Amy Chapman Featured in 'The Democratic Strategist'
Grassroots Democrats Executive Director, Amy Chapman, Featured in 'The Democratic Strategist'
Earlier this year, Grassroots Democrats was approached by the editor of The Democratic Strategist, a journal on Democratic opinion and strategy, to participate in a roundtable on the role state parties played in the 2006 election and what we could expect in the 2008 cycle.
Read Amy's contribution here:
http://www.thedemocraticstrategist.org/0703/chapman.php
Because of our close relationships with state parties across the country, Amy was in a great position to speak authoritativley on this issue. The article shows clear examples of why strong state parties are effective and why we as Democrats must continue to invest in their advancement.
Here is a brief portion of the article:
"Critical to this success was the focus on creating a permanent Democratic Party infrastructure. State parties played a vital role in recruiting down-ballot candidates, training precinct leaders to implement a ground operation, and providing vital communications, research and voter file resources to candidates and to county and local parties. It was this 'build-up' of a permanent party structure that helped to elect the state and local candidates and support the many federal candidates who won or came close. In many states, the state parties provided the fabric that extended coattails beyond House and Senate victories and made sure that local candidates had the attention and resources they needed.
One example of this success was Kansas. The Kansas Democratic Party worked hand in hand with the Governor's office, candidates, county parties, the national committee, faith organizations, and other allies and activists--including Grassroots Democrats, the organization I head--to make unprecedented gains at the local, state and national levels. The State Party knew what was happening on the ground, understood the electorate better than anyone outside the state, and used every tool at its disposal to win.
As a result, the Party kept the Governor's office, picked up the Attorney General spot, increased the number of Democrats in the State House by double digits and beat a popular incumbent in the 2nd Congressional District--a race no one outside of the state was giving attention a month before the election."
Read the full article at:
http://www.thedemocraticstrategist.org/0703/chapman.php
Grassroots Democrats staff continues to provide expertise as our Director of Online Strategy & Communications, Erin Hofteig, was quoted in the Politico this month on the subject of online video and social networking. You can read that article here: