mean something in the affirmative. That affirmation is a deep and abiding commitment to true multi-racial politics. That means white Democrats electing blacks to office even in districts where whites still hold a majority. It happened here in Lafayette Parish in the District One parish council election of 2007. It can happen anywhere.
It needs to happen in the 7th Congressional District this fall.
As we move deeper into the 21st century, America faces many great challenges. Louisiana, because we trail the nation so badly in so many categories, is doubly challenged. That is not cause for despair, but it is reason to recognize that if we are going to break the bonds that tie us to such this legacy of failure, we will need to draw on the capabilities and talents over every Louisianan.
We can no longer afford the luxury of our prejudices. Because of the history of the two political parties on matters of race over the past half century, only Democrats are capable of delivering that message — and, in so doing, delivering Louisiana into a new era.
Democrats across the country voted in primaries and caucuses to deliver that message. By huge majorities, we rejected racism and we rejected sexism. We declared ourselves ready to redefine our party and our politics. We voted to move into a new era bound not by the politics of fear but inspired by the audacity of hope.
The Choice Before Us
Now, the general election campaign is upon us. White Louisiana Democrats now have a choice to make. We can try to cling to the vestiges of a failed past and find some lame excuse not to embrace Obama's historic candidacy (and, in the process, recommit our nation to another four years of Republican corrupt failure and neglect). Or, we can rise to the occasion, seize the opportunity to launch our nation, our state and our party into a new era of forward looking consensus building.
This test will measure whether white Louisiana voters who call themselves Democrats have truly rejected the Republican siren call of race-based politics. Or, has it just been a game we could play to our advantage because whites and blacks had "their own" political safe zones?
The future of the Democratic Party in Louisiana depends on whether white Democrats can pass this test. For our party to have a future, it must be like the Obama campaign: multi-ethnic, inclusive, and transparent.
Are we up to it?
We're about to find out.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
To Build the Party, Close the Primary!
The following is the text of an email I sent to the members of the Louisiana Democratic State Central Committee today regarding changing current party rules on who gets to vote in our party primaries in the upcoming federal elections. The research on voter registration that I did for this piece led me to make this call to limit voting in our party primary to registered Democrats only.
Dear Fellow Democrat,
I am writing you today on a matter of great urgency to our party.
As you know, qualifying for the federal election cycle is early this year due in no small part to the fact that — for the first time in decades — Louisiana will use party primaries to determine the nominees of the two major parties who will face each other in the Senate and Congressional races in the November 4 presidential election.
There will be one major difference in the way Louisiana Democrats and Republicans choose our respective nominees: Republicans will choose their nominees in a party-only primary; Louisiana Democrats are going to have to compete with independents and others to determine who will represent our party in those November races.
Considering the substantial rebuilding work ahead of us, I believe it is a mistake to give people who have no allegiance to our party so much control over who represents us.
I am asking you to use your position as a member of the Democratic State Central Committee to call for the party to change its party primary participation rules before qualifying opens in July.
No laws need to be changed to change this rule. The decision to open the party primaries to non-Democrats was made last year, before you and I became officers in the Louisiana Democratic Party (I'm an elected member of the Lafayette Democratic Executive Committee).
There is no evidence that it reflects or complies with the views and wishes of the newly constituted DSCC because it has not been a matter for discussion at DSCC meetings — despite the impact it will have on our party in the upcoming federal elections.
Please call or email LDP Chairman Chris Whittington and LDP Executive Director Britton Loftin to convene the DSCC in emergency session within two to three weeks so that this topic can be thoroughly discussed, debated and decided.
This is too important a question and the stakes are too high for this to be left in the hands of the executive committee alone. It demands the attention and input of the largest organized body in the party and that is the Democratic State Central Committee.
Rebuilding our party means making being a Democrat mean something both for voters and for candidates. We saw some of that in the spring presidential primary when many non-Democrats learned that it took being a member of our party in order to vote for the most progressive candidates in the presidential field.
We have the opportunity in these federal elections (the only elections where party primaries are allowed under Louisiana law) to re-enforce that message by making clear to voters that if they want to have a chance to choose between the best candidates in the fields in the various congressional races this fall, they'll have to be members of our party in order to do so. I'm hoping there is no need for a party primary in the race for Senator Mary Landrieu's U.S. Senate seat.
Whatever benefits the party might gain by allowing others to control our federal candidate selection process is far outweighed by the costs this decision imposes on our party.
Opening our party primaries to non-Democrats dilutes the votes of our party's most reliable constituents and most ardent activists. It insults them and denigrates their loyalty to this party. Rather than dilute the impact of these party loyalists on our candidate selection process, our party should use these primaries to reward our base and our activists by giving them more — not less — influence over the processes that determine who will carry our party's standard in the general election. That's how you build a party!
I'm sure that we all sought office in the party in order to build it into the effective political operation that we have not seen in recent years. I believe that building our state party depends on building upon the efforts that we are making in our respective communities to build up our local party infrastructure.
When you signed up to run for a seat on the DSCC you were indicating your willingness and commitment to work to build this party; that you had some idea as to how that might be done. I don't believe you got elected in order to sit back and take orders out of Baton Rouge.
This is our party. This matter goes to the heart of rebuilding our party. Demand that you have your say in how this matter is decided!
Please call or email Chris Whittington and Britton Loftin today. Tell them you want Democrats to be the only voters to determine who will represent our party in the general election this fall. That can only happen if we restrict participation in our party primaries in September and October only to registered Democratic voters.
The current rule can be changed — and you can change it! This is our party!
The shortest path to rebuilding our party is to make being a Democrat matter again. That begins by letting Democrats decide who will represent us in the federal general election this fall.
Mike Stagg
At Large Member
Lafayette Parish Democratic Executive Committee
P.S. I welcome your feedback on this issue.
Dear Fellow Democrat,
I am writing you today on a matter of great urgency to our party.
As you know, qualifying for the federal election cycle is early this year due in no small part to the fact that — for the first time in decades — Louisiana will use party primaries to determine the nominees of the two major parties who will face each other in the Senate and Congressional races in the November 4 presidential election.
There will be one major difference in the way Louisiana Democrats and Republicans choose our respective nominees: Republicans will choose their nominees in a party-only primary; Louisiana Democrats are going to have to compete with independents and others to determine who will represent our party in those November races.
Considering the substantial rebuilding work ahead of us, I believe it is a mistake to give people who have no allegiance to our party so much control over who represents us.
I am asking you to use your position as a member of the Democratic State Central Committee to call for the party to change its party primary participation rules before qualifying opens in July.
No laws need to be changed to change this rule. The decision to open the party primaries to non-Democrats was made last year, before you and I became officers in the Louisiana Democratic Party (I'm an elected member of the Lafayette Democratic Executive Committee).
There is no evidence that it reflects or complies with the views and wishes of the newly constituted DSCC because it has not been a matter for discussion at DSCC meetings — despite the impact it will have on our party in the upcoming federal elections.
Please call or email LDP Chairman Chris Whittington and LDP Executive Director Britton Loftin to convene the DSCC in emergency session within two to three weeks so that this topic can be thoroughly discussed, debated and decided.
This is too important a question and the stakes are too high for this to be left in the hands of the executive committee alone. It demands the attention and input of the largest organized body in the party and that is the Democratic State Central Committee.
Rebuilding our party means making being a Democrat mean something both for voters and for candidates. We saw some of that in the spring presidential primary when many non-Democrats learned that it took being a member of our party in order to vote for the most progressive candidates in the presidential field.
We have the opportunity in these federal elections (the only elections where party primaries are allowed under Louisiana law) to re-enforce that message by making clear to voters that if they want to have a chance to choose between the best candidates in the fields in the various congressional races this fall, they'll have to be members of our party in order to do so. I'm hoping there is no need for a party primary in the race for Senator Mary Landrieu's U.S. Senate seat.
Whatever benefits the party might gain by allowing others to control our federal candidate selection process is far outweighed by the costs this decision imposes on our party.
Opening our party primaries to non-Democrats dilutes the votes of our party's most reliable constituents and most ardent activists. It insults them and denigrates their loyalty to this party. Rather than dilute the impact of these party loyalists on our candidate selection process, our party should use these primaries to reward our base and our activists by giving them more — not less — influence over the processes that determine who will carry our party's standard in the general election. That's how you build a party!
I'm sure that we all sought office in the party in order to build it into the effective political operation that we have not seen in recent years. I believe that building our state party depends on building upon the efforts that we are making in our respective communities to build up our local party infrastructure.
When you signed up to run for a seat on the DSCC you were indicating your willingness and commitment to work to build this party; that you had some idea as to how that might be done. I don't believe you got elected in order to sit back and take orders out of Baton Rouge.
This is our party. This matter goes to the heart of rebuilding our party. Demand that you have your say in how this matter is decided!
Please call or email Chris Whittington and Britton Loftin today. Tell them you want Democrats to be the only voters to determine who will represent our party in the general election this fall. That can only happen if we restrict participation in our party primaries in September and October only to registered Democratic voters.
The current rule can be changed — and you can change it! This is our party!
The shortest path to rebuilding our party is to make being a Democrat matter again. That begins by letting Democrats decide who will represent us in the federal general election this fall.
Mike Stagg
At Large Member
Lafayette Parish Democratic Executive Committee
P.S. I welcome your feedback on this issue.
Monday, April 14, 2008
War Mongers for Jenkins!
The website Politico reports that the pro-Iraq War Freedoms Watch — a 527 created, in part, by former members of the Iraq Provisional Authority — has made media buy in the 6th Congressional District special election.
Surprise, surprise! They are working to elect Republican Woody Jenkins!
Well, considering Woody's yeoman service in support of the illegal funding and arming of the so-called Contras in the also illegal U.S.-funded war against the Sandinista government in Nicaragua as half of the Iran-Contra scandal, it's no surprise that one set of would-be imperialists would throw wads of cash and disinformation in support of another imperialist.
File this under one good scam deserves another!
So, the people who brought us the geopolitical, military, and fiscal debacle that is Iraq are coming to the 6th District to attack Don Cazayoux.
Trying to spin the unspinable. Gotta love it!
Got to be good news for Cazayoux!
Surprise, surprise! They are working to elect Republican Woody Jenkins!
Well, considering Woody's yeoman service in support of the illegal funding and arming of the so-called Contras in the also illegal U.S.-funded war against the Sandinista government in Nicaragua as half of the Iran-Contra scandal, it's no surprise that one set of would-be imperialists would throw wads of cash and disinformation in support of another imperialist.
File this under one good scam deserves another!
So, the people who brought us the geopolitical, military, and fiscal debacle that is Iraq are coming to the 6th District to attack Don Cazayoux.
Trying to spin the unspinable. Gotta love it!
Got to be good news for Cazayoux!
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Donald Cravins, Sr., for LDP Chair
In order to be able to seize an opportunity, one must first recognize it.
The Louisiana Democratic Party, just a few months away from a pretty dismal showing in statewide elections, has before it the opportunity to re-invent and re-invigorate itself this year thanks to developments in national party politics to which Louisiana Democrats have already contributed significantly.
The opportunity is not only to re-elect our senior United States Senator and retain our two congressional seats, but to take at least two more congressional seats away from Republicans and place Louisiana firmly back in the Democratic column where it belongs.
In order to seize those opportunities, we cannot play defense. Democrats must be on the offensive, using what will likely be a highly energized party base — with Barack Obama as the national party standard bearer — to re-establish Democratic control of our congressional delegation and to lay the ground work for retaking control of state government in the elections of 2011.
Why We Have Fallen
Louisiana Democrats don't need another voter registration program. What we need is a party and candidates that address and respond effectively to the needs of our core coalition. That coalition is the historic Democratic coalition of African Americans, women and wage earners that dominated Louisiana politics in the last half of the 20th Century.
We must become again the party that stands up for the interests of the men and women who, as Bill Clinton famously put it, "get up every day, go to work and play by the rules." Too often in recent years, Democratic candidates have tried to pass themselves off as "Republican-lite," running campaigns calculated to make them look like Republicans. That might have worked during the open primary days, but the days of that system have already ended in federal elections and are probably numbered at the state level as well.
Party matters. Principle matters. Stand for something or fall for anything. Too often of late, Democrats have been unwilling or unable to say what it is they stand for. "Winning elections" is not an answer to that question; in fact, as we've seen, if this is the answer given the likelihood of actually winning goes down.
Democrats believe that there must be social justice if there is to be social peace.
We believe in the right to a decent living in exchange for work. We believe in the fundamental dignity of our fellow citizens; that every American and every Louisianan has rights and duties as citizens and that it is the availability of those rights and our acceptance of those duties that constitutes the fundamental exchange upon which our success as a country has been and must be built.
We believe that every citizen has the right to a good education that will enable each of us to fully develop the talents that we have inherent in us.
We believe that every citizen has the right to affordable healthcare regardless of their ability to pay.
We believe that we are stewards of this earth and that a fair measure of the value of that stewardship is the quality of the world we turn over to our children and future generations. That means we must care for the environment, but also take care that our social and civic institutions, our communities, and our government nourish and enrich our culture so that the better angels of our being can be called forth to meet the challenges of the day.
We believe in the audacity of hope.
This Great Struggle
We are all participants in a great struggle between freedom and oppression, fear and hope, generosity and greed that is taking place across the planet. The struggle is not new. It has been going on for as long as people have been on this earth.
It is, perhaps, more sharply drawn on the national level where a string of Democratic candidates for president have articulated platforms and programs that have had the unifying trait of being fundamentally optimistic and appealing to America's steadfast hope for the future.
That hope has trickled down into Louisiana. It inspired record turnout in the February presidential preference primary. And that hope is coiling like a might spring waiting to be unleashed to send America bounding on a new course and the challenge facing Louisiana Democrats today is to capture the energy that has been unleashed here, yes, to win elections — but not only just to win elections!
The opportunity that Louisiana Democrats have today is to capture that coiled energy that is fired by candidates at the national level and focus enough of it inward into Louisiana so that we can remake our party and, in the process, our state.
Louisiana Democrats lose elections when they don't give voters compelling reasons to vote for them; when they don't inspire voters; when they don't draw sharp enough distinctions between themselves and their Republican opposition.
If Louisiana Democrats are going to tap the energy that these national campaigns have injected into our core constituencies, our party must align itself with the issues, interests, and themes that have fired that energy and hope.
We must return to being the party of the people. We must regain the understanding that well-financed campaigns devoid of principles produce candidates who don't stir the base and who don't inspire voter loyalty.
I'm not saying that money is not important. Money is essential to successful campaigns. But, what this historic moment fired by inspirational candidates focused on messages of change presents Louisiana Democrats, is the opportunity to remake our party in the image of the most successful of these campaigns — a tech-savvy party built on the passion of grassroots activists, fueled by small but steady donors and by heavy hitting contributors.
This is the model Howard Dean's campaign created in 2004. It's the model he's taken to the Democratic National Committee. It's the model that Democrats across the country used to win 'un-winnable' congressional elections in 2006. And, it's the model upon which the Obama and John Edwards campaigns employed successfully this election cycle.
The Leader We Need
Louisiana Democrats need a leader who is a match for the times; who recognizes the historic opportunity before us; and who is up to the challenge that we now confront.
The 2007 statewide elections marked the end of several political eras in Louisiana with the retirement (forced and otherwise) of a number of long-time Democratic leaders. A new generation of Democratic leaders is set to emerge; leaders unburdened by the past failures (perceived or real) of previous Democratic leaders. These new leaders deserve — and will need — a new Democratic Party that can work with them to advance the Democratic agenda.
In order to do this, the party needs new leadership, committed to a new business model for the party. One that will operate it as a party and not a club. A party open to activists and donors alike. The party needs a leader committed to bringing the activist base and the big donor base — "the streets" and "the suites" — together into a single, unified, powerful organization.
We need a leader with the experience and insight to see the big picture and grasp the significant detail. We need a leader who is both tough and smart who sees the potential of this party and who is committed to turning that potential into reality.
I believe we need Donald Cravins, Sr., to be the chairman of the Louisiana Democratic Party.
Why Donald Cravins Sr.?
Donald Cravins, Sr., is nobody's fool.
He's served in the Legislature in both the House and the Senate, and is now serving his first term as mayor of the City of Opelousas. He was in the insurance business for a number of years, running agencies that bore his name in Opelousas and Lafayette. His son Donald Jr. now serves in the Louisiana Senate.
Throughout his career, Donald Cravins has always run grassroots campaigns. He has built campaigns from the bottom up and, in the process, cultivated new leaders who have now emerged onto the scene in St. Landry and Lafayette parishes.
He's a fighter who doesn't like to lose. He's got a keen sense for strategy and tactics.
He knows Louisiana politics from a position that only a few do — as a candidate and as an officeholder.
Donald Cravins was not looking to run for this seat. The opportunity came to him.
I had lunch with his brother Charles several weeks ago in Opelousas. I had requested the meeting because I felt that there was something missing the conversations then taking place about the chairmanship. What was missing were the voices of Louisiana's African American political leaders. I got to know Charles a bit during my 2006 congressional race.
At that lunch meeting in Opelousas, I explained to Charles what — to me — appeared to be missing in the conversation about the chairmanship. We discussed the just-passed presidential primary, the coming federal elections and the possibilities that the fall election presented to Democrats.
I explained my view that I believed the party was faced with a poor choice for chairmanship because the major candidates were essentially a replay of the election that took place two years ago. In my view, that re-run quality ignored the work that many Democratic activists have done in and for the party since that earlier election.
Charles asked me if I was interested in the job. I told him that some people had discussed it with me but that I was a realist and recognized that a successful candidate would have to have more standing in the party than I have.
He then asked me, "Is this a job that you think Donald could do?"
And it hit me. Not only is this a job that Donald Cravins could do — he is the ideal person for the job!
Charles talked with the mayor about the job and told me later that day that Donald was willing to have his name mentioned as a potential candidate.
The response has been both as I expected and surprising. It has been as I expected in that I sensed from conversations that the re-run of the race two years ago is not a race for chairman that has inspired much passion or excitement. The surprising part has been the truly enthusiastic response so many people have given when we've discussed the idea.
Hope and Fear
As a Democrat, my hope has been that our state party would eventually recognize the need to return to its principles and to change its business model in order to capture the energy and passion that grassroots activists have brought to Democratic campaigns in other parts of the country and to the national party itself.
I believe that Donald Cravins, Sr., is the person who can lead this transformation now. He will bring to the chairmanship the necessary sense of urgency that can enable Louisiana Democrats to tap the energy that the national campaign has and this can turn what could have been a long and arduous process into a speedy transformation.
He is the right man for the job at this moment in our party's history.
I know that there are Democrats out there who are scared by the idea of Donald Cravins becoming the head of the party. They need not be. The party is in desperate need of Donald's bluntness, knowledge and political skill right now. Those are the skills that will be needed to orchestrate what can be the highest turnout election in Louisiana since the Edwards/Duke race into Democratic victories for Senator Landrieu, Congressmen Melancon and Jefferson, as well as new victories in the Fourth, Sixth, and possibly other districts in our state.
I predict that in the next few weeks the fears of those Democrats will dissipate as they see the impact Donald's leadership will have on the party.
I predict, however, that in the next few months a new group will come to fear Donald's leadership. These people are Republicans. They will fear Donald's leadership because they will recognize that their days of being the only truly organized political party in Louisiana are over.
The election of no other candidate for party chair can inspire even the mildest discomfort among Republicans.
Our party leadership should reflect the party's make up. African American voters constitute 46 percent of registered Democrats in this state and they usually constitute a higher percentage of Democratic votes than that. They are the core constituency of this party. White Democrats need to get comfortable with that fact and get comfortable with the fact that the party's leadership must do more than just pay lip service at election time to that constituency.
We are approaching a historic moment in American politics. If we are smart enough and tough enough, Louisiana Democrats can be part of that historic moment and write some history of our own.
The opportunity is there. Donald Cravins recognizes. He is up to the task. The question for the rest of Louisiana Democrats is this: Are we up to it?
If we are, then Donald Cravins is the man to lead us.
The Louisiana Democratic Party, just a few months away from a pretty dismal showing in statewide elections, has before it the opportunity to re-invent and re-invigorate itself this year thanks to developments in national party politics to which Louisiana Democrats have already contributed significantly.
The opportunity is not only to re-elect our senior United States Senator and retain our two congressional seats, but to take at least two more congressional seats away from Republicans and place Louisiana firmly back in the Democratic column where it belongs.
In order to seize those opportunities, we cannot play defense. Democrats must be on the offensive, using what will likely be a highly energized party base — with Barack Obama as the national party standard bearer — to re-establish Democratic control of our congressional delegation and to lay the ground work for retaking control of state government in the elections of 2011.
Why We Have Fallen
Louisiana Democrats don't need another voter registration program. What we need is a party and candidates that address and respond effectively to the needs of our core coalition. That coalition is the historic Democratic coalition of African Americans, women and wage earners that dominated Louisiana politics in the last half of the 20th Century.
We must become again the party that stands up for the interests of the men and women who, as Bill Clinton famously put it, "get up every day, go to work and play by the rules." Too often in recent years, Democratic candidates have tried to pass themselves off as "Republican-lite," running campaigns calculated to make them look like Republicans. That might have worked during the open primary days, but the days of that system have already ended in federal elections and are probably numbered at the state level as well.
Party matters. Principle matters. Stand for something or fall for anything. Too often of late, Democrats have been unwilling or unable to say what it is they stand for. "Winning elections" is not an answer to that question; in fact, as we've seen, if this is the answer given the likelihood of actually winning goes down.
Democrats believe that there must be social justice if there is to be social peace.
We believe in the right to a decent living in exchange for work. We believe in the fundamental dignity of our fellow citizens; that every American and every Louisianan has rights and duties as citizens and that it is the availability of those rights and our acceptance of those duties that constitutes the fundamental exchange upon which our success as a country has been and must be built.
We believe that every citizen has the right to a good education that will enable each of us to fully develop the talents that we have inherent in us.
We believe that every citizen has the right to affordable healthcare regardless of their ability to pay.
We believe that we are stewards of this earth and that a fair measure of the value of that stewardship is the quality of the world we turn over to our children and future generations. That means we must care for the environment, but also take care that our social and civic institutions, our communities, and our government nourish and enrich our culture so that the better angels of our being can be called forth to meet the challenges of the day.
We believe in the audacity of hope.
This Great Struggle
We are all participants in a great struggle between freedom and oppression, fear and hope, generosity and greed that is taking place across the planet. The struggle is not new. It has been going on for as long as people have been on this earth.
It is, perhaps, more sharply drawn on the national level where a string of Democratic candidates for president have articulated platforms and programs that have had the unifying trait of being fundamentally optimistic and appealing to America's steadfast hope for the future.
That hope has trickled down into Louisiana. It inspired record turnout in the February presidential preference primary. And that hope is coiling like a might spring waiting to be unleashed to send America bounding on a new course and the challenge facing Louisiana Democrats today is to capture the energy that has been unleashed here, yes, to win elections — but not only just to win elections!
The opportunity that Louisiana Democrats have today is to capture that coiled energy that is fired by candidates at the national level and focus enough of it inward into Louisiana so that we can remake our party and, in the process, our state.
Louisiana Democrats lose elections when they don't give voters compelling reasons to vote for them; when they don't inspire voters; when they don't draw sharp enough distinctions between themselves and their Republican opposition.
If Louisiana Democrats are going to tap the energy that these national campaigns have injected into our core constituencies, our party must align itself with the issues, interests, and themes that have fired that energy and hope.
We must return to being the party of the people. We must regain the understanding that well-financed campaigns devoid of principles produce candidates who don't stir the base and who don't inspire voter loyalty.
I'm not saying that money is not important. Money is essential to successful campaigns. But, what this historic moment fired by inspirational candidates focused on messages of change presents Louisiana Democrats, is the opportunity to remake our party in the image of the most successful of these campaigns — a tech-savvy party built on the passion of grassroots activists, fueled by small but steady donors and by heavy hitting contributors.
This is the model Howard Dean's campaign created in 2004. It's the model he's taken to the Democratic National Committee. It's the model that Democrats across the country used to win 'un-winnable' congressional elections in 2006. And, it's the model upon which the Obama and John Edwards campaigns employed successfully this election cycle.
The Leader We Need
Louisiana Democrats need a leader who is a match for the times; who recognizes the historic opportunity before us; and who is up to the challenge that we now confront.
The 2007 statewide elections marked the end of several political eras in Louisiana with the retirement (forced and otherwise) of a number of long-time Democratic leaders. A new generation of Democratic leaders is set to emerge; leaders unburdened by the past failures (perceived or real) of previous Democratic leaders. These new leaders deserve — and will need — a new Democratic Party that can work with them to advance the Democratic agenda.
In order to do this, the party needs new leadership, committed to a new business model for the party. One that will operate it as a party and not a club. A party open to activists and donors alike. The party needs a leader committed to bringing the activist base and the big donor base — "the streets" and "the suites" — together into a single, unified, powerful organization.
We need a leader with the experience and insight to see the big picture and grasp the significant detail. We need a leader who is both tough and smart who sees the potential of this party and who is committed to turning that potential into reality.
I believe we need Donald Cravins, Sr., to be the chairman of the Louisiana Democratic Party.
Why Donald Cravins Sr.?
Donald Cravins, Sr., is nobody's fool.
He's served in the Legislature in both the House and the Senate, and is now serving his first term as mayor of the City of Opelousas. He was in the insurance business for a number of years, running agencies that bore his name in Opelousas and Lafayette. His son Donald Jr. now serves in the Louisiana Senate.
Throughout his career, Donald Cravins has always run grassroots campaigns. He has built campaigns from the bottom up and, in the process, cultivated new leaders who have now emerged onto the scene in St. Landry and Lafayette parishes.
He's a fighter who doesn't like to lose. He's got a keen sense for strategy and tactics.
He knows Louisiana politics from a position that only a few do — as a candidate and as an officeholder.
Donald Cravins was not looking to run for this seat. The opportunity came to him.
I had lunch with his brother Charles several weeks ago in Opelousas. I had requested the meeting because I felt that there was something missing the conversations then taking place about the chairmanship. What was missing were the voices of Louisiana's African American political leaders. I got to know Charles a bit during my 2006 congressional race.
At that lunch meeting in Opelousas, I explained to Charles what — to me — appeared to be missing in the conversation about the chairmanship. We discussed the just-passed presidential primary, the coming federal elections and the possibilities that the fall election presented to Democrats.
I explained my view that I believed the party was faced with a poor choice for chairmanship because the major candidates were essentially a replay of the election that took place two years ago. In my view, that re-run quality ignored the work that many Democratic activists have done in and for the party since that earlier election.
Charles asked me if I was interested in the job. I told him that some people had discussed it with me but that I was a realist and recognized that a successful candidate would have to have more standing in the party than I have.
He then asked me, "Is this a job that you think Donald could do?"
And it hit me. Not only is this a job that Donald Cravins could do — he is the ideal person for the job!
Charles talked with the mayor about the job and told me later that day that Donald was willing to have his name mentioned as a potential candidate.
The response has been both as I expected and surprising. It has been as I expected in that I sensed from conversations that the re-run of the race two years ago is not a race for chairman that has inspired much passion or excitement. The surprising part has been the truly enthusiastic response so many people have given when we've discussed the idea.
Hope and Fear
As a Democrat, my hope has been that our state party would eventually recognize the need to return to its principles and to change its business model in order to capture the energy and passion that grassroots activists have brought to Democratic campaigns in other parts of the country and to the national party itself.
I believe that Donald Cravins, Sr., is the person who can lead this transformation now. He will bring to the chairmanship the necessary sense of urgency that can enable Louisiana Democrats to tap the energy that the national campaign has and this can turn what could have been a long and arduous process into a speedy transformation.
He is the right man for the job at this moment in our party's history.
I know that there are Democrats out there who are scared by the idea of Donald Cravins becoming the head of the party. They need not be. The party is in desperate need of Donald's bluntness, knowledge and political skill right now. Those are the skills that will be needed to orchestrate what can be the highest turnout election in Louisiana since the Edwards/Duke race into Democratic victories for Senator Landrieu, Congressmen Melancon and Jefferson, as well as new victories in the Fourth, Sixth, and possibly other districts in our state.
I predict that in the next few weeks the fears of those Democrats will dissipate as they see the impact Donald's leadership will have on the party.
I predict, however, that in the next few months a new group will come to fear Donald's leadership. These people are Republicans. They will fear Donald's leadership because they will recognize that their days of being the only truly organized political party in Louisiana are over.
The election of no other candidate for party chair can inspire even the mildest discomfort among Republicans.
Our party leadership should reflect the party's make up. African American voters constitute 46 percent of registered Democrats in this state and they usually constitute a higher percentage of Democratic votes than that. They are the core constituency of this party. White Democrats need to get comfortable with that fact and get comfortable with the fact that the party's leadership must do more than just pay lip service at election time to that constituency.
We are approaching a historic moment in American politics. If we are smart enough and tough enough, Louisiana Democrats can be part of that historic moment and write some history of our own.
The opportunity is there. Donald Cravins recognizes. He is up to the task. The question for the rest of Louisiana Democrats is this: Are we up to it?
If we are, then Donald Cravins is the man to lead us.
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Virginian McCrery to Give Up Louisiana Congressional Seat
Congressman Jim McCrery has come out of the closet: he prefers life in Virginia over life in Louisiana and is going to give up his seat in the House of Representatives in order to end the charade of being a Louisiana resident.
McCrery, a Republican, has represented Louisiana's 4th District for 10 terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. He appeared on the verge of becoming chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee in the current Congress until voters across the country elected a Democratic majority in the House.
McCrery won re-election in 2006 despite the fact that Democratic challenger Patti Cox proved that McCrery led a dual life: namely, the he is a Virginia resident masquerading as a Louisiana Congressman. In court papers challenging the results of their 2006 election, Cox demonstrated that McCrery was not a resident of the Fourth Congressional District at the time of the election.
Courts ruled that the decision on whether to seat McCrery was up to the Congress. In a rare display of bi-partisanship (prompted, no doubt by the fact that many other members of the House and Senate have similar residency problems) the House Democratic leadership didn't even address the issue and seated McCrery in this term.
McCrery, word had it, was tempted not to seek re-election in 2006 but had been lured into the race by the prospect of ascending to that committee chairmanship. Having lost that opportunity and, faced with the prospect of another campaign in which his residential orientation would be an issue, McCrery has decided that he can no longer live the lie of claiming to be a Louisiana resident.
He's gone public with his love of life in Virginia and declared his decision to live openly in the place he loves.
The Shreveport Times reported that McCrery claims not to know what he'll do after he leaves Congress:
So, now that this is an open seat and all the brave regular Democrats will come barrelling down the up to Washington declare their fealty to any Democratic Party leader who will give them money, let's give credit where credit is due: Patti Cox's campaign to reveal McCrery's closet life as a Virginian (combined with the Democratic take-over of the House) drove McCrery to give up his seat.
She didn't win the election, but her legal case against McCrery (you can read the case filings here) inflicted enough damage on him that the 2008 race would have been more demanding than he was willing to endure — think of all the time he'd have to spend in Louisiana, for gosh sakes!
No, pretending that he represented the people of the Fourth District was just one lie too many for McCrery to carry through another election cycle.
McCrery, a Republican, has represented Louisiana's 4th District for 10 terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. He appeared on the verge of becoming chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee in the current Congress until voters across the country elected a Democratic majority in the House.
McCrery won re-election in 2006 despite the fact that Democratic challenger Patti Cox proved that McCrery led a dual life: namely, the he is a Virginia resident masquerading as a Louisiana Congressman. In court papers challenging the results of their 2006 election, Cox demonstrated that McCrery was not a resident of the Fourth Congressional District at the time of the election.
Courts ruled that the decision on whether to seat McCrery was up to the Congress. In a rare display of bi-partisanship (prompted, no doubt by the fact that many other members of the House and Senate have similar residency problems) the House Democratic leadership didn't even address the issue and seated McCrery in this term.
McCrery, word had it, was tempted not to seek re-election in 2006 but had been lured into the race by the prospect of ascending to that committee chairmanship. Having lost that opportunity and, faced with the prospect of another campaign in which his residential orientation would be an issue, McCrery has decided that he can no longer live the lie of claiming to be a Louisiana resident.
He's gone public with his love of life in Virginia and declared his decision to live openly in the place he loves.
The Shreveport Times reported that McCrery claims not to know what he'll do after he leaves Congress:
He says he's unsure what kind of work he'll pursue after he leaves office.Don't believe a word of it! Technically, he might not know where his next office will be, but he knows what he'll be doing — and, probably, who he'll be doing it with. Does the name Breaux, Lott & McCrery have a ring to it?
"It's been a great ride," the 58-year-old said following a party for supporters at downtown Shreveport's Silver Lake Ballroom.
So, now that this is an open seat and all the brave regular Democrats will come barrelling down the up to Washington declare their fealty to any Democratic Party leader who will give them money, let's give credit where credit is due: Patti Cox's campaign to reveal McCrery's closet life as a Virginian (combined with the Democratic take-over of the House) drove McCrery to give up his seat.
She didn't win the election, but her legal case against McCrery (you can read the case filings here) inflicted enough damage on him that the 2008 race would have been more demanding than he was willing to endure — think of all the time he'd have to spend in Louisiana, for gosh sakes!
No, pretending that he represented the people of the Fourth District was just one lie too many for McCrery to carry through another election cycle.
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