Burnt Orange Report
News, Politics, and Fun From Deep in the Heart of Texas
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Burnt Orange ReportNews, Politics, and Fun From Deep in the Heart of Texas |
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January 31, 2005Texas DNC Member David Holmes RespondsBy Byron LaMastersI emailed Texas DNC member David Holmes earlier this week to write a guest post on BOR in order to personally address two questions that have come up here on BOR and on other blogs. First, I wanted his opinion on the poll commissioned by Democracy for Texas of 2004 Texas State Convention delegates, and second I asked him to respond to accusations that there is a “disconnect” between the activists in Texas and the Texas DNC members. Here is his response:
I just started my second term on the DNC. During the first four year term, the only way to find out what was going in with DNC politics and activities outside of what they sent the members in press releases was to stay in touch with other DNC members. Blogs have changed that dramatically and have already made the party and candidates more transparent and responsive. I have very little criticism of anything on this site – I read it as frequently as I can and appreciate seeing various people’s views and opinions. As a whole, the writers are very articulate, informed and accurate, including Karl-Thomas with whom I’m about to take issue on two matters: Texas DNC members’ connection to the grassroots and the now famous DFA survey of Texas Convention Delegates. [Take the jump for the rest...] I’ll discuss the non-poll first. To be accurate, a poll must be conducted by certain standards, almost none of which were followed in this poll. First, the poll was sent by an organization that many recipients recognized as biased toward one of the candidates. Second, the respondents were self-selecting rather than random, destroying any accurate reflection that might have been derived from the Delegates as a whole. I am friends with the Dean supporters who conducted the survey and we have discussed the survey. They insist - and I believe them - that they thought Dean might come in second among Texas Conventioneers when they sent it out. But the “poll” actually means very little. They did not publish these numbers with the results, but of the emails they sent out, 14% responded. That is not a bad return, but there is no way to rationally determine the degree to which those respondents represent the whole. It could mean, for instance that the other 86% did not like or know any of the candidates enough to vote for them – and Dean would obviously be the most well known of the candidates. Regarding Texas DNC members and their connectedness to the “netroots” or grassroots: Not all of the DNC members who represent Texas are very connected to the netroots of the Party – in fact a number of them have probably never heard the term or read a blog. It disappoints me, though, when I see people – particularly those as well informed as Karl-Thomas – conclude that to disagree with a portion of one of the many constituencies that make up the Democratic Party means that Texas’ DNC members are out of touch or non-responsive to their constituent’s desires. I am probably more connected to the netroots and young people in the party than any of the other members in Texas. The DNC members chosen by the Black Caucus are probably more in touch with the members of that caucus than I am. The results of a play-poll do not have any bearing on who is in touch with what. I wanted to comment on those items and let everyone know that I have started a Yahoo Group with the purpose of maintaining a dialogue between Texas Democrats and their DNC members. On the new Group, you will find contact information for DNC members, web links to the DNC chair candidates, and informal polls. I look forward to continuing the discussion… David Holmes Comments
Well hopefully all of y'all got the release from the Hill Country SD24 Democratic County Chairs who endorsed Dean. Or maybe when MoveOn finishes it's survey of a couple million activist Democrats on their thoughts for chair there will be another faction of Democrats with an opinion. If this is all just one "constituency" though, then I have to wonder. Where are all the other Democrats? I'd like to see a local County level Democratic Organization that has come out in support of a candidate other than Dean (beyond something from a candidate's home base of power). Or a national organiztion even. I guess DFT wanted to find out what the pulse was of Texas State Convention Democrats (seeing that nobody else bothered to), even if they didn't think Dean was going to win it (and even taking into account a large margin of error, sorry, he still by far outpaced anyone else). Until anyone else can prove evidence otherwise that Texas Democrats beside Byron are behind Frost, then I'm inclined to believe that there is a disconnect. I won't blame the Texas DNC for having to get behind Frost because he's from Texas. Nothing personal David, because you are paying more attention to the reaction out here than most, but if y'all are convinced that there widespread Frost support on the ground in Texas, I'd like to see some evidence otherwise. Posted by: Karl-T at January 31, 2005 02:53 AMThere may not be much grassroots support out in Texas for Frost outside his district, Karl, but I would submit that the situation is actually much more grim. I spoke at a gathering of SD 25 Democrats this weekend. There were probably 200 people there. When I was introduced to speak, about 20 or so of the group started chanting "Dean." (While a number in the crowd shook their heads "no.") I asked people in the room to raise their hand if they could tell me anything about Wellington Webb; then Donnie Fowler; Simon Rosenberg; Martin Frost. No more than 5 people raised their hand on anyone other than Frost - including the Dean supporters. A group of them were indicating to me that Dean was the best candidate in the race, but they did not know anything about any of the other candidates. That a candidate is known does not make that candidate the most equiped to perform the task at hand - to reform the Party. I have examined all of the candidates and their records and there are at least two of them who I believe would do a much better job reforming the Party than Dean. Posted by: david holmes at January 31, 2005 06:53 AMPost a comment
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