Color me confused. It appears that the 50-state program, an extremely successful effort by the DNC, is being eliminated. I happened to have gotten an email from the Hampton Roads organizer, Susan Mariner, last week about something else and she casually mentioned that State Partnership Program officially ends at the end of November, but it wasn’t until I read this diary that I realized the real implications.
To say that I’m not happy about the elimination of the program would be an understatement.
Moments ago, I received a fundraising letter from Obama for America (not the first one I’ve received since the election, by the way, but that is a topic for another post). In it, the success of the 50-state program is touted:
The Democratic National Committee poured all of its resources into building our successful 50-state field program. And they played a crucial role in helping Barack win in unlikely states like North Carolina and Indiana. We even picked up an electoral vote in Nebraska.
[…]
The DNC began building a 50-state organization in 2005.
The infrastructure they put in place over the last four years opened up a new batch of battleground states where a Democratic nominee hadn’t been competitive for a generation.
In the final few months, the DNC went above and beyond to expand our ground efforts and ensure victory.
We couldn’t have won this election without their support.
As we start laying the groundwork for real change, we need to help the DNC recover the resources it took to win.
So we are supposed to donate to help the DNC pay off the debt it incurred in running the 50-state program but the program is going away?
Um, no. Tell me how much debt the DNC incurred. Tell me that the program is going to continue. Then and only then will I consider parting with my hard-earned dollars.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
They have installed their new regime to their satisfaction. You’re now irrelevant – except for your money which they still want.
I got the same email! I never donate money but I do want that shirt!
Is it possible that the program is not ending for good, but that it’s being phased out to be replaced by a new program to be instituted by the new Chairperson and with new organizers?
I don’t think, with all of its incredible fundraising prowess and discipline, that the Obama campaign would lend its name to a solicitation for an idea that it didn’t believe in.
Now, I don’t doubt for a second that they want to put some fresh faces into these slots around the country, that the easiest way to do that is to ‘end’ the State Partnership and relaunch as something else, and I think there’s an argument to be made for that (these organizers have derived about as much human capital benefit as they’re going to see from it, the need to keep developing new talent, etc.), but this would seem to be a rookie mistake that the past 20 months have shown the Obama campaign to largely be adept at avoiding.
Seems to me like there’s a bigger vision that we might not be privy to just yet.
“Seems to me like there’s a bigger vision that we might not be privy to just yet.”
LOL. As soon as you find yourself saying such things become worried. It’s nonsensical to place faith in some hidden wisdom held by “your betters.”
Even something as prosaic as Occam’s Razor says that since the 50 State Strategy concluded its efforts, its being closed down due to lack of perceived value at this time.
It’s a DNC engine and they’re mostly concerned with national elections, not local ones.