The 50 State Strategy Will Be Modified

By Kleinheider Posted on January 18, 2009 at 5:44 pm

From Open Left:

In response to both questions Kaine talks about all the ways that Virginia has gone from red to blue over the last few years and gives credit to Dean for this. I see it more as going from reddish-purple to bluish-purple but okay. He says the 50-state strategy was “really important.” Good. He says “Its success speaks for itself.” Yes.

But in both answers he says they won’t being doing exactly what they did during the last 4 years. Kaine: “You never should just do what you did yesterday” and “We may do it in different ways.” More specifically, Virginia is not, say, Idaho and therefore: “I won’t say it should apply equally in every state.” But we will continue it in “new and exciting ways.”

What will be interesting is how this adapted 50 State strategy will affect Tennessee. One would assume due to Tennessee’s rejection of Obama and the Republican state legislative surge that Tennessee will be one of the lower priority states. More Idaho than Virginia, so to speak.

The Tennessee Democratic Party has relied the past two years on funds from the DNC borne out of the strategy. Whole salary positions at the party were funded out of DNC funds.

If these funds are to dry up (and reading between the lines here it is clear that they will) how will the Tennessee Democratic Party adapt?

Most importantly, who is best able to deal with this apparent setback amongst the candidates for TNDP chair, Chip Forrester or Charles Robert Bone?

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Tags: 50 State Strategy, Charles Robert Bone, Chip Forrester, DNC, Tennessee Democratic Party, TNDP  

TNDP Personnel Situation Explained

By Kleinheider Posted on November 11, 2008 at 8:42 am

Ilissa Gold reported last night of a personnel massacre at the the state Democratic Party. While it true that Communications Director Wade Munday’s “last day” is December 1 and that the field director and most of the field staff will no longer be in the employ of the party, the situation is not quite that simple.

The news came down in the last week that all “State Partnership” position funding is coming to an end. These positions are currently funded by the DNC (not the TNDP) as part of Howard Dean’s 50 state strategy. Dean is stepping down as Chair of the Democratic National Committee so whether this funding continues to flow to the state party will ultimately be determined by the new chair of the National party. It could be temporary, it could be permanent.

Either way, in January, a new chairman of the Tennessee Democratic Party will also be chosen. Presumably, at that point, the new TNDP chairman will have some idea of where his funding will be coming from and whether his payroll will be benefiting from a continuation of of the Dean policy or not.

At that point he will hire up and replenish the staff. The TNDP will not go without a communications director for more than a month and the “newly hired” communications director could just as easily be Wade Munday himself as it could be whomever the new Chair decides.

Yes, Chairman Sasser and Executive Director Hayden will have their jobs past the date that Munday’s DNC funding faucet shuts down but it isn’t for long. As stated previously, a new chair will be elected in January and will choose staff to serve at his pleasure.

So while people are losing their jobs at the TNDP most of the positions are directly related to the Tennessee Victory ‘08 effort which has obviously come to a close. The others, such as Munday, have been subsidized by the DNC for the past two years with money that is no longer forthcoming from the national party for the time being.

This shedding of staff is essentially just the natural order of the campaign cycle and a symptom of the unique funding mechanisms the party has used to staff its positions — and not much more.

SEE ALSO:
Braisted
Grantham Is Talking
Newscoma
Aunt B.
R. Neal
Silence (Part II)

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Tags: 50 State Strategy, DNC, Gray Sasser, Janet Meek, Kim Sasser Hayden, Michael Gass, TNDP, Wade Munday  

For The Love Of Buck

By Kleinheider Posted on August 17, 2008 at 2:05 pm

Some folks do not think Jennifer Buck Wallace, the (for the most part) volunteer Obama for President coordinator here in Tennessee, is getting sufficient props for her efforts on behalf of the cause:

Jennifer Buck Wallace has been working voluntarily with zero financial compensation since May, 2007 (except for a couple of months during the Primary season) to harness the enthusiasm of TN Obama volunteers and channel them to the appropriate areas according to their skills, experience, time allowances etc. She has also overseen countless events, conducted key meetings and compiled multiple recourses targeted to the statewide campaign volunteers. Due to her calm determination, ObamaTN has resulted in an incredibly successful grassroots (unofficial) presence statewide and especially in the metro areas of Davidson, Shelby, Knox and Hamilton Counties. Wallace has even gone beyond the metro areas to engage leaders to organize rural areas that are viewed in this cycle to be red. Without her leadership, ObamaTN would merely be a shadow of what it is.

The acceptance and execution of civil duty that Wallace exhibits should serve as not only an example, but also as a clear path to enter for all residents of the United States to be engaged in our country’s future. She serves as a role model to us all – reminding us of the unique character and governmental structure of America – that every single person matters and every single person’s contribution of their civic duty is necessary to the innovative evolution of this nation. Indeed, Tennessee is unusually fortunate to have such a leader within it’s border.

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Tags: , 50 State Strategy, Giselle Roche, Jennifer Buck Wallace, Obama