DeanLeaders Blog Comments

Some of you know of DeanPort.com -- the portal / 1-page directory I built for use in the Dean campaign. It helped to aggregate all the various resources and groups -- organize them -- and put them all on one page for easy understanding of which resources were available at various stages of involvement.. from "I know nothing about Dean; tell me about him" --> "That sounds good; I'd like to volunteer. Where do I start?" --> "Now that I'm helping, can we have one place where all our day-to-day tools and resources can be accessed?"

That's how DeanPort was designed -- and it worked, and was nominated for "Best National Political Campaign Website" by the Institute for Online Politics at GWU -- and it lost to DFA.com -- which wasn't a bad loss at all.

Now I have done the same thing -- but for the whole progressive movement -- zooming out to top level. Who are the major players? How do they fit into the picture? How can I get involved?

ProgressiveStart.com - Start-Page for the Progressive Movement

It couldn't be more timely, as the very relevant example below will show. Please add this important link to your websites and volunteer-opportunities promotional materials, and send it to your Yahoo group lists. And spread the word so that we don't have people in a state of "not knowing". With so many organizations occupying different sectors of the progressive landscape, this one-page will help keep people oriented -- and keep resources readily available.

Right now is version 1 -- out the gate fast. And some have criticized "it's too much! simplify it". Give it time. DeanPort, I can assure you, has almost twice the number of links -- but when a web user interface designer connects with this information design scheme, the whole thing will look -- and be -- much more manageable. Help it grow by sending in suggestions for links to top-level resources that are missing from the current list.

Also, probably too late for now... but DeanMall.com will be rebranded "ElectionGearMall.com" -- to accomplish the same function DeanMall did for Dean -- but now for the whole of the progressive landscape. The area of DeanMall that never got developed to the degree I had hoped -- lack of time -- was the "HOW TO" section, such as the FEC GUIDE FOR DUMMIES. The value of DeanMall was and is its automation. Much like DeanPhotos.com, you don't need permission to add your T-shirt designs or posters, or sources for merchandise, or DVDs and VHS videos. The system allows you to "Add Listings" and it beautifully catalogues your listing making it searchable by the correct category of "gear".

Lastly, expect to see DeanPhotos.com back online in a matter of days. We switched hosting companies -- and now will have plenty of room to grow. Stay tuned.

Thanks very much,

Richard Hoefer

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Now, here's the example which shows WHY a top-level portal site is needed for Progressives: it's too hard to keep up with so many orgs -- that key and vital information gets dropped -- wasting precious volunteer resources. All due to "if only I had known earlier ...."

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From: "snow bored" <snowbored@graffiti.net>
Date: Mon Aug 23, 2004 8:39 am
Subject: voter contact/gotv coalition et al

i went to wisconsin on saturday with my dfa meetup, and found a gentleman from indiana who was helping us up there in wisconsin. i asked him why he was there, in wisconsin, instead of in michigan, which is also a battleground state and closer to where he lived. he indicated that he could not find anyone to work with in michigan, and that he had gotten an email telling him about this opportunity. what that tells me is that people organizing locally may be unaware of the organizational structure that has been up for more than a year. several steps along the way, this gentleman should have been referred to the michigan coalition, but hadn't been, clearly for lack of knowledge by those in which he had contact. we need to work within the system that has been established, even though it was established before the dean swarm proved that democrats would volunteer on a massive scale outside their home states -- regardless of how ineffective some of the .orgs are/ have been; we need not to try to reinvent the wheel just because we can. groups of democrats, progressives, and like-minded organizations got together more than a year ago to discuss ordination of the efforts that they intended to do to "re-defeat" george bush. they formed an organization or coalition which allowed them to coordinate these efforts amongst themselves, although not with the official democratic nominee or the party. this coalition, called america votes (one of those 527s) is the umbrella group of 32 .orgs, including dfa, that ponied up $50,000 to coordinate voter contact and mobilization efforts. a significant number of former dean staffers are working in various parts of this coalition, which is made up of: <http://www.americavotes.org/what_we_do.cfm> ACORN AFL-CIO AFSCME America Coming Together (ACT) American Federation of Teachers Association of Trial Lawyers of America Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence United With the Million Mom March Clean Water Action Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund Democracy for America EMILY's List Environment2004 The Human Rights Campaign League of Conservation Voters The Media Fund MoveOn.org Voter Fund Moving America Forward Music for America NAACP National Voter Fund NARAL Pro-Choice America National Education Association National Jewish Democratic Council National Treasury Employees Union Partnership for America's Families People for the American Way Planned Parenthood Action Fund SEIU Sierra Club USAction Voices for Working Families Young Voter Alliance 21st Century Democrats at the national level, these organizations divided up the anticipated battleground states into regions of primary responsibility, although there is some overlap. some of that overlap is intentional. for example, act is (another) 527, which means that it cannot expressly (legally) advocate voting for a specific candidate. otoh, the league of conservation voters is a pac, which can advocate voting for kerry, and can do what we call persuasion canvassing. it should be obvious that act and lcv would work different precincts in battleground states -- act trying to mobilize heavily-democratic precincts, while lcv goes into swing precincts to do persuasion, voter id, and gotv. working within this coalition seems to be doubly important, as i have heard numerous reports of people who tried to volunteer with their local democratic party, but were turned away because their local party had been overwhelmed with volunteer offers. they didn't know how to handle this, or what grassroots could do, outside of the things they've always done. the america votes coalition groups *can* use the help, what you do with them will be productive, and it will be decisive. but this is by no means perfectly coordinated (a lot of these organizations do not have the leadership necessary for keeping up with such a massive coordinated effort), but for the most part it seems to be working. also, some groups seem to be better organized than others. for example, in wisconsin, lcv is working on their second round of door-to-door efforts, while act has yet to complete their first round. (a good canvassing effort requires at least three rounds before election day, some of the more organized do 5 rounds, to make sure that every voter gets contacted.) deciding that you want to work with a specific .org is silly, unless you live in an area in which that .org has primary responsibility (and you want to work within the legal framework of that .org's organization). for example, i, myself, not being a democrat, wouldn't want to work within the legal confines of a group like act, because they cannot legally do persuasion canvassing. i, obviously, am interested in mobilizing voters in swing precincts, even though i understand and appreciate the need to boost voter turnout in core democratic precincts. as the kids say, it's all good. here are the contact names/numbers for the state coordinators for the coalition. if you don't know what group has primary responsibility for the area or region in which you want to volunteer, please contact them and ask. that's why they're there! ARIZONA Victoria Tinajero AZ State Organizing Director Phoenix Office: 602-257-4610 victoria@americavotes.org FLORIDA Ana Cruz FL State Organizing Director Tampa Office: 813-350-9007 Fax: 813-350-9006 ana@americavotes.org Jeffrey Lerner FL State Deputy Organizing Director Miami Office: 305-576-3925 Fax: 305-576-3929 jeffrey@americavotes.org IOWA Rob Berntsen IA State Organizing Director Des Moines Office: 515-244-3111 Fax: 515-282-0318 robert@americavotes.org MICHIGAN Ray Plowden MI State Organizing Director Royal Oak Office: 248-336-8270 Fax: 248-336-8244 ray@americavotes.org MISSOURI Todd Patterson MO State Organizing Director Jefferson City Office: 573-893-7620 Fax: 573-635-1216 todd@americavotes.org MINNESOTA Donald McFarland MN State Organizing Director St. Paul Office: 651-645-1515 Fax: 651-645-1414 donald@americavotes.org NEVADA Carrie Sandstedt NV State Organizing Director Reno Office: 775-337-2595 Fax: 775-337-2578 carrie@americavotes.org NEW HAMPSHIRE Heather Stone NH State Organizing Director Manchester Office: 603-296-1421 Fax: 603-626-0808 heather@americavotes.org NEW MEXICO Chris Cervini NM State Organizing Director Albuquerque Office: 505-830-9250 Fax: 505-883-0761 chris@americavotes.org OHIO Scott Nunnery OH State Organizing Director Columbus Office: 614-297-0223 Fax: 614-297-0788 scott@americavotes.org OREGON Kevin Looper OR State Organizing Director Portland Office: 503-236-6227 Fax: 503-235-2512 oregonav@americavotes.org PENNSYLVANIA J.J. Johnston PA State Organizing Director Harrisburg Office: 717-238-2018 Fax: 717-232-3007 jj@americavotes.org WISCONSIN Peter Shakow WI State Organizing Director Madison Office: 608-250-5923 Fax: 608-250-5931 peter@americavotes.org finally, if you need help, or don't know how to help someone else, please ask for it. there's nothing wrong with not knowing every little thing about how this is all organized that anyone should judge you for having incomplete information. it's all rather convoluted, and the kerry campaign is most definitely not organized in the same way as the dean campaign was. experience in the dean effort does not translate perfectly over to understanding the kerry campaign, etc. given the wealth of knowledge we have here, most likely someone will know the answer to the questions you ask!

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From: Lali Watt <wattdsl@ameritech.net>
Date: Mon Aug 23, 2004 2:19 pm
Subject: I beg to disagree

I hate to start worthless discussions but I feel I have to respond to your recent message about a volunteer in Milwaukee. I totally disagree with your approach to the gentleman who volunteered in Milwaukee who happens to live in Indiana. There are many of us who volunteer because we want to, not because we think it is our duty. I, for one, have had it with the Democratic party and with so called �structure� which simply seems to mean that the party believes they own my vote, my money and my time because Bush is evil. Volunteers, by definition, can choose where they want to volunteer and what they want to do. They are perfectly within their rights to choose certain opportunities over others. If someone prefers to work further away from home, why shouldn�t they? We should thank them, include them and continue. The way to put people off is to tell them they �should� do this or that. If you choose to volunteer closest to home that is your right and privilege. Please leave the rest of us alone to make up our own minds. We will pick what seems most suitable to us. Thank you, Lali