Burnt Orange Report

Help the Van Zandt County Democrats!

By Byron LaMasters

One of the best things about being a blogger is having the opportunity to meet all kinds of great people, either in person or via email, etc. So many of these people are on the front lines fighting the good fight for Democrats across the country, and especially here in Texas. One such person that I've coresponded with via email for a few months now is the Democratic County Chair of Van Zandt County, Vince Leibowitz.

Van, what? Van Zandt County is a rural county about 50 miles east of Dallas along I-20. The county has been growing significantly over the past couple of decades from 31,000 in 1980 to 38,000 in 1990 to just over 48,000 in the 2000 census. Its just outside the Dallas - Fort Worth metropolitan area, but many of its residents work there. It's mostly White, religious, socially conservative and historically heavily Democratic, but trending Republican.

So, why am I mentioning Van Zandt County? It's an example of what we as Democrats need to do here in Texas to take back this state one precinct, one county, one election at a time. Many rural historically Democratic counties in this state have seen their County Democratic organizations crumble in recent decades. The Van Zandt County Democratic Party offers an example of how combining Internet technology with a grassroots approach can make a difference in a county that is highly competetive on the local level.

Take a look at their County Party webpage. They have all the essentials, and more. You can learn about and contact their chairman, elected officials, precinct chairs (28 of 29 of which are filled), etc. But in addition to what you would expect from a county party site, their chair, Vince Leibowitz has come up with several innovative ideas that should be instructive to any county party.

Of course, I have to mention the County Party Blog to communicate to the grassroots that Vince has set up. But most importantly they have a strategy to win in November. In 2002, one of the Van Zandt County Democratic candidates lost by 80 votes, so they've started the Overcome 80 project. The project includes a letter writing campaign and a voter registration and canvassing drive.

They're asking for our help, not only to help the Van Zandt County Democrats win in November, but so that we can show other rural counties how that it is possible to win in conservative, rural parts of this state with an effective door-to-door, neighbor-to-neighbor campaign. The best part about the campaign is that they're not asking for much. Unlike a lot of campaigns where a $5 or $10 donation is a drop in the bucket, a small donation of $5 will go a long way towards helping keep this conservative rural county in Democratic hands. Go here to learn more and donate.