The campaign manager was a DLC supporter and we lost. vent

[IChing]

This was a race for a county supervisor seat in Santa Barbara that I have been working on for the last few months.
1.There was over $8,000 left in the the campaign which was never use on signs and if signs were placed they were yard size, they only placed 3 signs the size of the opponent and he had 25 up. When it was mentioned they said we are not doing that kind of campaign.

2. I said to advertise on Air America that has a local signal from San Luis obispos that reaches Santa Maria so that real democrats would know of her campaign and help support it was turned down.
Another candidate running in South santa barbara county advertised and another in San luis obispo county running advertised, she said we are not running this kind of campaign.

3. I had a energy question that even the news media said was the most intelligent question at a local meet all the candidates ignored by the campaign manager. I had real solutions that work in the US and in europe ignored by the campaign manager, that would have helped on the landowner vote.

4. I had a genius friend that said he would set up a web site for her run and the manager said
we are not doing that kind of campaign.

5. I had people from the local (and contacts here) PDA which were never contacted.

6. Later I found out at the dinner and watching the election party the manager was a supporter of the DLC and after hearing from me on my views local supporters said that that the election manager did not listen to them either or similar proposals.

I don't blame my friend who ran and works 40 hours a week, works for the democratic party, raises two teenage boys and is a single mom for she needed to trust someone who has run campaigns here, but I found out
those campaigns have also have lost.

We really didn't have a great chance but the fight was not even begun. 70-30

We did cost the republican, as she said, $70,000 but that is just chump change.
end rant,
I hope we do later in the fall or I'm out of here.....

[salvorhardin]

1. Ooo. Number 4 was a critical mistake in my opinion.

You have to have a website and a blog. It allows people to interact with the candidate and his/her message on their own time. In terms of cost (very low), it's one of the most effective tools you have these days. Sorry to hear that.

[IChing]

2. I swear she wanted a losing campaign and others did too

None of us blamed our candidate but we did look at the manager with deep glasses.

[sandnsea]

3. The 5th?

Yvette Andrade only got 27% and had no chance at all. What that ought to show is that a left wing message doesn't work in a Republican district.

[Jim Sagle]

5. And how the hell could anyone conclude THAT?

It doesn't appear that any message got out - left wing or otherwise.

[IChing]

6. I totally agree with that statement

It wasn't even given a chance and the money's that were given from hard working folks was taken as a condensing, patronizing posturing by the manager.

[sandnsea]

8. 27%???

There's hardly a location in the country where a Dem can't break 27% just by the base alone. It's also possible that they didn't want Janet Wolf's message muddled. But face it, her progressive message and all those supposed progressive grassroots out there didn't come through for her. Every loss cannot be blamed on stolen elections and the DLC.

[IChing]

10. Well, I like to fight the good fight and being a x-wrestler

and a practicing Qigong advocate for my health, the balance of the chi, was

"we are not going to have this kind of campaign" unbalance .
there was no message......from her campaign manager.

The wrestling match was not helped by the her coach.

I said it was a rant, and said we had a slim chance when I started this fight, but
the lesson here is? GIVE

GIVE UP\\YOU HAVE NO CHANCE? it is republican?.....not really just misinformed.

I was not given a chance to inform on chance.

[sandnsea]

13. I agree the fight should be fought

I don't know what the campaign manager was thinking. But she was running against a guy who grew up in Santa Maria, worked himself through law school while he was a cop, involved in the local college, sat on the Santa Maria city council, and sat a year on the county board. Unless he's corrupt, that's a dream candidate. A meat and potatoes, common sense candidate. I honestly don't know how I'd try to beat that, but I can see where someone would think that personal contact and very local and traditional campaigning would be best. And if the district is 60% hispanic, that maybe the internet and a slick expensive campaign wouldn't indicate someone who those voters would identify with. Still, with that kind of incumbent opponent, that was a no win to begin with.

[Warren Stupidity]

16. According to the OP no message got out, left right or center.

But thanks for chalking her loss up to her supposed left wing message that never got out. The OPs conflating a poorly managed campaign with the fact that the campaign manager happened to be a member of the DLC is also irrelevant. Badly done is badly done, it is ideologically agnostic.

[sandnsea]

17. Her message got out

A very quick search showed lots of articles in local papers about her. I suspect comments like "people over potholes" didn't resonate at all because filled potholes is the exact kind of thing people expect from local government. Silly things like believing an oak seedling that sprouts up deserves the same protection as trees couldn't have helped either. My entire back yard would be oak trees if I didn't take out the seedlings. On May 27, it was reported that she had only raised $6,000 so I'm not sure how she would have had $8,000 not spent on June 6. If it was last minute fundraising, then it would have been too late to do any of the advertising the OP talks about. My county commissioner just won against a Republican incumbent and he ran a campaign similar to the one they tried for Andrade. Difference is, we all hated our incumbent and Santa Maria loves theirs. Ours was also smart enough to frame a couple of key issues and not let anybody know he's as far left as he really is. DeFazio wins the same way. I really don't pull this philosophy out of my ass, I watch it unfold before my eyes.

http://www.santamariatimes.com/articles/2006/05/08/news/news03.txt

[IChing]

7. The town and district is 6o% hispanic

So we better worry about it .

[sandnsea]

9. You got that straight

72% going for the Republican message?? You damned right that's something to be worried about if the district is 60% hispanic and more Dems than Reps turned out to begin with.

[WCGreen]

4. Most professional campaigners have won one big race...

And then coast on that reputation...

That is what I have discovered after about thirty years in and around the business....

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[IChing]

12. become a member so you can do a search and formulate

your own opinion after viewing my views on it and others.

Democratic Leadership Council is what it stands for.

welcome to DU and become a member.

[EST]

14. Welcome to DU!

:toast: :toast:
Keep reading and asking questions!
Many of us regard the DLC as rich man's politics--Pro big business, scorn for grassroots' concerns, republican lite power politics. The goals of the DLC seem often to be at odds with those of liberals and progressives.

DU is a great place to obtain an education and the discussions can become pretty hardball, so be prepared for very penetrating questions and strong ideologies.

[sendero]

15. "we're not running that kind of campaign"..

... you know, the kind that wins.