Winners
1) Tim Kaine, who helped Jim Webb tremendously and bolstered his status as a powerful, rising leader in Virginia.
2) Mark Warner who put his popularity and prestige on the line in helping elect Jim Webb.
3) Steve Jarding, who proves once again that he is a political genius. No wonder this guy teaches at Harvard! :)
4) The Virginia Democratic netroots, which "drafted" Jim Webb and then fought like hell to boost him to victory.
5) Jessica Vanden Berg specifically and the much-maligned Webb campaign in general
6) Leslie Byrne, Jim Webb's "Good Housekeeping Seal of Democratic Approval," crucial to Webb's victory in the primary and general election, a leader in "Women for Webb."
7) The 99% of Virginians who aren't super-rich.
8) Northern Virginia, Hampton Roads, African Americans, Women (ok, I snuck in four here; sorry!)
9) Del. Donald McEachin, who provided invaluable assistance to Jim Webb from early on.
10) Bob Marshall (sad to say), whose heinous "marriage amendment" carried the day.
P.S. I definitely needed a few more than 10 spots here to name people like Doug Wilder, Bobby Scott, Jim Moran, Chap Petersen and the Moran brothers (Jim and Brian) to this list. That's the problem with lists...you always leave people off who should have been on.
Losers
1) Dick Wadhams, who proved that he is definitely NOT Karl Rove 2.0.
2) Scott "Hitler Ad" Howell, who once again demonstrated how low politics can go.
3) Chris "Swift Boat" Lacivita, who brought his trademark nastiness to Virginia.
4) The Virginia Republican netroots, particularly the disgraceful failure that was the "A-Team"
5) Benny Lambert, aka "Quisling," aka "Benedict Arnold," aka...well, you get the picture.
6) Virginia is for Lovers, especially gay lovers
7) Bill Bolling, who apparently predicted that George Allen would lose, just days before the election
8) Northern Virginia Republicans heading into 2007?
9) Civility in Virginia politics (ad hominem ad nauseum)
10) Certain entrenched, Democratic party operatives who never got with the Jim Webb bandwagon, even after the (admittedly bitter) primary was over. Even in the closing days, I heard stories (and witnessed personally) of a handful of high-ranking Democrats refusing to wear Webb stickers, even bad-mouthing Webb. That's disgraceful, and all those people richly deserve to be replaced ASAP.
P.S. Bonus winner: all the Democratic Committee Chairs, exemplified by Peter Rousellot in Arlington, who worked their butts off for Jim Webb. Thanks to them.
Lowell Feld is Netroots Coordinator for the Jim Webb for US Senate Campaign. The ideas expressed here belong to Lowell Feld alone, and do not represent those of Jim Webb, his advisors, staff, or supporters.
Steve McGraw, Clerk
Roanoke County Circuit Court
P.S. Bonus winner: the 30% or so of Democratic Committee Chairs, exemplified by Peter Rousellot in Arlington, who worked their butts off for Jim Webb. Bonus loser: the other 70% who didn't do so much. Hey, if you don't want to do the job, then why do you have it?
Good question and rephrasing, they need to figure our what the position actually requires and accept the requisite responsibility. Possibly they see the job as chairing a monthly meeting.
Also, thanks for the attaboy for Hampron Roads. From my post yesterday, our +18,000 Webb votes was the assist in NOVA's goal!
Here in Richmond, city council members and democratic committee members were coming in on Sunday, 11/5/06, wondering where their yard signs were. They should be fired. Lazy, lazy, lazy, and now they think they can bask in Jim Webb's win. I have NEVER seen such apathy, and I for one am disgusted. I'm going to laugh when some of these people lose their jobs.
Oh, and for the certain Democratic committee members/chairs that were absent for much of the time here in Richmond bc you were still bitter about a Miller loss (you know who you are-have you taken your Miller sign out of your office yet?) you also should lose your jobs. We won by just under 9,000 votes, and your lack of integrity and energy could have cost the country the Senate. For SHAME.
My winners are Abbi Easter and Michael Brown-the saviors of Richmond. Micheael Brown was a very effective African American outreach coordinator for the campaign across the state, and Abbi just flat out rocks the vote. I would work with either of them or both of them on any other campaign they ran. Unless it was George Allen's. Ha. Thanks, guys. :)
Thank you Delegate McEachin. We've got your back.
Doug Wilder is NOT, and considering he helped a LOT and endorsed earlier than ever, he deserves to be on the front paged list.
Davis's 55 percent was his smallest winning percentage since he took the seat from a Democrat in 1994, but Davis downplayed its significance.
Gov. Dean's presidential run was the catalyst for the netroots becoming a force to be reckoned with; he inspired so many of us to get involved and stay involved and believe that we could bring about change; and despite all naysayers he insisted on the 50-state strategy that brought new Dems to victory in all kinds of unlikely places - making it possible for Webb's victory to secure the Dem majority in both houses of Congress and have real meaning beyond the Commonwealth. Let's hear it for HOWARD!
Here's to all the brave souls who spoke the truth, tried to prevent the war, and have continued on to make change!!!!!!! You all made this happen too.
All the best,
KathyinBlacksburg
You are the best. If we could clone you, we would have won with 60%of the vote!
Good call Newport News Dem!
Certainly pound for pound she is!
I appreciate your kind words. I can only say that, although I spent countless hours on this campaign, I firmly believe that on a personal level I got much more than I gave. First, I got to know and work with wonderful people like you two, Nancy, Lowell, Josh, Nichole, Dan Sullivan, Gene Magruder, and so many more. But most importantly, I got the satisfaction of knowing that I gave all I could to changing the course of our country. Had Webb somehow come up short, those things would still have been true. The joy that I feel over the fact that Webb prevailed and brought us the Senate too is almost beyond my ability to understand. It's still sinking in.
I will never forget this experience, and I want to thank all of you here for giving so many wonderful memories of 2006. My hope is that everyone will carry with them the power of what has happened here and will let that inspire them to stay involved, to keep giving, to keep working for a better world.
p.s. Also a big thanks to Loudoun County Dem for being the giver of so many 4's to encourage us all. That was just a really nice thing to do.
I agree we need to consolidate around primary winners. Given the that Va is growing more "purple" - we are still going to see a large amount of ticket splitting and very close elections for years to come. It is more important than ever our leadership is aligned. Who's not on the bus?
BTW: You folk here at RK are amazing. You got me fired up about this race and kept me fired up thru the victory speach. You folk are the real heros here-
Moreover, without the last minute TV ad by Congressman Boucher and him hosting ten events for Webb the weekend before Election day, the SWVA numbers would have been even less.
But, I am not being critical of the list, I think its on-point. However, I did not want anyone to forget a "red" region where a lot of "blue-minded" people worked their tails off.
For example:
Staff person/office
(Roanoke is a few hours away from most of Southwest Virginia)
Materials
(The Democracy Prevails PAC ended up buying 90%, or more, of the materials we distributed in Dickenson County - not the campaign)
Family Ties
Most people did not know Webb had any family ties to the region until the Mark Warner ad, and even then, most only knew if they asked someone what Warner was talking about.
Again, I am not throwing stones, just giving some ideas of how we could have done better.
Whether or not the majority of the voters went for him down there, he certainly holds them in great affection and regard. I hope one day they return it.
Honestly, some of us in NoVa felt just the teeniest bit envious of SW--the way Jim Webb goes on and on about that region. It might not be where his home is, but its certainly where his heart is.
Susan Allen: loser. She will never reside at 1600 PA Ave...Oh, my heart breaks.
Sorry, I know we should remain positive, but after her Webb and Hong smear on Fox the week before the election, I do not have any kind words for her.
Just my two cents worth...
Just wanted to point out that sometimes the numbers don't accurately reflect the level of involvement or committment. It's great to be in a locality where you're fighting to bring your candidate from 60% to 75%, even as you're exhausted and burnt you're still getting positive feedback. It sucks to be in a locality where you're fighting to bring 38% to 43%, and implying that someone wasn't working hard enough just seems to be adding insult to injury.
I certainly have no idea about the Richmond situation, or some folks making negative statements in public. But I do know first hand that the experience varied widely by locality, and so did the level of outreach and support from the campaign. We weren't all fighting exactly the same battle.
People - this was a campaign (some might even say a military campaign - we were working against an opponent who currently held power). Anyway - there should be a strategic review and a long-term plan of where and how we can redirect resources from the 75% area on a continually basis to those areas that are 38 - 43% as a standard operating procedure.
Fairly new to the campaign operations - precinct operation thing - and we need to run this thing like a business. IT appears that we reinvent the wheel with every election cycle which is totally bogus! We have elections every year - this should not be that big of a deal. But people are running around with their heads cut - off during the final months of a campaign.
let's make Virgina the state that the rest of the United States looks at for how to win campaigns.
Granted - there will be a few that only want the title or position in the organization - weed those out - get the workers and the ground troops. We can keep this rolling even in your areas of 38%
That was the reality of the situation about which I was aware. 70-30 or 50-50 is not the issue. We had an elected Democratic official quoted in the paper a month ago talking about how the Committees are worthless.
The point is, we need to repair this image and prove our worth by becoming active and sucessful.
The convergence of Clark and Dean supporters is one of the key developments in this election. I suspect a number of the networks that helped to get Jim Webb's campaign off the ground in the beginning were laid during the 2004 Democratic presidential primary. Maybe Lowell can devote a chapter or two to this angle when he gets around to publishing his account of the 2006 Senate race.
*Wes Clark
*Michael J. Fox
*Barack Obama
*John Kerry (he helped tremendously during the primary)
*Tony Zinni
*Adrienne Christian (Webb's deputy campaign manager)
*Michael Brown (African American outreach coordinator for the Webb campaign)
*Ingrid Morroy (treasurer for the Webb campaign and Arlington County Revenue Commissioner)
*Larry Byrne (field director for the Webb campaign)
*Chap Petersen
*Brian Moran
*Creigh Deeds
*Markos of Daily Kos
Lots more, so I'm going to stop now before I get in MORE trouble! :)
By my count we're only at about 35-40. We still have a ways to go ;-).
Needless to say--a lot of people played a role. And hopefully we can pick up some more support moving forward in future elections.
So bring your own everything because I'll be lucky to stop off for a bag of chips. And feel comfortable wearing your scruffiest outfit.
Please do come up, down, over, out.. whatever :)
If you need directions, email to kath at skatha net
And we promise not to ask for campaign contributions for anyone.
Are you going to dance with me at the ball or not?
Now if that is not the top winner, I don't know (who) is.
And the Top Cry-Baby Losers...
The Republicans whose claims of Stafford County vote total hanky-panky made CNN, but amounted to a hill of beans. Sure, there was a mathematical error - which when corrected - lowered the vote total for Webb by 1300. But after a long and testy canvass, we actually picked up Webb votes. Boo hoo!
So am I one of your 30 or one of your 70?
How would you know?
Did you attend any one of my monthly meetings to find out what we were doing to support the campaign? Did you call me or any of the other committee chairs to ask before you started attacking?
HOW DO YOU KNOW??
Do you have any idea how hard it is to support a campaign with little or no money to work with? We are not Republicans and do not have Republican-like budgets. None of us! Frankly, my extra cash went to the Webb campaign, not the Committee. Did you check to see how much the 70% donated to Webb before you attacked?
HOW DO YOU KNOW??
Do you have any idea how many precinct letters we sent out? We asked the Webb campaign for help with postage so we could send more. As it was, we spent virtually every last dime in our federal account on the letters.
DID YOU KNOW?
Because I wonder how many of the other District Chairs also worked their butts off in the last 3 months, only to see a comment like this on RK, and wonder which group you have them in. This was my first year as Chair, and I never realized how much work it is. Luckily, I have a lot of excellent help.
So until you can provide some justification for your statistics, maybe you should reconsider.
After all,
HOW DO YOU KNOW?
Sometimes, there is more going on than folks are aware of. There was some behind-the-scenes animosity between the players down here.
The rarified air of NoVA is not the same as that of other areas.
These problems can be remedied going forward. The only other thing I'd offer publicly is to urge big fish in small ponds to consider whether or not squabbling helps or hurts the principles they hope to advance in the long run.
Well one other thing - a number of sincere folks were late to the game "getting" the amendment and "getting" Jim Webb.
And I take this very personally, on behalf of myself and a group of very hard working Dems in a very Republican area.
Stop passing judgement on others. Let the Republicans tear us down. We don't have to do it ourselves. The district chairs are picked by the districts. If anyone else wants a chance to do the job, all they have to do is show up and start working. We'll be happy to give them all the responsibility they can handle.
In the meantime, unless you are stuffing envelopes next to me, canvassing, or phonebanking, SHUT UP.
and I mean you Lowell. You were not in my district. You do not know.
Apologize to me and my district or Shut Up!
All of these areas used to be deep blue during FDR days and since we're working on returning the Democratic party back into the hands of working America this makes a lot of sense.
I worked on another campaign (at the same time as this one) where the DNC basically lost the race before it even began. not one dime and even then alot of the locals I contacted also said the race was lost before it began...
with this sort of attitude and you're out there trying anyway, it gets pretty frustrating...
and on top of it, I think that analysis we can't win here is dead wrong. People are suffering...badly, especially on the economic front.
The House and Senate once again belong to the people!
By the way, I recall last year we had the same sort of back and forth. Who worked harder... Which staffer was the biggest meanie... and so on....
WE ARE VIRGINIA DEMOCRATS, and WE WON!
ENJOY IT EVERYONE!
IT HAS BEEN A VERY VERY VERY LONG 12 YEARS!
Also the total lack of organization in the 11th Congressional race. Andrew Hurst got more % than Judy Feder - why was his race not on the screen with National party leaders?
There were plenty of volunteers, events were covered. There were many reasons Hurst lost, mostly money, but lack of organization was not one of them.
Local Democrats have no power over the DCCC.
Yes Davis had alot of nice little mailings. But we had an electorate that was ready for a change - especially in NOVA. When your candidate is not known is to a % of the voters - then there is a message and organization issue.
Those who were involved in the Hurst race thought there was very good coordination between the Hurst campaign, the 11th CD, and FCDC. Hurst, Feder, and Moran did a lot of the field work for Webb in their respective districts.
As for Lowell, how dare he suggest that 70 percent of the Democratic committees in Virginia did nothing for Webb. How the hell does he know. He was locked up in the very Democratic world of Arlington. The rest of Virginia is different.
A previous writer pointed out that the Webb campaign did very little outreach to many Democratic committees. Many committees operated on their own. They even bought their own Webb signs and made their own Webb literature. The Democratic committees also worked for all of their Democratic candidates, including Jim Webb.
Some of the work for Webb hurt other candidates like Feder, Hurst, and even Kellum because it pulled Republicans who may have otherwise stayed home. No sour grapes here. What had to be done was done.
The only sour grapes come from Lowell. He should not use some blanket statement criticizing 70 percent of the Democratic committees in Virginia.
That ain't the way to win friends and influence people. In fact, it is pretty snide and elitist.
Before you get pissy you probably should know - I personally gave over $1,000 to the Hurst campaign. Sponsored events that raised over $6,000 for the campaign. I participated in "dialing for democrats" when no one knew what it was.
I walked the streets, I put up signs, I worked the polls and I phoned banked. I spent three consecutive weekends coordinating volunteers of 170 each weekend.
Do not give me a what did you do line. When did one / count them one person from the 11thCD contact the districts to coordinate GOTV?
Oh and please tell me how much money did the 11th CD give to Hurst - because last I check that is the function of the 11th CD.
Everyone worked hard - so do not give me a line that you think you are better. It was an honest observation from a street warrior. That one month from the election - D+ did not even know Andy's name. Now we can go round and round - but it is the truth - get insulted, get pissy. I felt there was not a conserted outreach and or coordination stategy from the 11CD - take it the way it was meant. That we had an opportunity to do a better job and we did not.
I understand your frustration. When I called D's in my precinct last summer to ask if they would put up a yard sign, almost none of them knew who Andy Hurst was. The same was true when I called D's in Heritage and Bristow precincts to ask if they would help with voter registration. It is very frustrating.
But name recognition is pecularly a function of the amount of material you can send out which is a function of money.
I was truly surprised that Andy out performed Judy, so if money is a critical factor, to quantify its true influence is still limited.
Sorry about the rant - but my management background goes crazy with "perceived" areas that can be improve. A little bit of focus in the last month and perhaps different results. Thanks for all of your hard work also.
And I would argue, Thomas Paine, that there were certain elements of committee leadership that did very little outreach to the Webb campaign. This was a campaign severely crunched for time and money--to compare it to either the Kaine or Warner campaign is tremendously unfair. I believe Lowell is referring to certain people who could have been more helpful, yet weren't.
Lowell, if I've spoken out of turn, please let me know.
And let's all try to learn from this experience. Next year we try for the State Senate, and the year after that is the big '08.
We all need to be better at moving on and looking at the bigger picture in the future if we want to be a majority party.
So, let's move forward.
Now we will just have to wait and see how the new constitution mucks up contract law and the wing-nuts work is done.
And once again, thanks to you all at RK. What a great community!
Gene E. Magruder
Newport News Democratic City Co-chair
Chairman, Virginia Association of Democratic Chairs
P.S. The hard workers representing labor also won
Best,
Lowell
Why would you want to put a damper on the euphoria of Jim Webb's victory by insulting three-quarters of the Democratic committee chairs across Virginia. Why would you want to piss people off less than one day after Webb won the election.
Don't sully their reputations AND insult their intelligence by talking about unity when the words coming out of the other side of your mouth are sowing seeds of discontent.
You really are a piece of work.
Did we win?
TP, I have no idea who JPTERP is. But I do know that he was the ONLY one there for me at a particularly difficult moment.
Other than that, I choose to self-censor for right now.
Anyone who has served in a leadership position either in a professional or volunteer capacity understands the value -- and absolute necessity -- of doing a "lessons learned" after a job is completed. There is always room for improvement.
Looking back at Lowell's original statement that got this thread going,I believe it was meant to start a much needed discussion of the failure of SOME party leaders to support ALL candidates.
You seem very defensive. Let's take your comment that, "The Webb campaign did very little outreach to many Democratic committees." First, IMHO, it is the responsibility of the Dem committees to do outreach to the campaigns. This is one of the fundamental problems with our current leadership. They want to be pandered to. It is the job of the committes to get our candidates elected. That's what we all sign up for when we join the party. So let's first get over our own self-importance. Secondly, the Webb campaign through its many supporters like myself who are also party members did outreach to the committee leadership but were in many cases rebuffed or ignored.
You also keep saying that the committee leaders worked for all the candidates including Jim Webb when you know that is not the case for some top leaders. You also state that "some work for Webb hurt other candidates because it pulled out R's who otherwise would have stayed home." Will we as Dems ever stop demonizing Republicans who come home to our party? I think it is far more likely the case that we pulled out Independents who voted for Andy Hurst and Judy Feder down ticket.
There are many problems in our current committee and if we fail to address them we will keep repeating them and lose members. I, for one, am so tired of the totally unprofessional behavior and personal attacks. (I was certainly the victim of one for which you and others have never apologized)
If we do not fix our problems the committee will continue to be little more than a social club for elitists who think they are more important than our Democratic values and candidates.I left high school a long time ago. That is why I and many others may just leave the committee to its own self-destructive behavior and focus on helping our 2007 candidates outside of that structure.
Let me paraphrase the words of a wise man: "Those who refuse to see the mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them in the future." So, TP, will you as a leader continue to defend the past or move forward to address these problems and sow seeds of true unity within the party? When will we do a "lessons learned" with an eye toward improvement and stop defending the indefensible?