By Michael J. Smith on Tuesday October 10, 2006 11:38 AM
Pwog-blogger Matt Stoller (shown above with his hero) is a very happy guy today:
What's happening all across the country is that second and third tier candidates are proving to be much tougher opponents for the Republicans than they expected. At this point in past cycles, the map is usually shrinking as the party committees must cull challengers who just aren't getting it done. This time, the map of possible districts that are competitive is actually growing. Early targeting on swing districts simply didn't matter. There are a couple of key drivers that have changed the map. One is Dean's 50 state strategy, which has put organizers everywhere in the country to identify and help candidates. Another is the netroots and the ability to shuffle money to candidates without going through a party committee. And still another is the flexibility with which the party committees have been willing to adapt to Dean and Chris Bowers's strategy (even if they chafed a bit at first).Piffle. I know all these people think Howard Dean is the Second Coming, but it's just laughable to claim that whatever enhanced prospects the Democrats may have next month are due to his "strategy." If the Democrats are getting a bounce, it's solely because the Republicans are imploding, and Nature abhors a vacuum. And as for the "netroots" -- oh, how the pros must laugh and laugh, when they read this stuff.
Stoller, however, once he gets going in this vein, can work himself into quite a high state of self-stimulation:
It's very exciting to watch this party being transformed. We aren't just improving the model for electing Democrats, we are coopting the existing centers of power and helping them see that playing our game can advance their interests as well as ours. If Democrats take the House and/or Senate, it's going to be a very different party leadership than the one that sits in DC right now. It'll be a more independent, more confident, and more fun group of leaders, and all of that will infuse the existing members with excitement and energy.And if you believe that....
Comments (4)
Bwa! That was hi-larious! This lackwit thinks he and his little pwoggie bloggies change the very fabric of time and space every time they have a significant bowel movement. It must take a very special kind of simple-minded gullibility to write something like that.
Posted by AlanSmithee | October 10, 2006 12:55 PM
Posted on October 10, 2006 12:55
They've got the same nose. Stoller's still has some of that youthful plumpness, but in thirty years it'll look just like Clinton's.
Posted by J. Alva Scruggs | October 10, 2006 3:50 PM
Posted on October 10, 2006 15:50
Actually, I think Dean's general idea isn't a bad one. Pity it's for the Democrats, but hey, I'm open to the idea of the party being "reformed".
I suspect, though, that the power of the prog-bloggers, even if it does take over the reshape the party...won't look too much different.
Posted by Rowan | October 10, 2006 5:46 PM
Posted on October 10, 2006 17:46
herte's my thumb nail of what moved the party
forward in the last 77 years
the great depression 29-34
the industrial union explosion 35-41
the black liberation movement 57-64
notice nothing in a long long spell
and never
anything from inside
possible next one :
the new arrivals mobilizations
pre figured by the largely latino
immigration uprising this year
odds 3 to 1 ...against
Posted by js paine | October 10, 2006 9:28 PM
Posted on October 10, 2006 21:28