• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Rep Keith Ellison of Minnesota will hopefully be the new DNC chairperson

Status
Not open for further replies.
I love Dean but the era of traditional campaigns are over,
we are beyond a point of no return, it is time to turn the page and embrace new blood, a new breed

Dems don't need to burn everything to the ground but they just need move in more Generation Xers to lead the Millennials

This.

We need to focus on getting the massively liberal younger generation to vote. That is the future.
 

borghe

Loves the Greater Toronto Area
My take. Donnelly, McCaskill, Manchin, Heitkamp, and Tester are especially in precarious positions. And we shouldn't take any of those "safe" states for granted either.

Edit: missed Heitkamp, damn we're boned

you're defense states are really aggressive. Now..... clearly complacency NEEDS to be avoided. But as long as the DNC gets their shit together.. a lot of your Dem list are seats with multi-term incumbents and/or strong history of voting left. And if we learned one thing from this election about the GOP... republican voters that aren't hard right populists.. have little to no interest in the current GOP platform. and the ones that ARE hard right populists, make up significantly less than 30% of the population.
 

Jeels

Member
Only 8 Republican seats that can be flipped, 21 Democrat seats to defend.

Well this sucks.

Yup, and the worst part is those aren't even competitive states...TN? MS? TX? Ya right. It is going to take the entire electorate coming at the Republican party with absolute vengeance to flip the senate.

Also, I like Keith, but I feel like we can't have part time leaders anymore. We need someone dedicating 100% of their time to re-electing democrats across the board. If Keith was willign to give up his seat for this, I'd be in.
 

fantomena

Member
Ellison and Michael Moore tried to warn people what was up, and got laughed at. And now nobody is laughing.

Sanders did too.

Let me be very clear. In my view, Democrats will not retain the White House, will not regain the Senate, will not gain the House and will not be successful in dozens of governor’s races unless we run a campaign which generates excitement and momentum and which produces a huge voter turnout.

With all due respect, and I do not mean to insult anyone here, that will not happen with politics as usual. The same old, same old will not be successful.

The people of our country understand that — given the collapse of the American middle class and the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality we are experiencing — we do not need more establishment politics or establishment economics.

We need a political movement which is prepared to take on the billionaire class and create a government which represents all Americans, and not just corporate America and wealthy campaign donors.

In other words, we need a movement which takes on the economic and political establishment, not one which is part of it."

~ Bernie Sanders August 28th, 2015

https://www.youtube.com/embed/NU4iNAtg6W0?start=321&end=421
 
The bottom line is more people need to get involved at the ground level. Obviously I'm not an expert, but why not ad campaign to get people to vote and be involved at the primary and convention levels. Why not start talking about this now and starting campaigns to get people to register to vote all the time just not right before an election. It seems pretty simple to me that if more people were involved like this on both sides, both parties would better represent the whole of America.
 

lenovox1

Member
I don't think Dean is really establishment especially given he was basically exiled from the party.

But I just want a healthy competition and someone that can commit full-time. This isn't a part-time project.

Right. I have two requirements.

Can you win? Do you wake up every morning and think, "How can I win today?" Are you willing to cast aside your own ideals for the ideals of winning?

And

Are you devoted to doing the job of winning 24/7? Which means not only building a team around you that "wins" whenever you're asleep, but also supporting and spending money in the places it takes to win.

Because this is about more than the midterms and more than the White House. The Democrats have lost EVERYTHING.

It's nice to have great ideas, but I can't so shit about ideas if we continue to have nothing.

And the DNC chair's personal ideology for the next four years should be first and foremost about winning. I don't give a crack if you're a conservative or liberal or anything in between. I give a crack about if you're going to support the movement of winning, where ever that movement may stem.
 

SL128

Member
My friends are also excited by this but I have lost too much faith in the American people to think this is a good idea.

You can't have people of color, women and especially not a Muslim (who are soon to be considered illegal) as part of the head of your party and expect to win people in the Rust Belt or the South.

Don't we have any fat, white liberals from the midwest or south with charisma?
You can as long as you try getting the nonracists to vote, instead of ignoring them or letting them be embraced by the far right.
 

lenovox1

Member
If Howard fucking Dean is chosen over Keith the Democratic Party will give the message that they learned nothing from the Hillary disaster.

What's Ellison's experience at building an organization? While he can learn, he doesn't have the time to learn on the job. He would have to do that yesterday, especially if this is a part time job for him.
 

lenovox1

Member
I did this yesterday. So ready for new blood and new enthusiasm in the DNC and dems in general. We need more outsiders. People with vision and passion.

Agreed. But those outsiders need the support of an organization that will actually net them a seat at the table first.
 

Ashodin

Member
Agreed. But those outsiders need the support of an organization that will actually net them a seat at the table first.

Grassroots got us almost all the way to the White House (barring primary shenanigans and coronation funtimes) with just Bernie alone. They've got what it takes. They can solidify around a new paradigm.
 

Valhelm

contribute something
What's Ellison's experience at building an organization? While he can learn, he doesn't have the time to learn on the job. He would have to do that yesterday, especially if this is a part time job for him.

Yeah, what we really need is another experienced organizer like Donna Brazile or DWS
 
Yeah, what we really need is another experienced organizer like Donna Brazile or DWS

They were terrible organizers and threw out the many accomplishments of Dean. Even in years past, we all could see the DNC had terrible ground game support in non-presidential races.

Also, nobody is advocating for them now and many disliked DWS in general. Donna isn't being called on now - she's just the interim. If anything people are also looking at Dean. Ellison, though, needs to commit full-time if it is him.
 

Valhelm

contribute something
They were terrible organizers and threw out the many accomplishments of Dean. Even in years past, we all could see the DNC had terrible ground game support in non-presidential races.

Also, nobody is advocating for them now. If anything people are also looking at Dean.

At this point, I think skill is less important than vision and ideology.
 
What's Ellison's experience at building an organization? While he can learn, he doesn't have the time to learn on the job. He would have to do that yesterday, especially if this is a part time job for him.

At this point, I think having someone with their heart in the right place and the support of the people would be more politically viable.

At this point, I think skill is less important than vision and ideology.

This
 
At this point, I think skill is less important than vision and ideology.

I think you're right for a candidate. But a DNC chair isn't a candidate. A DNC chair needs to be able to ensure things are working fairly within the organization and ensure that the entire organization has a pulse on what the entire electorate is looking for and wanting to hear.

That knowledge should allow them to focus on identifying the right candidates to run/support in every level from local to national politics.

But I understand Ellison could be inspirational and have vision. I'm not opposed to him at all. I'm just concerned about him not being able to commit to a full-time project.
 

lenovox1

Member
Grassroots got us almost all the way to the White House (barring primary shenanigans and coronation funtimes) with just Bernie alone. They've got what it takes. They can solidify around a new paradigm.

No. Almost is not good enough. The time for that game is over and done.

Let's keep it clear that Bernie lost. And not simply because the party wanted Clinton, he lost with the demographic you actually need to win the primary.

If progressive ideals are the ideals that resonate with the base, perfect. If it's something else, the party as an entity has to be willing to find it and cultivate it.
 

Quixzlizx

Member
Vision, maybe.

But basing the chairmanship on ideology instead of executive/administrative competence seems pretty counterproductive to me.

I mean, would you rather have Howard Dean or Jeremy Corbyn? The people who would answer Corbyn don't really have any vision beyond BURN IT ALL DOWN in my opinion.
 

lenovox1

Member
At this point, I think having someone with their heart in the right place and the support of the people would be more politically viable.

The next DNC chairman will not a figurehead and is also not running for president. They will be responsible for spearheading the greatest political flip in all of American history. That does not start with ideology.

That starts with organization and sheer force.
 
I've met him before. Great man.

Wonder if people are ready for a Muslim to be in such a spot, or if that mobilizes Republicans even more.
 

lenovox1

Member
Yeah, what we really need is another experienced organizer like Donna Brazile or DWS

Yes, DWS is a loser that failed. Donna Brazille is a phenomenal speaker that's great at getting people to understand her, but she also comepletely failed.

And neither of them were doing the job full time.
 

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
2018 is a loss for Democratic senate pickups. Dean Heller is maybe the only vulnerable Republican incumbent--even with retirements, almost any open R seat would go R. And there are probably 5 Ds that are more likely than not to lose.

The target for 2018 should be state houses, senates, attorney general, secretary of state, lieutenant governor, and governor positions.
 

Ashodin

Member
No. Almost is not good enough. The time for that game is over and done.

Let's keep it clear that Bernie lost. And not simply because the party wanted Clinton, he lost with the demographic you actually need to win the primary.

If progressive ideals are the ideals that resonate with the base, perfect. If it's something else, the party as an entity has to be willing to find it and cultivate it.

I disagree. He never had a chance to really get where he was going, and he really fired up the part of the electorate that would have kept fighting all the way to the polls.

Once it became "the vote between two evils" it became a lost cause.

There's no denying that Bernie created a movement and it was stopped before it could get going. It's still alive now, but it's the fired up, disheartened yet inspired liberals that want to see this movement continue. We're in it for the long haul.
 
There's a vice-chair position, too, right? Ellison as Chair and Dean as Vice-Chair. New, progressive and exciting, paired with old, experienced, knowledgeable. It's the Obama-Biden combo.
 

Jeels

Member
I've met him before. Great man.

Wonder if people are ready for a Muslim to be in such a spot, or if that mobilizes Republicans even more.

It isn't an incredibly public position and I know this sounds terrible, but he doesn't *look* or *sound/have a name that sounds* Muslim...
 

Quixzlizx

Member
I disagree. He never had a chance to really get where he was going, and he really fired up the part of the electorate that would have kept fighting all the way to the polls.

Once it became "the vote between two evils" it became a lost cause.

There's no denying that Bernie created a movement and it was stopped before it could get going. It's still alive now, but it's the fired up, disheartened yet inspired liberals that want to see this movement continue. We're in it for the long haul.

If there's one thing history has shown us, it's that the youngest voters always have the highest turnout.
 

Ashodin

Member
If there's one thing history has shown us, it's that the youngest voters always have the highest turnout.

Of course, once there's a reason and a mantra behind going to the polls. We need dreams and vision. That's what young people are all about. It's what Obama was based around, hope for change.

Bernie was based around even greater change, showing that Obama did well, but some people think not enough.

I still remember many people debating me in the Politic threads saying that "change can't come too fast, it just doesn't happen!"

Well we're about to get some real fast changes from Trump, and not in the direction you want.
 
I love Dean but the era of traditional campaigns are over,
we are beyond a point of no return, it is time to turn the page and embrace new blood, a new breed

Dems don't need to burn everything to the ground but they just need to have more Generation Xers to lead the Millennials

2018 is a loss for Democratic senate pickups. Dean Heller is maybe the only vulnerable Republican incumbent--even with retirements, almost any open R seat would go R. And there are probably 5 Ds that are more likely than not to lose.

The target for 2018 should be state houses, senates, attorney general, secretary of state, lieutenant governor, and governor positions.

I think both of these posts are on the money. We should be focused on getting Millenials and Xers involved at the state and local level. Dems need new blood bad. Same old, same old is not going to generate enough enthusiasm otherwise.
 

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
This.

We need to focus on getting the massively liberal younger generation to vote. That is the future.
We can start focusing on them when they give even the slightest indication they can be bothered to get off their asses and vote

The absolute nightmare scenario for me is a complete 2018 blowout because we focused all our attention on a demographic that doesn't give two shits about midterms
 

Quixzlizx

Member
Of course, once there's a reason and a mantra behind going to the polls. We need dreams and vision. That's what young people are all about. It's what Obama was based around, hope for change.

Bernie was based around even greater change, showing that Obama did well, but some people think not enough.

I still remember many people debating me in the Politic threads saying that "change can't come too fast, it just doesn't happen!"

Well we're about to get some real fast changes from Trump, and not in the direction you want.

They had low turnout relative to other demos for Obama, too. You're just pulling this out of your ass.
 

Lubricus

Member
The next DNC chairman will not a figurehead and is also not running for president. They will be responsible for spearheading the greatest political flip in all of American history. That does not start with ideology.

That starts with organization and sheer force.

The chairman needs to be inspirational. The DNC has CEO, Political Director, and Director of Voter Protector/Expansion positions. Those positions can be filled with people who have the organizational skills.
 
If you do this, you death spiral.

The DNC Chair is an organizer. Not an inspirer.

DNC chair is actually a leader. Good leadership requires the ability to get people to produce results. Inspiration is one of the many tools good leaders use to get result.

Trustworthiness and respect are all hallmarks of great leaders.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom