Now that the re-canvas is over Joe Courtney's campaign reports winning by 93 votes.

One more Democratic pick up!

We are a small town Democratic Town Committee in one of the 10 most important districts in the country for the Democratic Party this November. [CT-2] We have developed this plan and used it in the Primary and now we are sharing it with neighboring towns to try and maximize the Democratic turnout on Election Day.

Our town had a turn out rate 20% higher than any of the neighboring towns this past August. You can thank Ned Lamont for the statewide increase in turnout. On average we have a 20-25% turn out in CT. The average turn out in this past election was around 45%. But in our town we had an amazing 64% turn out.

Your thoughts and suggestions below would be helpful. There is nothing secret about these techniques. All it takes is a dedicated group of folks to make it happen.

Read this great article from the Chicago Tribune about two voters in Hampton CT.  They were long time Lieberman supporters who felt betrayed. They will be voting Ned Lamont this Tuesday.

http://hampton.dems.info/gaines

Read a quote from the article below the fold...

House Republicans could see 10 to 15 more retirements

Looks like the idea of having someone to run in every district is a good one.

Read what "The Hill" has to say about it today:

"House Republicans have limited most of their retirements to conservatives in solidly red districts and a handful of statewide-office seekers, but political analysts say 10 to 15 more Republicans could announce in the coming months that they are stepping down.

With the president's approval ratings between 35 and 40 percent, the unrest in Iraq and GOP scandals still problems for Republicans in polls, the number of possible Democratic pickups looks to be growing."

Continues...

Read the full article

Bumped b/c I love stuff like this. Don't restrict suggestions to local town committees, but include favorite features of party web sites that JJonMyDD might be able to use - Matt

My local Democratic Town Committee asked me to start their first web site at tonight's meeting. Other than starting from scratch is there a resource to download templates?

I found nothing at the DNC or my state web site. I need help!

Offer any advise you have in the comments- Thanks.

Has anyone seen a great Democratic Town Committee web site they think is worth emulating?  Please post it's address here.

Help me find this:

A few month ago I read either here or on KOS a fantastic article written by the head of the GOP party in some county in CA on how to build a successful party operation. It was really insightful and I want to get my hands on it again.

The crux of the essay was:

A: Define the party message.

B. Build a party organization.

1. Registers new voters and grow the local party.
2. that is responsible for getting the base to the polls so candidates can focus on the Independent (Non-aligned) and Democratic voters.
3. Bring people together for events that encourage networking and socializing. (He said that this became the most important building block)

C. Define party and candidate responsibilities to eliminate duplication or omission.

And what else? I want to present this as a blue print to my local party committee in January. I live in a Republican dominated town/county/district in CT that with some better organizing could go blue in 2006.

Any ideas where it was? Any other great manifestos to share? If you have a copy can you e-mail me one at: jordanjacobs@earthlink.net

Thanks.