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Where we are . [1]
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Date: 2022-12-01
This could be my last diary for quite a while . Probably won’t be commenting on other people’s diaries either . I’m not appreciated on this site , and that’s fine . Every time I write something even with the best of intentions , I am always attacked , people want to correct what they think are inaccuracies along the fringe and I never get any engagement despite my 30 year well document efforts to elect democrats .
Some background . 30 years ago I moved to the Silver State . ( Nevada ) Nevada had fresh air , wide open spaces , low taxes , virtually no crime and jobs galore , as the city of Las Vegas exploded .
First thing I did , was join a temple with my wife and small children , make new friends and , my interests began to take me into politics . Nevada was similar to other western states like Idaho and the Dakotas and it was completely run by Republicans . They might not have been as crazy as they are now , but it was unacceptable to me . The temple I joined had Supreme Court Chief Justice Micheal Cherry , 7 time congresswoman Shelley Berkeley and Senator Jacky Rosen . For 30 years I have given truckloads of money and taken off completely from work the last 60 days before every midterm and presidential elections . I have taught volunteers , I have run and organized large phone banking and door knocking campaigns .Lately have taught people how to bank early votes and how to win .
Before this years election we turned Nevada completely Blue . Governor , both senators , every congressman but 1 , democrats in charge gerrymandered the districts so bad , 1 of them is almost impossible to win , but 3 are very safe . I think it was a mistake , we would get all 4 a lot more than we would get 2 .
I know this is a progressive site . But it’s goals as stated by the founder is to elect more and better democrats . Also , I’m much older 60’s then the average person here , and I’m way to the right of most of the people here also . That’s fine , in a 2 party system , you need to start approaching 55% to actually govern and make the changes you are looking for . So if the average Daily Kos person is in the 5% of the most left of the democrat party , you need to get all of your votes plus move 50% to the right to get those votes . Gop has the same problem , they go too far right , they lose the center , democrats go too far left lose the center . I went to Israel 5 times with Harry Reid , nicest guy I ever met . He made friends with everyone , could be tough when necessary , but could speak to a room full of people who think they should be able to buy their own tank , and come away with some votes . He was from rural Nevada and knew how to relate to rural crowds .He thought you should go everywhere , and if you were at 5% , try and make it 10% , concede nothing and fight for every vote .
As people were saying how well we are doing , it gave me no joy to tell everyone , that Steve Sisolak and Catherine Cortez Masto were the number 1 and number 2 worst democrats who have ever run in Nevada .
Not only did they run horrible tone deaf campaigns , they were lazy . Laxalt and Lombardo , 2 of the worst Trumpsters anywhere in the country , ran circles around our candidates who phoned it in . Both of these guys worked sun up to midnight every day , and took on every crowd , the matter how hostile .
I’ve seen winning campaigns and These weren’t . In the last phase of the campaign , Sisolak was already dead , I made the strategic decision , to just try and get Catherine Cortez Masto over the line , pairing her with the toxic Sisolak was a mistake , and if we could point to saving the senate , we would have a better chance , if you paired them , so many unhappy democrats would stay home or even vote for the Gop .
In the final days we did 6 days of door knocking . We had 4 mini busses and I led the volunteers , 3 days east of the strip and 3 days west of the strip . Each day 32 of us would work all day and then almost all of us would hit a food and booze spot , and talk about our experiences . In a state with no republicans in office , there was almost unanimous agreement that democrats were doing a bad job . That didn’t seem to bother anyone on daily Kos even a drop .
I talked to Jacky Rosen who couldn’t believe how bad our candidates were doing and who was scripting their horrible campaign messaging .
Fortunately democrats still have Barack Obama as our go to secret weapon . She reached out and Barack Obama was up to the task , he came out here , and read Catherine Cortez Masto the riot act , and fortunately the intervention worked , I knew the same thing Obama did from calling and knocking on so many doors . In the last 2 weeks she plugged the biggest hole she didn’t say the word Trump once . She focused on the economy and because we had banked so many early “soft votes “ we saved the senate .
Election Day came and went . And for the most part people were happy we covered the spread .
When the Jets lose to the Patriots by 4 and the spread is +10 , they still lose . That’s what democrats did , on Election Day they lost . We lost by millions of votes , we lost plenty of seats in the house , and we lost the gavel . It is not winning by any stretch of the imagination . We had an army of people who only got democrat early votes . Everybody in Nevada got a real ballot . We could knock on doors , and ask people if they voted against the Gop yet ? If they said no , we could try and get them to fill out the ballot and drop it for them . If they said they plan to vote for the GOP , we could say , no problem have a nice day . We got thousands of votes this way , and the republicans got zero . This will never happen again in Nevada . They have already brought in people , we will never have that edge here again .
Every time people seemed thrilled that we didn’t get beaten even worse , and I commented , I was attacked . Daily Kos members couldn’t accept the premise how bad things are going .
1. The Supreme Court is lost for a generation .
2. The house is lost
3 1/3 of the senate is up in 2024 and the Republicans don’t have to defend anything that’s tougher than Idaho . + 10 + everywhere . We have lots of vulnerable seats everywhere and losing the senate is almost a foregone conclusion . so the most popular party is the Gop . They got millions more votes , and they took the house , and they are on the verge of taking the senate . And don’t tell me deep down you don’t think that a 40’s energetic , decorated Navy Man who is a Yale grad , and Harvard law grad like Ron Desantis doesn’t have an excellent chance of out working and out messaging an even older Joe Biden and have some room on his back to really have a big win in 2024 .
So what did I ask of people on Daily Kos ? What did I Ask of a site that I admire the energy coming from the left side of our coalition, the type of coalition that so often helps those in need ? I asked for self reflection , of what we can do better .
Even the Gop who are on the rise , if you look at right wing websites , they are filled with people looking at election results and figuring out what they can do better . They were stubborn they wish there was no early voting , or mass mail out voting like there is in Nevada , and they realize , that sure they can keep trying to stop it , but in places they can’t stop it , they know they have to compete . We need to do the same . Your not going to see me write about this , or write in other peoples happy diaries about this .
But it is time for some soul searching and talk honestly about what we are doing wrong , that we could lose by millions of votes to the GOP . Please don’t waste your time killing the messenger or doing what often follows my comments in someone else’s diary silence . Often 57 comments come rolling in , I’m # 58 tell people it’s not all picnics and noodle salad and then , that’s the end of it . It’s too difficult to deal with , and we are still glowing about the usual . Gop is imploding , they are about to cease to exist , we are really winning , 2024 is Rosy , Trump and everyone he knows have the walls closing in , Elon Musk is going bankrupt , whatever . Please use that energy for self reflection and reevaluation .
There are very talented writers here and many amateurs have written some thoughtful diaries on a wide range of subjects . But the registered democrats who answer phones and doors in Nevada don’t think Democrats are doing a good job . That’s an absolute irrefutable truth . That’s why Steve Sisolak lost to a nut bag and we almost lost the senate right here under my nose .
Last time , don’t attack me or tell me I am wrong . Because Harry Reid even in winning campaigns , always had a through review of all bad messaging and policies that prevented a bigger win . We need to start doing the same . Maybe some of the ideas will be so good , I’ll get them to Jacky Rosen , over the break and we can impact our policy and messaging going forward . Thank you , I promise I won’t ask this of you again . Can happily just read the diaries I find interesting and continue the thankless job of helping to elect more and better democrats .
thank you to everyone
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