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she couldn't win it. She was told by Rahm Emanuel, the head of
the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, she was way
too far left and too far out there with her opposition to the Iraq
War. Nonetheless, she went ahead and fought. She raised money on
the Internet. When there was no money coming from the higher-
ups, she was able to raise it from below. She pulled together a
camp staff of largely retired grandmothers, and she's in the House
today. There is a lot of activism on the Internet at the grassroots
[level], new voters showing interest in a congressional race that
have never shown interest in such a race be f ore. There is new
money being raised in new ways. I think a congressional race was
a chance for a lot of people to send a signal that they were not
only fed up v*ith the Republicans, but they weren't going to wait
for the O.K. from the Democrats before they got involved behind
candidates they actually cared about.
FP: In your book, you seem to believe the GOP has previously
connected better with its base. How can the Democratic Party con
nect more efficiently with its base?
LF: You've a sort of ironic situation on the right. You have the
Republican policies certainly servicing the elite, but * ie party's
organizers have a very healthy respect for their mass base. The
Democratic Party, on the other hand, has created what I call
a penthouse party: this all top-floor suites with very little re
spect for the need for forces on the street. And it's the Blue Grit
Democrats I'm worried about that are trying to change that.
FP: Who is the Democratic base?
LF: It's no mystery. It's people with incomes under $50,000 a
year; an overwhelming majority of Democratic people are living
ir cities. It's people of color, women, particularly single women,
African Americans, Latinos, it's young people. The demographic
is also gay and lesbian people, Native Americans. The Democratic
base isn't hard to identify. It's just been the case that the
Democrats have tended to treat that base with complete disdain.
On the one hand, you have the Republican Party kind of currying
favor with their base and the people of their margins—whether
you're talking the Christian right, or the NRA—making promises
to their base because they know those are the ground troops, the
foot soldiers who will turn the race their way and get the vote out.
On the Democratic side, you have this lovers' relationship because
they treat their base like lepers. And the groups at the margins,
whether it's the war movement or the fair trade movement, they
kind of keep them at arm's length.
FP: How soon can we expect to see the Blue Grit Democrats im
pact national elections?
LF: Well, I think we have seen an impact already. Not enough
of one to satisfy those Blue Grit Democrats I'm talking about, of
course. Don't forget they're a pesky bunch. But the election of '06
certainly indicated that grassroots money, 'net roots money, grass
roots activism, candidates with courage, and candidates with heart
can change the face of Congress. What we've seen in this Congress
so far is the party leadership—that a year ago didn't even want to
talk about resolutions to bring troops home from Iraq—was being
forced to debate different variations of resolutions, all of which
claim to want to bring those troops home....
There's progress happening. People are cutting their teeth. I
think it's going to take a while for these Blue Grit Democrats that
I'm saying are a tide rising on the left of our political spectrum
to decide for themselves whether the party is going to change to
reflect their activism, their engagement and their agenda—or not.
In which case, I think there is every possibility that those same
activists could decide to take all their savvy and skills and go
somewhere else.
FP: Here in Georgia, the Republican Party is more powerful than
ever. Is there hope that Democrats can turn that around?
LF: Well, they certainly couldn't do worse than they've been do
ing. And part of why I wrote this book was to point out Democrats
weren't just doing badly because the majority of Americans didn't
agree with their opinions. They weren't doing well because in
many parts of the country, the Democratic Party nationally has just
written off the state. There hasn't been a functioning Democratic
Party in Georgia on the ground doing any kind of grassroots work
for longer than most people can remember. Now, Howard Dean is
paying every Democratic Party in the states to hire four staff work
ers. It makes a big difference. So yeah, the Republicans have been
cleaning up in a third of all the states in the country because the
Democrats weren't even trying.
FP: So they're doing better?
LF: Let's hope.
Aubrey Smith
r ‘ ■>
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