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Yesterday, I asked residents of MA to vote for Alan Khazei. Many of them did but it was not enough to overcome the the State AG, Martha Coakley. Mrs. Coakley had a convincing win over the rest of the democratic field. Congratulations to her and best of luck against Scott Brown, the Republican nominee. Alan and his team ran a good clean campaign but as Alan put it when he quoted Ted Kennedy; “The work goes on”.
Today, the residents of Massachusetts will take to first step to replace Senator Ted Kennedy by voting in the special election primaries. For the primary contest, the Democratic party fielded 4 great candidates by all accounts. All four candidates have superb resumes and possess progressive values aligned with the vast majority of the progressives in the country. However, of the four, Alan Khazei stands outs. Having worked with him for a Year at Be The Change for the ServiceNation Campaign, I truly believe that Alan has the skill set and the know how to be a great senator. During my time at Be the change, I watched him work diligently and tirelessly to build a bi-partisan coalition of organization and legislators around Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act (SAA) authored by Senators Ted Kennedy and Orrin Hatch (R-UT). If he can pull together the right people to get this don in the current political climate while he out of the Senate, Can you imagine what he will be able to do as a senator? Many others clearly agree with me on this. Newsweek has called Alan “Teddy’s Rightful Heir” while the Boston Globe has declared that Alan is “Massachusetts’ best chance to produce another great senator.” In addition to Newsweek and the Globe, The Blue Mass Group, MA’s most renowned progressive blog, has also endorsed him as well as many other local publications including The Daily News, AndoverTownsman, Cape Code Times, Telegram, Patriot Ledger and Wicked Local-West Roxbury. The Senate needs someone who can bring the gap and reach out to across the isle and Massachusetts need a senator with the potential being the next Ted Kennedy. I believe Alan is that candidate. If you live in MA, Find your polling station and Vote for Alan today. If you don’t live in MA, please share this blog post with any of your friend that may reside there. I leave you with this video from Professor Larry Lessig.
This blog post is cross-posted at Localpolitechs.com
Shortly after I turned my last paper for school, I wanted to pick up a book that had nothing to do with business, ethics, finances or leadership — which had constituted the bulk of my reading for the better part of the last two years. I knew I wanted to immerse into how political campaigns are organized, ran and won – at both the national and local level. However, the 2008 presidential election was too recent and none of the inside players had published in-depth account of the operations. That being said, David Plouffe, Obama’s campaign manager, recently released his book – The Audacity To Win. The 2000 presidential election, with its supreme court decision, was a bit of an anomaly. And let’s face it, I don’t remember the 1998 presidential election and I was not yet in the country for the 1992 election. That’s left 2004 election. The Dean campaign immediately came to mind because of their use of the Internet during the campaign. Additionally aside from Ted Kennedy being the first elected official with a web page and McCain raising $1 million online in 2000, the Dean campaign has been widely credited has with birth of Internet politics and advocacy and many of current players in the field are from that campaign. Having seen him speak and followed him on twitter, I decided on a Joe’s Trippi’s The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.
The book effectively chronicles Trippi’s love for technology and politics and how the two finally came together for Dean’s improbable presidential run. Filled with humor, the book begins with Trippi’s earl days as an activist on the San Jose State University and goes through his experience working four presidential campaigns prior to Dean’s. The reader can witness Trippi evolve as a political operative (and become more cynical) who manages to bring together all the lessons he has learned over the years to the Dean campaign. Without a doubt, the most interesting part of the book revolves around the Dean campaign. Trippi provides a candid insider account of what went on daily in the Burlington HQ as well as online. He goes over high and lows, the success and failures – both online and offline and ultimately leaving the campaign. All of it, very interesting. Knowing that readers would looking for the recipe of success online, Trippi’s provides the following points
I really enjoyed reading this book. It provided me with a behind the scene context of the 2004 election. Having read Matt Bai’s The Argument, I’d say this book is a good pre-cursor to that one because it helps frame meteoric rise MoveOn.org, DailyKos and the political blogosphere. One disappointment that I have after reading the book is Trippi’s blog itself. There is a disconnect between what he writes in his book about the Internet and blogging how he runs his blog. These days, his blog is a collection quotes from articles that he read or promotion of recent works (and sometime speaking engagements). It lacks original content, thought leadership, and forward thinking especially for someone who The New Republic called “the man who reinvented campaigning” and GQ dubbed “the new Carville”. Despite this, I still recommend the book. It’s worth the read.
During the campaign, Obama relied on technology to supplement his traditional media outreach. He used the web to make the case directly to voters why is he was the best choice for President. Whether you agree with his policies, the approach was a successful one. As president, I had hoped that he would continue this approach while governing. However after the election, some of the outreach efforts slowed down. As some bloggers have pointed out, there had not been any action on his twitter page in 10 days. When I saw his first weekly address yesterday, I was delighted. I’m glad to see that he will continue his approach of talking to directly to the people.
I can’t vote today (for many reasons I’ve cited here before) but I’m asking you to.
As it was written in the Economist several days ago, "it is impossible to forecast how important any presidency will be" nor can we predict how good of a president any politician will be. In fact history has shown us that some of our finest presidents were mere novices in the political arena, or so we thought, while some of our worst presidents were seasoned professionals. So In effect, no matter who we vote for today, we are all taking a gamble.
Recognizing that there is not much we can do about that aspect of elections, I urge you not to think of this election, or any other election, in that prism. Instead, I propose that we think of this election, and all elections, as a responsibility and an opportunity.
It is our responsibility to hold elected officials accountable, to hold the torch that was passed onto us by previous generations dating back to our fore-fathers, to tell the world that democracy is alive and well and is indeed the best form of government.
This election is also an opportunity. For some, it is the opportunity to correct the mistake from 4 or 8 year ago. For others, it is the opportunity to re-affirm their beliefs from the same period. For many, it is the opportunity to participate in the democratic process for the first time. But for all, it is an opportunity to be heard; an opportunity to take this country in a different direction; an opportunity to make history regardless of ideology or background.
So today, I am asking you to vote.
I am asking you to vote for me and many others like me who won’t have the opportunity to be heard.
I am asking you to vote for our men and women in the armed forces serving abroad that won’t be able to vote because of archaic absentee ballot laws.
I am asking you to vote so that we can put people in office with the moral courage to deal with challenges facing our nation today at the national and local level.
I am asking you to vote so our generation may be heard.
Most of all I am asking you to vote because your vote, your voice, matters.
Some will dismiss my call to action as a gimmick to get people to vote for Senator Obama. It is true that I support Senator Obama. I do so for many reasons that others have penned more eloquently than I ever will. And it is indeed my fervent hope that you do cast your ballot for the junior senator from Illinois. However, this is not to say that Senator McCain will not make a good president. In fact, I believe that he will be an adequate president or even a fine president. Very few of us have served this country like he has over the decades. Though I question his vice-presidential pick, I believe that he will take that same dedication and love for our country to the white house. I did not write this to endorse any candidate running on any level, but simply to ask you to vote.
So I will ask again, please go vote.
The late Robert Francis Kennedy reminded us that "few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation." Today, your small portion is to go vote.
[picture by joecrimmings]
Last weekend, I had the distinct honor of participating the "Money in Politics" Grant Summit hosted by Mobilize.org in partnership with the Sunlight Foundation, and Common Cause. According to their website, Mobilize.org:
Mobilize.org is an all-partisan network dedicated to educating, empowering, and energizing young people to increase our civic engagement and political participation. We work to show young people how public policy impacts our lives, and more importantly – how we can impact public policy.
The orgnization put its name on the map by taking over the 2100 Fund, an organization that raised funds for organzations promoting youth activism, and writing the Democracy 2.0 Declaration (watch it).
Admitidly, prior to the summit, I had heard of Mobilize.org but I was not very familiar w/ its work. I had planned to submit a proposal for the summit but missed the deadline because of the Silverman campaign and the presidential forum. As luck would have it, at the forum, I got the priviledge and opportunity to meet mobilize’s CEO, Maya Enista, and work with her in a breakout session. During that time, I told her about my interest in the forum and she invited me to attend.
A crucial piece of the summit was the ability for those attending to present ideas and plans that solve the issue of money in politics. From the mobilize.org website:
Competitors in the Democracy 2.0 Entrepreneur Grant Summit must advance a new solution or approach to the money in politics problem – that will change the pattern in the field of civic engagement. Winners will each receive a grant, between $3,000 and $5,000 and will receive the support of Mobilize.org and its partner network to champion their proposal, creating systemic and sustainable change in the way elections are administered.Competitors in the Democracy 2.0 Entrepreneur Grant Summit must advance a new solution or approach to the money in politics problem – that will change the pattern in the field of civic engagement. Winners will each receive a grant, between $3,000 and $5,000 and will receive the support of Mobilize.org and its partner network to champion their proposal, creating systemic and sustainable change in the way elections are administered.
On the first day, keynote speaker, former Representative John Buchanan, gave an inspiring address encouraging and challenging my generation, the Millenials, to become the greatest American generation. He pointed out that money has become an element in our democracy. Technology, along with other tools, makes it easier to promote transparency and hold elected officials more accountable.
The morning on the second day, Nancy Watzman, of the Sunlight Foundation, and Political Party Time, a blog dedicacated to tracking parties thrown at both party conventions as well as fundraising activities of lawmakers, spoke about her exprience trying to bring transparancy to government since the 1990s and all the Sunlight Foundation’s projects and resources. Nancy’s address was followed by a panel that included Josh Zaharoff of Common Cause and Matt Stempeck of Americans for Campaign Reform. In the afternoon, Sam Rasoul, candidate for U.S. Congress in VA-6, stopped by to talk to us about his campaigns, his goals, the change would try to enact in congress and what he has been able to accomplish so far in VA. Between the two speakers, competitors had a chance to meet with panels of experts who gave them feedback about their proposals.
On the last day, David Mark, Senior Editor at Politico and author of Going Dirty, shared his thoughts about the current Presidential campaign as well as some notes about his book. Competitors also got a chance to present their proposals in front of the entire conference. Four winners were later announced. The first prize went to Sam Oliker-Friedland of GoVoteAbsentee.org. I whole heartily agree with the decision, as his proposal was the most developed and most likely to be sustained over the course of time. Basically, his website takes any voter of any district in the US throught the process of getting an absentee ballot. Check it out (Facebook Page) if you get a chance, and please spread the word.
The summit was a great fun and learning experience. It was a eye-opener in the fact that it made me realize how many Millenials are invovled in the political process and are seeking to improve the process and make it more accessible to everyone. I feel as though we sometimes get a bad rap for being overconnected and lazy and the summit gives us as a gneration the chacne to fight that stereotype and put our best effort into improving our democracy.
Tags: Democracy 2.0, Mobilize.org, Money in Politics Grant Summit, Sunlight Foundation, Common Cause, Just6dollars.org
After a little hiatus for the ServiceNation Summit, I’m back at it. More on the summit later, including pictures. While I was in NYC, the post-election drama continued. I will try to provide with a time line from the articles that have been written in the Post and the City Paper. First, the Board of Election & Ethics (BOEE) went on a communication blackout. This was actually not a bad idea, since their attempt to provide an explanation on election night was pathetic. No offense to Dan Murphy, BOEE spokesperson. When the BOEE came out of its self-imposed blackout, it provided some clarifications on the election night debacle but mostly blamed the irregularities on the equipment. However, California-based Sequoia Voting systems asserted that “there is absolutely no problem with the machines in polling places.” Instead, the company brought up possibility of human error. Despite the assertion by Sequoia, BOEE stood by the results on primary night. As it now become the tradition in DC after a scandal, Mayor Fenty fired someone and launched an investigation but not before the Ward 2 ANC passed a resolution calling for an investigation. Maybe something will come out of this one. In the middle of all the all this, Cary conceded. He thanked his supporters and staff. He also called on BOEE “take all steps necessary to restore trust in the election results.” Cary concession essential ended the post-election drama. However as the post put it,
SO ELEMENTAL to government is the conduct of elections that there can be no excuse for failure. It’s important, then, that D.C. officials not minimize the problems with Tuesday’s primary. The chaos surrounding the results suggests that there may be bigger issues that need fixing and that, if left unresolved, could undermine voter confidence.
The only good thing that came out of this drama is my debut on YouTube thanks to LooseLips Columnist Mike DeBonis.
Last night, I was nominated to go to DC board of the election to wait for the result of the primary. I thought it would be a cool experience/; so I accepted. Another volunteer and I headed down there for what we thought was going 30 minutes then off to the victory party. Little did we know that the DC Board Of Election & Ethics (BOEE) complete incompetence would keep us there till the wee hours of the morning. To make a long story short, when first set of result came in, everything looked fine. Evans was up 66% to 33% and .54% write-in with 14% of the precincts reporting. When the second set the report came in, something didn’t add up. Evans was up 48% to 34% and 17% write-in with 94% of precincts reporting. The second set of numbers estimated that 9000 people voted in our Ward, more than doubling the numbers from 2004 ( a mayoral election). Having walked around the city throughout the day, I knew there was a low voter turns out. Additionally, we were not aware of any write-in campaigns going on in our race. Therefore, 17% write-in made absolutely no sense. My suspicions were confirmed by Evans’ Campaign manager. We went upstairs along with Mara’s campaign manager and Schwartz’s campaign manager (They were having the same problem). Meanwhile, The AP called the race, then the Post based on the AP the numbers. Things went downhill from there. Lawyers came, WaPo came, CityPaper came, Washington Times was called, I think the AP had take back calling the race and people at the BOEE just looked really really really really really bad. The lawyers that were present requested precinct by precinct report. The BOEE put out three sets of numbers after that but the damage had been done. Everyone was dissecting the numbers and the whole thing was just a mess.
Needless to say, this was an eye opening experience for me. I’m deeply troubled by the city’s inability to handle such a small election. By all accounts, the primary in February had a much larger turnout and the city failed to properly handle that election as well. As of this moment, I’m shocked, angered, and disappointed. If I had any power, no one at the board of election would have a job this morning (except maybe nice security guards from last night). I really hope Mayor Fenty and the rest of the council take a good look at this. It’s ridiculous that the capital of the free world can not manage to run an election smoothly.
As of the writing of this post, we have not yet conceded. we are waiting for the precinct by precinct report and results from the absentee ballots (if they can count them correctly.) I’m headed to NYC for the ServiceNation Summit with Senators Obama and McCain, more on what I learn in this campaign when I get back from NYC.
DC PRIMARY RESULTS NIGHT COVERAGE
CityPaper – Live from the Clusterfuck
p.s. I did not cut my hair for the next POTUS… whoever he is.
Today, the DC Examiner endorsed Cary saying:
Cary Silverman promises open, competitive bidding for all city projects and a fully Freedom of Information Act-able financial reporting system. And more accountability and transparency is exactly what this city needs.
Read the entire article here . I wish they did this last week so we would have been able to take advantage of it a bit more. But hey an endorsement is an endorsement. That marks our first endorsement by a local paper.
Now for all your Ward 2 (which includes Shaw, Dupont, Logan, Mt Vernon Sq, Gtown, Foggy Bottom, West End, Downtown, Chinatown) Residents go out and Vote!
