Deval used his speech to explain how his campaign had given every delegate an envelope. When I opened mine, I found a list of registered voters who live on my block. He’s encouraging us to talk to our neighbors about politics and bring them in to the process. To break through the cynicism that the usual campaign ads and pooh-poohing media coverage only seem to reinforce.
Note that EVERY delegate got a list, not just Deval’s delegates. So supporters of his rivals can get in touch with their neighbors, too. This means that no matter how this campaign turns out, the Democratic Party as a whole will be stronger for the personal connections it will build inside precincts everywhere. This campaign tactic will have a longer-lasting impact than any $2 million TV ad buy ever could.
Deval said he wanted to change politics-as-usual, and he’s already started.
Make that: We’ve already started.
Actually, I think the Globe article you linked to was terrific, in that it tells Dems that they have to keep their eye on the ball for September and November. The goal is to win those elections, not the one that happened yesterday, and I’d wager that the majority of voters see the process the way the guys profiled in that article do, not the way the folks inside the DCU center do. It wasn’t “pooh-poohing” – it was realistic.
I’m not saying that Patrick (or anyone else) isn’t getting that message. I’m just saying it’s an important message and everyone would do well to heed it.
When the envelopes were being passed out at the beginning, I assumed they were just for the Deval supporters.
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The envelopes were for everybody. So I opened mine. I was expecting a some type of targeted message. Obviously the two targets were supporters and non supporters.
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Since the message was not targeted, I’m sure the Deval supporters liked the message, but it really just left the rest of us scratching our heads.
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Did the campaign think because they had the endorsement that we were now going to swing over? If that was what they were interested in, why not address that in the envelope?
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I hope they don’t expect me to start contacting my neighbors tommorrow for Deval? Maybe someone on the campaign can explain what they were hoping to accomplish? Thanks.
Delegates in First Middlesex received no envelopes at all!!
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(Then again, our Teller was MIA for most of yesterday AM, so I wonder if that had anything to do with it.)
I suggest you either contact Deval’s campaign, or log on to community.devalpatrick.com
They said that envelopes that were not handed out to delegates would be mailed this week.
In his acceptance speech at the end, Deval explained the envelopes and actually said that he didn’t care if you talked to your neighbors on his behalf or on behalf of one of his opponents.
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Maybe it’s calculated rhetoric, maybe it’s not. But I like the message and I think the campaign is doing really good work. Whoever wins the primary should realize that DP’s campaign will have a HUGE organization in place after the primary. I hope that if Reilly or Gabrielli win they’ll reach out to DP supporters and tap into that network to help win in November.
The envelopes were supposed to be given out just before Patrick’s victory speech. The campaign decided to give them out earlier because delegates were leaving.
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They really only made sense in the context of the speech. He explained that he didn’t care if you were with him or not, he just wants Democrats to talk to their neighbors.
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It would have been a neat gesture, but the timing screwed up the message. The dragged out voting hurt Deval’s momentum, I think.
The media has in many instances used an “insiders vs. outsiders” frame for this Democratic Convention–a frame that posits some sort wall between the Democrats who do work for the party and the voters. But what’s realistic is that it is still early in the campaign. Of course, many people don’t know the candidates and therefore don’t know how a candidate will make a difference. This convention is largely about getting the campaigns into high gear, and people at the convention are going to be the ones doing the campaigning, getting the messages out in the coming months. The televised debates thus far have aired early Sunday morning and late Thursday night.
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The article spends a couple paragraphs on some people who are more concerned about the Congressional debate on immigration, and that is more timely because the decision about immigration law could happen any day now. If a Mass. voter wants to pick the right candidate, it would be perfectly fine to wait until August or September because the decision can be delayed. And anything can happen in 3 months. But waiting 3 months to write a letter to a Senator about the immigration bill means your voice wouldn’t be heard.
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And of course, some people will get involved earlier than others with the hope that we can make the party and its candidates better and more successful… but this doesn’t make us vastly different from voters. There’s no wall there. We want to talk to people.
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This common frame of “insiders vs. outsiders” is so easy, so simple and so divisive that it feels like the “red-state vs. blue-state” frame pushed by David Brooks and so many others, separating people into different, supposedly irreconcilable categories. And if you’re a Democrat, you should be wary of these kind of frames.