During this past election cycle, your contributions and support helped Democratic State parties play a meaningful role in one of the most exciting and successful elections in recent memory. What was particularly gratifying was that Democratic victories came up and down the ticket. Democratic local officials were elected and re-elected, legislative chambers were either picked up or experienced significant Democratic advances, and of course, the widely publicized wins at the gubernatorial, Congressional and Senate levels.

Grassroots Democrats provided substantial support to many states in our core areas of expertise: compliance, financial services, technology and politics. We assisted 40 states at our compliance strategy sessions, 22 at our technology and online strategy sessions and 14 at our financial services sessions. And, that doesn,t count the dozens of states that received on-site visits or the countless hours spent on the phone with their key staff in all these areas. In addition, we contributed over $400,000 of non-federal funds to 34 states, which helped their federal dollars go further.

All of these services and financial support made state parties critical players in this year,s victories; just as importantly, they helped build enduring party structures for election cycles to come.

With your continuing support we can have a strong and permanent party infrastructure that will consolidate this year,s gains and add to them two and four years from now.

In the coming months we will be preparing to go even further, beginning with a state-by-state evaluation of party practices and programs during the 2006 cycle. The conclusions reached will influence the direction of programs and assistance we provide state parties in the coming cycle. The next year will be critical for state parties as they prepare for the next round and I know that, together, we can make sure they are prepared to make even greater gains then those we saw in the past election.