A while ago, I made a post on exactly how I was going to grade Democrats after the election. I wanted everyone to know how I measured and how I would score.
D- is how the season came out. They lost more house seats than I gave options for, but they held at 14 in the Senate.
While Rick Scott’s win was narrow, the legislature is emboldened and powerful and we are all in for a good “conservative values” parade for the next two years between the two forces. There is nothing pretty about this, for anyone.
There is plenty of blame to go around and of course, everyone is ready to point fingers, especially to those at the top. However, the real problems with the party are far more complex than that. I find the majority of the failures lie with weak, local DECs, which are the front line for getting out the vote. Blaming voters who do not show up is just part of the puzzle. The job of local DECs is to get voters to show up, even when they do not want to. They need to have the resources and skills to get this done. This has not happened in Florida in decades. This is the real failure and that lies on each and every Democrat in the state and there is a good share of blame for each of us.
The price of this weakness has a domino effect on local and state campaigns. All around the state, DECs lack resources, knowledge, and capacity to be effective. When there are state-wide candidates, the campaigns have no choice but to create party infrastructure from scratch, which takes an incredible amount of time and effort and ultimately, takes resources away from winning the race. The result is disastrous. The root of the problem is that the party on the ground is so weak that it is impossible to gather enough resources to run a state-wide election without a presidential machine behind it to drive out voters. This has nothing to do with a ‘Republican wave’ or money or voter turnout – it has to do with the fact that any state-wide candidate who runs for office is stuck having to reinvent the wheel and put time and resources into building a field presence that could have already been in place by local volunteers.
This election was a measure of the Florida Democrats field presence without the Obama bump and the result is that it fell completely flat. Everything comes down to a weak infrastructure on the ground and you can change leaders and blame elected officials all you like, but nothing is going to change until local Democratic Executive Committees change the way they operate and are given more support and training.
Did Allison Tant do anything to tackle this outside of her home county of Leon since taking the helm? No, and that is perhaps her biggest fault.
The question that inquiring minds around the state are asking is not “What is going on internally at the FDP?” – the question on everybody’s minds is “IS anything going on internally at the FDP?” I am not quite as forgiving as Kartik is towards Allison Tant. She was ill-equipped in the beginning to handle the job of electing a Democrat to governor for the first time since 1994. She was tapped for the job by Debbie Wasserman Shultz and Bill Nelson and she simply was not experienced enough to handle the job. This was not the cycle that she needed to be doing on-the-job training and it was indeed a disaster. While she made changes and did make improvements, they were not nearly enough and many, including us here at the Squeeze, pointed out these flaws early on. She lacked the skills, she lacked the field knowledge, and above all she lacked a fundamental understanding of state politics outside her Tallahassee area.
Tant was brought on as a fundraiser and while the state party did set some fund raising records, she has never worked field and simply never understood how important local people on the ground where. It was a fatal flaw that doomed many races before the season even began. If she wanted to create lasting changes, she needed to go to the ground and build from the bottom up. We wrote here about her abysmal candidate recruitment efforts and these directly relate back to field presence and bench building. In the end, her changes simply were not enough to get momentum going on the ground, which was where change had to happen. Not even the record-setting “House Victory” fund raising numbers could help save those 6 seats – yet a field presence and more trainings for local DECs may have made a difference and left a lasting structure to build onto.
There’s a difference between over-reaction and reactions. In the end, there is no logical person to step up and replace her and perhaps Tant has learned something through this process. If there is someone with more experience at this point, we need to put them on the ballot. However, she has to step up and take decisive action. If she is going to retain her leadership position with credibility, she has to take action quickly and publicly, or the criticism on lack of action will grow to the point of no return. She has to be open and public with the changes in the party if she is going to lead. The level of transparency needs to increase so that people can see the changes if faith is ever going to be restored. People need to know what went wrong and she is going to have to name some names (hint – Christian Ulvert is the top of our loser list). While it was unfortunate that this was the election she had to learn on the job, we can at least hope that she did indeed learn from her mistakes.
Looking forward, local DECs structures have to change if Democrats are going to win a state-wide election. Republicans have this down and it gives them a greater advantage than money could. As I posted the other day, the 2016 season is already here and already, Democrats are behind.
The Florida Squeeze 
I don’t disagree with your post, Katy, but I also think the problem is bigger than that. Field campaigns can’t win elections without giving voters a compelling reason to show up. The reality is, Democrats haven’t given them a reason. From the presidency down the line, we haven’t delivered. This is not to say that President Obama hasn’t succeeded in some areas, but Americans do not see government as being responsive to the country’s problems. True or not, they see us as being in charge. Republicans have been great at nationalizing state and local elections by tying everything to the president. Until we come up with a way to convince the voters that our party will really fight to tackle economic inequality, to rebuild crumbling infrastructure, and to put the United States on a path to greater prosperity for everyone, we can knock on a million doors and not break through the negative perceptions people have about politics. It won’t happen with just words, our elected officials have to stop thinking about the next election and be brave enough to take on the corporate interests who are funding the opposition. Elections cannot be cults of personality. They have to be based on values, issues and results.
I wholeheartedly agree that DECs, as well as caucuses, need to be nurtured and supported by the FDP. For the most part, this only happens randomly now. Unfortunately, DECs and caucuses are often treated like nuisances (which we often are because of personal power plays). To give support to the party organizations, the FDP is going to have to put many more resources into permanent regional staff.
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I very much agree on permanent, regional staff. That should have happened years ago. The party HQ has to disperse from Tallahassee. I don’t think that only field wins, but I think that having regional staff will allow campaigns to spend MORE time getting a message to voters instead of reinventing the wheel and building a field.
And I agree that messaging is a big problem – I wrote about that in the take-away the other day. I think there is a rural vs. urban messaging problem as well.
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I really like and completely agree with the comments and analysis offered by the first commenter regarding standing up to corporate interests and DOING SOMETHING to show that Democrats will actually “fight to tackle economic inequality” with more than “just words.” Because honestly that is not happening. Elected Democrats – and their political consultants – constantly look for ways to vote with the “Business Community” over and over and to be perceived as “business friendly” Democrats in Tallahassee. I cannot tell you how often the fight on an insurance committee comes down to fighting over getting a Democrat who happens to work as an insurance agent to vote for the consumer side of an issue and not the property insurer’s side of the issue. We have a new Democratic House member who proudly ran on a pro-business agenda who will almost certainly vote to prohibit counties and cities from stopping Wage Theft at the local level in administrative proceedings in their communities like Miami-Dade and Broward Counties have done. And if there are no such local administrative remedies, there really are no remedies because of the cost of court filing fees relative to the amount of the damages at issue in the cases. We already have members who have voted to support such mean-spirited legislation in spite of wide spread opposition outside of big business. As progressive Democrats, we must hold the Democratic elected officials’ feet to the fire when they are voting. They need to understand that economic policy is important to us and that we are watching. They do not understand that right now. In tort reform battles, they think the fight is between trial lawyers and doctors. They do not understand it is more often about patient safety or consumer safety. In labor wars, they do not understand we are fighting for the working families, the middle class and quality public education. In holding managed care accountable, they do not understand we are fighting for freedom of patient choice and access to care. Most of all they do not feel like anyone is really watching. And too much of the time, they aren’t. The party and the elected officials are always looking for new friends and new contribution streams. That makes sense. (Unfortunately, currently the party Political Director is also always looking for new clients for himself. That doesn’t make sense.) But the party and the elected officials need to always closely guard their core principles, core constituents and core constituencies in the process. The Democrats need to remember that every time they can – every time – the Republicans will come after them. And the business community will follow them, without fail. No matter what. Remember early on in Tant/Ulvert chairmanship, when she brought Pete Buigas representing Miguel Fernandez of Simply Health Plans into the Caucus Lunch to try to build a relationship with the Caucus. Look how that turned out for the FDP. Without fail, no matter what.
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Agree with the above post. But make no mistake Tant will use the same tactics in the coming prez race. This can only help her friend, Jeb Bush. Yes, everyone, the Richard’s and Bush’s are friends. The history is awful. Now many say it’s time for her to show that she can lead.
So, was this a practice run?
I think she needs to resign. Or be removed. She never should have been the chair in the first place. This info was on another blog, and it should be repeated. Some facts on Tant-Richards:
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Ms. Tant-Richard in 1999-2000 was a paid lobbyist for DBT Inc. which was the company commissioned by Secretary of state Katherine Harris under the gubernatorial administration of Republican Jeb Bush to scrub the voter rolls across the state of Florida for the then upcoming 2000 Presidential election featuring Jeb’s brother George W. vs Democrat Al Gore.
History tells us that DBT Inc. was responsible for scrubbing the names of 57,000 African Americans fro the voter rolls leading to the controversial recount which ended in the “determination” made by the U.S. Supreme Court handing the decision to Jeb’s brother George W. Bush.
Interestingly Allison Tant’s husband Barry Richard who also was/is a registered Democrat just happened to be the LEAD ATTORNEY for Team Bush in the landmark election dispute decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.
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YEP!!!
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I read this and dug through some past information. Here is what the other candidate for party chair had a written plan for our party and first published it in 2010:
“The Florida Democratic Party must change our ground game and become a bottom up organization We must work to revitalize our activists and we must use them as a political force. Without this revitalization our party will continue its slide towards irrelevance.
Enable our passionate activist and let them get the job done.
Hire local, local parties must be empowered to hire local organizers who know their communities best.
Manage and redirect resources and attention to support our grassroots foundation.
Local parties must work with our core Democratic constituencies to pave a new independent road that promotes the Democratic Party and our candidates.
The days of we know what’s best for you are over!”
“Campaign 365
The Florida Democratic Party and Democratic candidates can no longer afford to wait until 6 months prior to an election to prepare for an election. There is never a ‘down’ in politics. We take a day off and the Republican’s pass us by. The concept of a coordinated campaign is sound; our past execution has been flawed…
Decentralize by creating five to seven regional hubs to coordinate our expanded grassroots outreach
Regional hubs would be established and led by regional coordinators recruited from each geographical area. The regional hub coordinator would provide the support and coordination needed between various internal and external organizations. The coordinators would be facilitators and a resource to local party leaders.”
“67 County Strategy
The Democratic National Committee has a 50 state strategy to achieve long-term success in our national party. The Florida Democratic Party must learn from the DNC successes and failures and implement a 67 county strategy. From Escambia County in the north to the tip of the southernmost point in Monroe County, Democrats must compete for partisan and non-partisan positions.
We will not enjoy statewide success unless we recognize a vote in Madison County is just as powerful as a vote in Miami-Dade. That lost vote in Putnam County for the school board member or tax collector candidate erodes our ability to win statewide elections.”
“Reclaim our message
The Republican Party has learned how to control how a voter feels without them knowing why. They hate, don’t like, or reject the idea, person or party based on non-analytical thinking. The Florida Democratic Party must recognize this reality and make appropriate strategic adjustments.”
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By the way, I spoke with him the day after the elections. He said he was completely shut out of the party. I couldn’t vote in that election. Unfortunately Rick Boyland was one of our votes and he was paid off with a job at the DNC to turn his back on our county. We are as bad as the Republicans, threats lies and bribery…Florida Democrats things could have been different. Is this our wake up call?
Google “Plan for the Florida Democratic Party Rebrand, Rebuild, Recruit”
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Great plan, that’s why DINO Bill Nelson stopped it and forced Tant Richards on us!
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Nelson did not do that, Debbie Wasserman Schultz was the culprit. She twisted arms, made promises and deals and also made some people cry because of her pressure! I know, I was there!
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Have you ever looked to see how far back Rick Boylan has been a paid op with the DNC???
Rick Boylan in 2008 was sent to a county to ‘tell all about running for a delegate’. The party nor Rick, ever contacted those who ran and won. He’s just a paid shill. No one heard anything of what it was really like to run for a position like that. That’s how they like it. They like to choose the national delegates, and game that as well. Party tactics did not work in 2004 for delegates running, so no one was allowed to hear from them.
I was told he was one of the youngest on the DNC payroll. At like, 18 yrs. old. He’s still there. Seems to me he was raised and groomed to be there. He’s not new. He’s been around a long time.
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PS. In 2006, in the governors race against Charlie Crist, Rick Boylan had a local ‘stonewalls’ group. Some in the group left during the campaign because they were told the group was “working on Jim Davis”, and “they would not be doing any work for Rod Smith”. Rick was using a local club, as the DEC’s around Florida were, in a partisan way for Jim Davis. That is what made it an ugly primary. That was Karen Thurman, again put up by Nelson. So they left, and marched in the July 4th parade for Rod Smith. That is not what the party is to be doing. Examples are endless.
These shenanigans have been going on always, inside the ‘party’. Like the Crist thing over Nan Rich. They took a lukewarm candidate and got off to an ugly start.
Soi, how’d it work out for ya?
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Now what did I say in the other Tant thread? The head which is like a Hydra needs to be severed from the body. Nelson, Wass-Shultz, Tant… They are ALL working for themselves. Politics is not about serving the people for these shills, it is rather about doing what is best for themselves. I mean do I have to re-post all the videos again here? Many of those who facilitate this in the lower ranks genuflect to those that by being able to say that they know Tant or Wass Shultz or Nelson or any of the other career pols and consultant types elevates their self esteem in their own minds.
I have been around this bunch long enough to figure it out. These social types also respect and admire people WITH MONEY! The dynamic is pathetic but it is clear as a bell if you just open your eyes to it. The dysfunction is endemic. There are no principles in what passes for the FDP. That fundamentally is why they are not judged by the public as being any better and in many ways worse than the Republicans. Nobody likes a WEASEL! John Russell for CorporatistNation
CorporatistNation is coming…
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By Daniel Grief
To the Democratic Party…… Will you finally learn the lesson of this past election, (not to mention the last 3-4 Governor’s Elections, going back to Janet Reno to this past race). As long as you CHOOSE to ignore the Democratic base or the PROGRESSIVE wing of the party and instead rely on being republican lite, you will LOSE! You chose to ignore all of the President’s accomplishments and instead allowed Republicans to define the race. You allowed the race (AGAIN) to be one big attack against the oponent rather than focus on the Liberal values that built the Democratic Party. Ask yourselves now, BEFORE 2016…. WHAT ARE YOU SUPPORTING? WHAT DO YOU STAND FOR? WHAT DO DEMOCRATS OFFER THAT REPUBLICANS CANNOT? I sincerely hope all Democrats stand up to the party and say “no more”! No more mamby pamby weak candidates that hide from the very values that are DEMOCRATIC. And to my friends that didn’t support Nan Rich, I say “WAKE UP”, your base has told you that these center right Democrats will not ever … ever…. win again here in Florida.
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Nothing new here… The FDP is charged with maintaining the status quo which is defined as keeping Republicans in charge be they registered as Republicans or Democrats… witness Tant-Richard and her husband Barry as the prima facie example.
As a candidate for Congress in 2008 I was advised that a Lake County DEC member was actually filling out ballots for other DEC members and casting votes for my opponent, Republican incumbent Ginny Brown-Waite. I have been ostracized in the media with false information (He is a physical threat, aggressive etc.) by FDP hacks to include specifically Allison Morano who has been “taken care of” by The Party for years well before she was actually accorded an official paid position.
The folks in charge will jump all over anyone who questions the credulity of their actions or lack there of. I was not the only one to be accosted by these hacks with the able assist of a media equally responsible for keeping the status quo undisturbed. Former Space Coast Congressional Candidate, Vietnam Veteran Fighter Pilot and War Hero Robert Bowman was treated similarly.
I understand that it is difficult for most to accept but this political racket has been purposefully engineered by powerful insiders who avoid the limelight at all costs and facilitated by eager shills who will work for them in return for money and/or social rewards.
This unenviable paradigm will only be broken when it is exposed to the light of day in all of its putrid detritus. THIS is the paradigm that we must overcome and replace with democracy because as it stands presently we have none.
The Steps of The Florida State Capitol, Spring 2007… and NOTHING has changed…
CorporatistNation is coming… John Russell
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Pretty sure those “historic fundraising numbers” for HV are inaccurate and 3.5 mill is not historic. Maybe someone should ask Jeff Ryan how much they have raised in the past. Pretty sure it was way more.
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The “record $3.5 Million raised for House Victory” is laughable. They ran their attack ads through FDP 3-packs instead of through ECOs as they have in prior years so of course more money went through the FDP. It also allowed FDP to control more where it was spent. The “record $3.5 Million” includes $600,000 that David Silvers’ mother gave the party for TV for David Silvers. So now we are down to a not-at-all-record $2.9 Million. That also includes the about $500,000.00 (based upon media buys, radio buys & mail volume) spent by FDP trying to defeat Rep. Erik Fresen in the very expensive Miami TV market in endless attack ads where (a) Erik beat the Democrat by 10%; (b) did not go negative even when FDP/Ulvert went very negative in 2 separate 3-pack TV ads, radio ads and tons of mail and (c) Ulvert was getting paid tons of money (more than $200K) by outside groups (UTD & Laborers) to be involved so he also redirected FDP money there. So now we are down to maybe about $2.4 Million or $240,000 per incumbent among the 10 targeted incumbents. That’s nowhere near enough. Senate Victory, in contrast raised a truly record $4 Million and spent virtually all of it on defending Maria Sachs & taking no risks. Anyone who reports that was “simple” knows nothing about the race. Sachs won by 4 points and 7,000 votes because of a massive Palm Beach canvassing, phone & ground game that resulted in a 50% turnout in Palm Beach even with the abysmal turnout in Broward (where Sachs actually lost by 6,000 votes). So all of a sudden the “record $3.5 Million” looks absolutely PATHETIC. Spending even one dime on the offensive was malpractice in this election cycle and that became very evident by about June in Orange County. The FDP staff running HV, however, did not respond to outside allies/funders who specifically asked them to abandon their offensive strategies & focus on incumbent protection. They refused without explanation. Allison Tant is brilliant, hardworking, loyal & has the best of intentions. She could be the best leader this party has ever seen.
She cannot get there relying on Christian Ulvert to guide her. It appears that Arceneaux is too much of a “yes” man to get her there. He knows what Ulvert is and is too scared to tell her. So she is sailing on a ship of fools. And it is so sad. For all of us. We all need to hear the truth.
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True Blue,
All you points are spot on except one fatal error:
“Allison Tant is brilliant, hardworking, loyal & has the best of intentions.”
1. She may very well be hardworking but let’s be clear you can work very hard and if you are heading in the wrong direction it’s wasted energy. We need a CEO not a worker bee. Based on my observation she spent an awful lot of time at the beach house and being a family person. Now I don’t begrudge her lifestyle but you can’t have it both ways. Party Chair should be a passionate commitment not a part time job.
2. Loyal….Maybe but to who? DWS? Bill Nelson? Dan Gelber? Corporate America? the lobbyist she worked for? Will we ever know where her true values and loyalties lie?
3. Brilliant? Well who am I to judge what your definition of brilliance is. Have you seen her talk?
4. Best intentions, probably one of the most fatal flaws Democrats process. Pardon my language but F ^<$ good intentions. I WANT TO WIN!
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Sorry, Tant is no leader and should never have been forced down our throats. A good leader would have come into the job and cleaned house of all the deadwood in Tally! We needed and still need Alan Clendenin. Had it been a fair election, he would have won hands down!
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4 million isn’t “record” fundraising for SV either. Just saying. Also, it’s not like SV has too many options so that leaves less room to screw up. Pretty obvious they needed to defend Sachs and nothing else. Given more opportunity to F up like HV, pretty sure they would have.
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I agree that this sister evaluated the truth and no one can explain it
better than this commemoration. The truth is the infrastructure is not organized. There is too much politics and no reality of the grassroots involvement. I hope the Democratic party listern to this advise because it is the truth. The DEC in Dade County has failed our Community and definitely needs to be restructured. We nerd to meet especially during the election timelinesbesides every three months. Chow can you work an election and don’t
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I agree that this sister evaluated the truth and no one can explain it
better than this commemoration.The truth is the infrastructure is not organized. There is too much politics and no reality of the grassroots involvement. I hope the Democratic party listern to this advise because it is the truth. The DEC in Dade County has failed our Community and definitely needs to be restructured. We need to meet especially during the election time lines besides every three months. How can you work an election and don’t meet during the crucial time of the election. We are human beings and with all your technology and televised campaigns it will never work without developing our infrastructure to be inclusive of all in our communities. You can not go forward because the head is not joined with the body. Evaluate this condition and stop being caught up in group think. The leadership of this party has failed and we need a change. The party under Allison Tant tried to dismantle some of the largest Black Caucuses in the state of Florida with Henry Crespo who is Hispanic and will never be able to mobilize the African American community anywhere. The black community was not included while the party was more interested in the Hispanic vote and that philosophy failed while you ignored the African Americans grass root involvement. It is time for the party to start from the Central Committee as well as appointments to major state committees. Wake up before all African Americans leave this party. If you look at African American History all if our leaders were Republicans including Dr. Martin Luther King. Like the Tea party and other parties maybe it is time for African American to establish their own party to be able to negotiate what is best for their survival. It id time for a change. Dr. Mae Christian. I may be contacted at 3053084294, felta@bellsouth.net.
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