… but I am glad that this year is finally almost over.

In all seriousness, this year has been just plain crappy for just about everyone I know. The economy has sucked, the political dialogue has been shrill, and everyone, whether they recognize it or not, is worse off for the wear. I’m not positive that 2010 will be any better, but I pray that it’s no worse. Here are some of the things that made me want to stab myself in the eye this year.

Republicans – I know for a fact that there are some sincere Republicans in this world. Some of them I am proud to call my friends. Unfortunately for them, and the GOP brand, they are not the ones that get phone calls from the media for interview requests. The result, is a national and state party that has positioned itself somewhere between the Know Nothing Party and a team of trained monkeys being fed a steady diet of Crystal Meth.

The GOP has been foaming at the mouth, and doing just about everything in their limited power to obstruct solutions brought by the President and Congressional leadership, while offering NO ALTERNATIVE SOLUTION, period. Yet somehow, through all the ridiculous rabidity of the GOP, the media has taken their non-position seriously, and reported it on a continuous loop as if it’s some kind of real alternative.

I hope they get what they deserve in 2010, heavy losses, but I fear that while their strategy won’t really “work”, it will appear to in the face of the next thing that makes me want to stab myself in the eye…

Democrats – If I were to write a book about the past year in Democratic politics, I think I would call it The Weakest Majority or Rudderless Politics. From the actions of many in Congress, and to a lesser degree, the President himself, one would think that Democrats have a fundamental misunderstanding of furthering their agenda or even the most basic tenets of majority maintenance.

From the ever-shifting rationales for opposing Health Care Reform to the unpopular sweetheart deals used to buy some legislators off, both houses of Congress, but particularly the Senate, seem mired in a “what’s in it for me” type attitude. It’s the kind of ridiculous self-hating stupidity that makes posts like this resonate with me, and pray for someone, anyone in the Democratic Party to show up with a pair of balls they haven’t borrowed from a lab rodent.

Some National Bloggers – I’m not really sure when it happened, but sometime during the last year I began slowly weaning myself from certain national blogs and/or bloggers. The cause, a persistent and annoying line of reasoning that went something like this: Any kind of negotiation regarding the long and grueling Healthcare debate is the complete and total abandonment of the progressives that got you elected.

Ugh.

Invoking the names of former and current “progressives” including the recently deceased Senator for Massachusetts, Ted Kennedy, these individuals filled my inbox, and countered the national GOP’s steady stream of

NO!

with threats against fellow progressive Members of Congress if they didn’t deliver. Brilliant!

The issue for me is not that I necessarily disagree with the policy positions of these people, but that their tactics are nucking futs. Virtually every plea, every call for support, every post that flooded my inbox like year-long projectile vomit came from an adversarial position, littered with threats and this and that and the other, while ignoring that the legislative process is not a dictatorship, but a negotiation. With the subtlety and tact of a bull in a china shop, these individuals spent the entire year yelling “The sky is falling” instead of putting together a consistent positive message that the majority of the population, that doesn’t keep a running tally of every legislative burp, could get behind. In short, they Tea Bagged their way into irrelevance.

There most certainly is a place for issue advocacy in the political discourse. If I didn’t believe in it, I wouldn’t be writing this right now, but for the love of God, build a message beyond a series of threats that you can’t deliver on! Keep doing the petitions, and the letter writing campaigns and the phone calling, all of that stuff is good, but don’t marginalize yourself with rhetoric that puts you further out on the crazy side of politics than the REAL CRAZIES out there. You’re not only hurting your credibility, but also your cause.

Tennessee Democratic Institutions – Coma and Aunt B have a couple of good posts up about some of the issues surrounding Democratic institutions in Tennessee, but I want to go a little further.

Anyone who thinks the issue with Democratic Institutions in Tennessee, from the TNDP down to the lowliest of lowly county parties falls on the shoulders of one man or woman is trying to deflect blame from someone who probably REALLY deserves it, that someone either being them, or someone they support. The truth of the matter is that they all have issues that have been around longer than I’ve been paying attention.

I could go on and on about all the crap that shoulda, coulda, woulda, but I’d just be rehashing posts from last November through February, so if you want to know what’s wrong, go back to those posts and apply it to just about everything that has a “Democratic” anything to it in this state, including myself.

In all seriousness, there have been some baby steps in the right direction, but from the TNDP and the Caucus organizations down to the county parties it’s just not happening fast enough.

I hope that by Jan 4th, when petitions are available for state races, there’s some kind of plan in place, at least that’s known by the leadership, that contests the 11 first term and the 10 second term House Republicans in November, in addition to dealing with the incumbents and any retirements/open seats that may come up, but I’m not all that hopeful. I haven’t seen a concerted effort from all the stakeholders to work together on anything but the House 62 special election and that was a nightmare. I hope like hell that November isn’t a replay of that.

–

Here’s to hoping for a better year ahead, and for some of my “targets” to get their collective shit together. I don’t think I can stand a 2009 part 2: Electric Boogaloo.

I’m sure several others have written about Jackson Day in Nashville already. To be perfectly honest, when I got home I started capturing video of the event and haven’t stopped since.

I’ve never been to a state level political event this large. There were some 3000 people in attendance to see keynote speakers Vice-President Gore and President Clinton. The whole thing was inspiring.

Even though I spent the majority of my formative years living in Arkansas, where Bill Clinton was first my Governor, then my President, in the past eight years, I had forgotten a lot of the “why” Bill Clinton is the intellectual and political force to be reckoned with that he is.

Here is Bill Clinton’s entire speech to the TNDP Jackson Day crowd. It’s a must see, not only for Tennessee Democrats, but Democrats nationwide.

I just got home from the TNDP Summit in Monteagle, and I have to say, I’m completely blown away. I’ve been to my fair share of political events but this was something completely different. I don’t think I’ve ever left a state or local political function of any sort with the feeling hope in my heart and fire in my belly that I’m feeling right now. This wasn’t just some kumbaya moment, though there were some elements of that. This was more a tent revival, a call to action than anything else. What follows are some of my general impressions of the events of the weekend. If the TNDP releases video of the events, I’ll link it and discuss the events of the weekend in more detail.

Saturday morning started off with comments from TNDP Chair, Chip Forrester, Representative Bill Harmon, whose district includes Monteagle, and Representative Mike Stewart. These three really helped set the tone for the weekend, focusing on unity and the task we have ahead of us, not only in the coming 2010 election, but for the years that follow in helping build a better Tennessee.

From there, we had a panel discussion entitled “What Unites Us as Democrats”. This is where the rubber started meeting the road. Moderated by Representative Gary Odom, the panel included politicians and activists from across the state. It was interesting to hear all these people, from liberal to more conservative positions, talk about the ideas that unite us, and it was a good segue into the next panel, which was a bit more contentious.

Rep. Mike Turner moderated the “Winning & Protecting Seats in Rural Tennessee” panel. Featuring Rep. Ty Cobb, Rep. Charles Curtis, and several political consultants, this panel sought to take what unifies us, and parlay that into a larger discussion about using those unifying themes, rather than some of the more contentious issues, to win in rural Tennessee. All the panel members made some interesting points, but the two who carried the day were Rep. Curtis and Rep. Turner. As questions came in, there was a great deal of concern from several in the audience about specific hot button issues. This could have turned into an ugly discussion, but Turner and Curtis deftly turned it around into a conversation that focused on unity rather than division. Democrats here in Tennessee are a diverse bunch. There are rural and urban, conservative and liberal members from all across the state, but when it comes right down to it, there is a unifying theme between all of us. It’s easy to point out divisions and forget what we have in common, but it’s often harder, in the face of some hot button issues, to recognize that which we agree on. More than anything else, this session helped highlight these commonalities, and helped me better understand the realities that many of us in more urban environments often forget. It was also a great set-up for the events of the day that would follow.

Our lunch speaker was Blue Dixie author, political coorespondent for the Nation, and editor of the Texas Observer, Bob Moser. I read his book back in January on a whim. Published just a few months before the November election, Blue Dixie does some in-depth analysis about the events that led up to a localized Democratic resurgence in the rural south in 2006, and strategies that will help bring that to other areas. Perhaps the two best messages that I gathered from the book, and the discussion were 1. Thomas Schaller, author of Whistling Past Dixie, is full of shit and should be ignored, and 2. The only people who can turn the south blue, are southerners who come together under a common purpose and maintain a constant effort to build their communities and relationships. If you’re a Democrat, and you live in the south, you HAVE to read Blue Dixie.

One of the main focuses of the TNDP Summit was training. Over the course of the weekend there were several opportunities to learn new strategies and tacics. I wasn’t able to make it to all the trainings, but as a recent participant in the DFA Campaign Academy I know this can be some eye opening information that is key to building a strong statewide organization.

Saturday wrapped up with some bluegrass and BBQ with speeches by gubernatorial candidate Kim McMillan who had a prior commitment for the following day’s candidate panel, and Representative Lincoln Davis. I have to admit, I was skeptical. I’ve been hard on Rep. Davis here in this space over the past several years, and I have no doubt that he and I will disagree again on issues in the future. But if there was ever any doubt that Lincoln Davis is a Democrat, it was dispelled on Saturday night. Davis, who didn’t attend the events earlier in the day (to the best of my knowledge) delivered a barn burner of a speech that further highlighted the “85% of issues”, as Rep. Mike Turner later stated (I would put it closer to 90%) that unite us a Democrats. I really hope that the TNDP will put video of this speech up on their site because you have to hear it to believe it. Powerful, informative, Davis brought out the commonalities of Democrats and the differences between the Republican’s “Party of no” and the Democrats “Party of know”. I couldn’t possibly distill the entirety of the message here, but I came away both impressed and fired up. It was the perfect ending to a perfect day.

Sunday started with a prayer breakfast led by State Senator Roy Herron and State Rep. Johnny Shaw. This led into a Gubernatorial forum with Sen. Herron and Ward Cammack (McMillan and McWherter had prior commitments). Despite the absence of two of the announced candidates, it was great to hear these two speak about their visions for the state. Truth be told, the differences between the two were very nuanced. A one hour forum is also a very short period of time to acquaint yourself with their positions, but it was good to hear from the candidates on the issues this early in the process. I hope that all the candidates can work together to do these kinds of forums across the state as the campaign heats up in the coming months.

The last speaker for the even was Alex Lofton, Field Organizer for Organizing for America, a grassroots organization that sprung from the Obama campaign. Lofton freely admitted that Tennessee was not a focus of the Obama campaign, but also noted that Organizing for America is an effort to maintain the momentum gained, and spread that momentum throughout the areas that the campaign was unable to reach. In all honesty, this sounded like the next logical extension of former DNC Chair Howard Dean’s 50 state strategy, which has often been passed over as one of the key strategies that led to the legislative gains in 2006 and 2008, as well as the success of the Obama campaign.

In all, I don’t think this event could have been timelier or more appropriate for Tennessee Democrats. Everyone I talked to left with a higher sense of purpose, and a feeling of hope and activation that I have not seen since I moved here in 2004. Over the course of the weekend over 300 Democrats came together to work for a better future for Tennessee. That’s ultimately what this was about, and I firmly believe that this will happen in the 2010 election.

Kudos to TNDP Chair Chip Forrester, the TNDP volunteers who organized the event, the sponsors including SEIU local 205, Tennessee House Democratic Caucus, Ward Cammack, Roy Herron, Jim Kyle and LeQuire Gallery, and most importantly, the 300+ people from all over the state who took time out to learn, fellowship, and come together this weekend. Hopefully, we can do this again soon…and maybe a little closer to Memphis.

Here are the TNDP.org membership stats for this week…

Total Members – 617
Davidson – 136 – 22%
Knox – 82 – 13%
Shelby – 43 – 7%
Rutherford – 30 – 5%
Hamilton – 24 – 4%

Shelby Co. people, you’re really disappointing me. Since my last update TNDP.org has added 85 members, 8 of which are from Shelby Co. I know we have more people than that. Heck, the SCDP Executive Committee is some 83 members! Further, where are all our state Executive Committee members? So far, I only see two.

Sign up and show your support! Just takes a second, and I promise it won’t hurt a bit!

This is the news report that broke yesterday regarding the “brokered” deal between several of the state’s elected officials and the TNDP Chair, Chip Forrester. Some have claimed that this makes Forrester a figurehead. In yesterday’s conference call, Forrester indicated that the arrangement is not substantially different from last year’s situation. The difference is that now the party is more focused than last year on grass roots organizing. I’m still waiting on a real live press release detailing the arrangement before I pass judgment.

Really, it’s kind of interesting. I had a post ready that detailed the good things that have come, or are coming from the TNDP leadership in the past 3 months. This revelation (I had heard there was a “truce” coming, this was not what I was expecting, nor what I would call a “truce”) kind of threw a monkey wrench into that post. Now that I’ve had time to sleep on it, I think we should acknowledge the positive steps and the challenges going forward, so here goes. First with the pluses:

1. Communications – This is simple, in 3 months I’ve received more press releases, emails and information from the TNDP that I had in the previous 4 years. Aside from losing, that was one of the biggest complaints coming into the Chair’s election. I’m glad this is fixed.

2. Web Site – The new web site is more than I expected. The ability of people to organize themselves online, to form groups, to form alliances despite living on opposite sides of the state, is a pretty big damn deal. This thing is only going to evolve more as time goes on.

3. Training – The upcoming Summit at Monteagle shows a dedication to training future ground troops to support the party and candidates. This is a HUGE deal for Tennessee. We need more people that are trained volunteers. Further, programs like this allow people to take the knowledge back home with them, and train up even more people. There’s a viral element to it that, if harnessed correctly, can be awesome.

4. Access – Forrester is the first chair to recognize that progressive bloggers can be your best friend, your worst enemy, and sometimes both. The outreach to people all over the state, keeping us informed when he can, and treating us as stakeholders in the process, is potentially transformational. We’re an unwieldy group, to be sure, but God knows that we’re not going away any time soon. Working with us is far better than ignoring us. He’s taken more steps in that direction than any member of the Tennessee Democratic establishment, ever.

Of course, not everything has been a bed of roses. There have been some mistakes, errors of omission, and a few outfight fuck ups.

1. Messaging – Newscoma has a good post up about this. The TNDP hasn’t managed the news cycle very well. Yesterday’s response to the AP report referenced above is a prime example. This particular instance may have more to do with the actual terms of the agreement, but the silence until 4:30 PM yesterday was deafening. Currently the TNDP is looking for a Communications Director. The addition of someone whose sole responsibility is dealing with the media/bloggers/messaging will make it more likely that these uncomfortable silences happen less. Hopefully, someone will be in place soon.

2. Fundraising – I think just about everyone, with the possible exception of Norm Coleman and Al Franken, who are still engaged in a court battle for the MN-Sen. race, has seen a great deal of weakness in fundraising this year. It’s hard to get people to give money when they’re worried about their economic future. That said, there haven’t been that many public requests for funds from the Chair. Sure, he’s making phone calls to donors, but one of the things that the DNC and the Obama campaign mastered was the ask. Every single communication involved an ask, and it worked. This may not bring in big lump sums of money, but if you don’t ask, you don’t get. Something is better than nothing.

3. Owning it – From achievements and enhancements to fuck ups and foibles, one of the most irritating things that the TNDP has been struggling with is publicly owning all of it. The mistakes need to be acknowledged publicly and promptly so that the news cycle moves beyond them more quickly. The achievements need to be included, in some way, in every official communication to the public. This reinforces the good and minimizes the bad, while not totally dismissing either. It’s putting your best foot forward, even when a mistake is made, to own everything you do. Lots of folks think that only talking about the good stuff is the way to improve your image. I believe that if you own all of everything you do out in public, you do a lot more to improve both the public perception, and the credibility of your reports.

There are a lot of good things that can happen with all this. Building a grass roots network is an investment in Democratic candidates that will pay off not only tomorrow, but also 20 years from now. If successful, these people can be an invaluable resource in the run up to next year’s election. On the down side, the folks at the TNDP are sorely understaffed, due in large part to the financial position that the party was in after last year’s election and fundraising challenges that have been a reality for both parties over the past few months. Hopefully the plan that emerged yesterday will allow the TNDP to focus on the grass roots and have to worry less about raising scads of cash.

In the end, I know there are a lot of people who feel put off after three months, but think about the volunteers who have been living it. They still get up every morning and bust their asses, regardless of what the detractors say. I understand that the pissing contest directed at the chair has been disheartening, but nobody said politics was pretty. I see why this feels like surrender to some, but are we going to win back the House with one faction working to undermine the other? Think of the alternative. I don’t want to live through 20 years of Republican rule of the legislature, that’s for sure. It may still happen, but we have to do everything in our power to prevent it.

Ultimately, that’s all I can think about right now.

So if the War of the Roses is over, let’s stop worrying about who won and get to work. 2010 is right around the corner. We don’t have any time to waste.