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The 50 State Strategy In Action

I about the 50 State Strategy before. Now, The Nation delivers a field report from North Carolina on how it is doing:

Suddenly, though, things actually are running, as Johnston notes after the meeting commences. "The county has twenty-two precincts," he informs the folks. "And I'm proud to announce that every one of them is organized as of just the other day." It might sound dull as dirt, but this is the kind of meticulous organizing--and pride taken in it--that has long been key to GOP dominance in places like Wilkes. The fifty-state strategy kicked off in 2005 by that other Yankee, DNC chair Howard Dean, has begun to level the playing field by putting field organizers, media directors and fundraisers into both "red" and "blue" states to stimulate grassroots organizing and year-round party-building.

Of course, it's not the national strategy alone that's bringing record numbers out to county conventions, precinct parties and Jefferson-Jackson Day dinners. The main event this morning is going to be a heaping helping of the other ingredients in the Democratic resurrection across so-called red America--fury and frustration.

"Good morning everyone!" comes the booming drawl of Seth Chapman, the longtime clerk of court in neighboring Alexander County who's pondering a 2008 challenge to the archconservative Republican Congresswoman from these parts, Virginia Foxx. "Isn't this something--in Wilkes County of all places! I'll tell you what, I've been over here before when there was maybe six of us. This is great. How on fire the Democratic Party must be in Wilkes County--and rightfully so. You have suffered for centuries!"

Good stuff. Read the whole article.

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    I'm a fan, although... (none / 0) (#1)
    by jr on Wed Jul 25, 2007 at 06:07:24 PM EST
    ...while 2006 was the first election under the strategy and was an unprecedented success, all the evidence I've seen supporting the 50-State Strategy has been anecdotal.  Looking at, say, Congressional results from last year, there's not all that much to indicate the program is particularly successful.

    Our pickups were in PA (4), NY (3), NH (2), IN (3, counting former Rep. Baron Hill winning his seat back), FL (2, not counting the disputed FL-13 race, and neither due to extra organizing help from DNC), CT (2), AZ (2), and one each in CA, CO, IA, KY, MN, NC, OH, and WI.

    None of those strike me as states where Democrats were particularly weak, save for NC and IN, where our pickups came from running conservative Dems Heath Shuler and Brad Ellsworth.

    It may be that the downticket races saw a pronounced shift towards Dems in states with increased infrastructural support from the DNC, but at least on the congressional level it doesn't seem to have affected much.  

    Do you know if there's a statistical analysis out there that supports the anecdotal evidence?