Cross Posted: Reform Florida's DECs
One of the big lessons I've learned for the Senate District 3 special election (which occurs on Tuesday), is the need for the Democratic Party, particularly local DECs to push absentee voting as early as humanly possible.

Cross-Posted: Reform Florida's DECs

With the essential elements described in Party Building Basics: Part I, the big question remains: now what do we do? This post, like all posts here at Reform Florida's DECs are full of broad overviews, big ideas, with some specifics thrown in for good measure. However, every county in Florida is different. Each county has its own constituencies, its own unique issues, and its own colorful personalities and institutions. There is no such thing as a "one size fits all" model for Florida's DECs to effectively build themselves up to be effective political institutions. The following ideas I present in this post are meant to serve as an outline - not an exact blueprint for success.

Cross Posted: Reform Florida's DECs

I see way too often DECs and progressive organizations going out to do party building/membership/volunteer recruitment without the basics to do it with. I also rarely see it all fitting into a larger plan - which means any results gained could possibly be short-lived. I'd like to open up the discussion today to focus around the basics of party building. By the way, the same tactics go for campaigns. Here are my ideas:

Cross Posted from Reform Florida's DECs and Florida Progressive Coalition

Not all DECs have a lot of clubs. In fact, some have no clubs at all. In Marion, we have 10 chartered clubs, all geographically based. So its important for us to have some level of coordination. Its just as important for all DECs who have clubs to have a club coordinator, or someone who works solely with club leadership.

I've heard many times on Kos and MyDD, that the trend in blogging is towards the local level. This is absolutely correct. While there is still some frontier left at the state level (not in Florida though) in some portions of the country, the real possibilities lay in counties, towns, and neighborhoods. Local issues, local politicians, and local institutions need to be given the same critical analysis and research that the blogosphere has brought to the state, national, and international levels.

DECs can play a small role here. Read On At Reform Florida's DECs...

*For a little context, this was originally posted at FLAPolitics, where I will begin discussing soon, how my father, the new chair of the Marion DEC is attempting to change the party there.

"I think we can end the divisions within the United States. What I think is quite clear is that we can work together in the last analysis. And that what has been going on within the United States...-the divisions, whether it's between blacks and whites, between the poor and the more affluent, or between age groups, or over the war in Vietnam - that we can start to work together again. We are a great country, an unselfish country, and a compassionate country."

-Robert Kennedy (some of his final words before being gunned down minutes later)

Matt just wrote an awesome diary about the true power of Unions in America: building community. I'm going to expand on what I believe is the most important concept for us in the progressive movement: community.

This is cross-posted from FLA Politics. I fully realize this doesn't apply to most of you. However, I do think this might provoke some brainstorming about what your state and community progressives and Democrats will need to do after 2006 is over. -Ray Seaman

We all agree here that this election is critically important for all Floridians and Americans. We're going to work harder than we ever have before to elect Democrats and progressives to office. Great - but we must constantly be looking down the road if we are to be an effective political movement. In the extended entry, I'll discuss a few things we as Democrats and progressives will need to do after 2006 and before 2008, regardless of whether we gain the Governor's mansion or not, or even if we gain seats in the legislature or not.

The path to a Democratic majority and possibly subsequent realignment will be paved with the work of precinct captains and the volunteers they are so key in bringing into the process. However, this post isn't completely focused the importance of precinct captains and precinct-level organizing. This post is mainly focused on the question I've been asked over and over again: how are precinct-captains recruited and therefore how are precincts organized?

As a prospective precinct captain for precinct 3230 in Marion County, Florida, I have a few ideas.