A few days ago I wrote about the news from OTDB that PC recruitment in DuPage was up over 100% from 2006. Mark followed up with GOP numbers noting that although Democratic numbers increased and GOP numbers flat lined, Democratic PCs were still being outnumbered by nearly 2:1.
Now there are many rhetorically good explanations for this. Most notably the strong Republican organization that has been in place for decades in DuPage is a major factor. But the flip side of this picture is also important. The past leadership of the DuPage Democrats and their public disdain (like this or this) for local activists while filling only 16% of PCs is just as strong a reason for this disparity in the trenches.
Hence it was good for me as a Democrat living in the Sixth to see more of an emphasis this cycle placed on recruiting those on the front lines - Precinct Committeemen. Whether activists forced the DuPage Democratic Party into action out of fear of being voted out of leadership or whether they acted out of necessity to challenge Republicans at all levels is wide open to debate, and both the "insiders" and "outsiders" have strong opinions on the reality of this.
Regardless of who's right, one thing is clear: working with your local activists matters. Duckworth didn't attempt to do this until it was too late. Whether Morgenthaler will is still questionable. But as displayed by Gary at OTDB, when crunching PC recruitment numbers, it was pretty clear that when Township organizations worked actively with OTDB, recruitment was up significantly over Townships in which there was no such cooperation.
Townships in which there wasn't any significant cooperation with OTDB:
Township
PCs on 2006 Ballot
PCs on 2008 Ballot
Improvement
Wayne
3
4
+1
Bloomingdale
10
26
+16
Winfield
9
13
+4
Downers Grove
26
43
+17
Total
48
86
+38 (79%)
Which would you rather have on the ballot? 79 or 38? I'll have the 108% increase platter with a side of Democratic activism please. It's clear from these numbers that cooperation beats the alternative.
Note to local Democratic Leadership everywhere: If you want to win in places like IL-06 you're going to have to work with your local activists. This means you are going to have to listen to the people on the ground who keep saying repeatedly that we are not going to beat Republicans - especially local ones like Roskam - by being Republican-lite. Most importantly of all, stop trying to be the king of the damn ant hill and see the big picture: winning elections.
We work together, we win. If we don't work together then it doesn't really matter who is king of the ant hill.
UPDATE: Numbers corrected per Gary's comment regarding his error. Yet I find this part is important:
First of all, O:TDB is certainly not claiming to have recruited all 79 of the new PCs in the cooperating townships. For example, of the eleven recruits in Addison township, four were already-appointed PCs, six were found by O:TDB, and one was found by someone else. Secondly, even in the townships that did not work cooperatively with us, we did do some recruiting -- we came up with thirteen PCs in Bloomingdale township and five PCs in Downers Grove township.
Of the 38 PCs recruited in townships where there was little cooperation, 18 (47%) were OTDB recruits. Bottom line: the point of this post still stands. It's better to work with your local activists than to close the process to them to protect the ant hill.
