Donkey rising. NYT: Democrats' election successes

[ProSense]

The Nation

Out West, Democrats Roam Free

By TIMOTHY EGAN
Published: November 27, 2005
HELENA, Mont.

THE gun-loving, pickup truck-driving, church-going, jeans-wearing governor of Montana - a Democrat in his first year - was reveling in his poll numbers on a day when broader surveys found that barely a third of the people approved of their national government leaders.

"Look at these numbers," said Gov. Brian Schweitzer, pointing to the annual Montana State University survey showing him with a job approval rating of 69 percent - 27 points higher than President Bush in Montana and 21 points above the Republican senator, Conrad Burns, who is up for re-election next year. "People seem to like what we're doing."

Across the vast inland sea of Republican red, in states like Kansas, Wyoming, Oklahoma and Arizona, other Democratic governors are soaring at the same high level of approval in the polls. They may not look much like coastal Democrats, and they may not talk much like their party leaders. At times, they act as if they would rather catch the bird flu than have their pictures taken with Howard Dean, the Democratic Party chairman who often runs into "scheduling conflicts" with the governors whenever he visits.

But as Democrats look to nationalize the Congressional elections next year, they have been traipsing off to political backwaters likes Helena, Cheyenne, Wyo., and Topeka, Kan., for tips from Heartland Democrats. The breed that has long been ignored, but was forced early on to learn some survival strategies, is now in vogue.

Twelve of the 22 Democratic governors are in states won by President Bush last year. And at least three of those governors - Bill Richardson of New Mexico, the departing Mark Warner of Virginia, and Tom Vilsack of Iowa - may run for president.


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/27/weekinreview/27egan.html


Long Island

A Novice Revives Brookhaven's Democrats

By VIVIAN S. TOY
Published: November 27, 2005
THE résumés started arriving even before results were in.

The Nov. 8 election turned control of Brookhaven town government over to the Democratic Party for the first time in decades, and would-be town employees were hurrying to contact Marsha Z. Laufer, the town party chairwoman, who they assumed would now be doling out the patronage spoils.

Marsha Z. Laufer, the Brookhaven Democratic chairwoman, says she will not become a power broker.


They assumed wrongly. "I just forwarded them to the transition team," Ms. Laufer said of the 20 résumés she had in hand within a few days after the election. "I didn't even look at them."

It was the act of a party boss who defies the very definition of a party boss. "I'm as partisan as they come," she said. "But politics has to stop at the door of Town Hall."

So despite the central role she played in Brian X. Foley's election as supervisor and the victories by three other Democrats in Town Board races, giving her party a 4-3 majority, Ms. Laufer insisted she would have nothing to do with town hiring or the nuts and bolts of town government


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/27/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/27libroo.html

[Conker]

1. Woohoo!Go Dems!

Hopefully these successes in the south can turn those states blue in 06 and 08.

[snowbear]

2. Wow... great stuff ... RECOMMENDED fo' sho!!

~~~~~~ (( ))

[ProSense]

3. No matter how the NYT spins it

This is great news for the Democrats. Wyoming is Cheney country. As for Montana, the state is turning pretty blue:



JON EBELT/Independent Record
U.S. Sen. John Kerry, right, visits with members of the Helena media and Gov. Brian Schweitzer, second from left, Thursday at the Capitol in Helena. Kerry is visiting Montana for a few days and wanted to come to Helena to meet with Schweitzer about both state and national issues.

Nice article...

http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2005/08/12/build/state/45-kerry.inc

[FreedomAngel82]

7. Whoo-hoo!

I'm so happy to hear about this! :D

[NYCGirl]

4. Brian Schweitzer is great! He was one of the very first Dean's Dozen

candidates from Democracy for America.

http://democracyforamerica.com/dd_returns.php

[AlecBGreen]

5. This is how we take back the west

...and eventually the country from the Neocons. We run a progressive, loud-and-proud campaign in libertarian western states like Montana. The voters in these states dont want connected insiders or ivory-tower intellectuals ... they want ranchers, farmers, and hunters like themselves. They want a guy who wont pull punches and will STAND UP FOR WHAT HE BELIEVES.

-AlecBGreen

[FreedomAngel82]

8. And you can use the West

as an example for the south too!

[Independent_Liberal]

6. Kick!