Are we finally building a district-wide ground opperation?

Feb 2007;

The WFP GOTV effort has shown us that the old rhetoric that a seat is not winnable or is too conservative no longer rings true. How scalable and influential can this be in a congressional district in a Presidential year, well that remains to be seen. However we have learned one thing, that here in New York City, where incumbents and party machines seem to rule, good old canvassing and volunteer armies can shake things up from time to time.

March 2007;

And Innamorato, an Eltingville resident, said he will continue to fly the Democratic flag on the South Shore no matter what.

"I'm committed to building the party, enrolling voters and delivering good candidates to them," he said.

This week via the Advance;

In 2007, the McMahon forces worked the district on behalf of Manny Innamorato, who lost a City Council special election to Republican Vinny Ignizio.

At the time, McMahon and his supporters were looking down the road toward a possible 2009 run for Borough Hall.

As it turns out, the experience has come in handy a little sooner than expected.

"We're trying to get into every area of Staten Island, and into Brooklyn, every day," McMahon said of his overall campaign strategy. "And we're trying to spread our events around. That's an important message to send."

Canvass this Sunday for McMahon

If you want to get involved with this race, or any race, the most influential thing you can do is canvass. For those of you not familiar with political campaigns, canvassing is simply going door to door in your neighborhood and talking to registered voters, your neighbors, about this race. Voters are much more likely to be convinced to vote when their neighbors talk to them and explain why they are supporting McMahon. If you have some time get out in your own neighborhood and help make sure we win this seat.

Sunday @ 12PM

Staten Island locations
585 N. Gannon Avenue [Google Map]
31 Water Street [Google Map]
4001 Hylan Blvd [Google Map]

Brooklyn locations
7321 15th Avenue [Google Map]

if you have questions or to RSVP

call (718) 916-9080 or
email volunteer@mikemcmahonforcongress.com

Winning the ground game

After the success Democrats had this past week with Craig Johnson picking up a state senate seat in Long Island a new, yet not so new, model for winning campaigns, especially in moderate to conservative districts has emerged. And that is good old canvassing and a strong ground game.

The Working Families Party deserve a ton of credit for their focus on this race and their ability to mobilize and effectively train campaign volunteers to bring out unprecedented amount of voters for a special election in frigid conditions. With the help of the WFP, 45,000 homes were canvassed in 28 days in this district, aiding Craig Johnson's victory. That is no small feat.

via Daily Politics;

WFP supplied the campaign with 75 field canvassers, a hyperactive communications director, and support from party-linked unions, proving as always that there is no substitute for seasoned ground troops.

This victory in Long Island is the first Democratic state senate pick up in decades with very similar parallels to the history of several seats in the thirteenth district. We recently saw the start of a similar program with Manny Innamorato's campaign;

“Manny’s doing a lot of door-to-door, meeting people, talking one-on-one,” he said. “Those are potential voters. It’s a foundationary tool for getting out the vote. That process begins with petitioning.” [via Tom W's blog]

The WFP GOTV effort has shown us that the old rhetoric that a seat is not winnable or is too conservative no longer rings true. How scalable and influential can this be in a congressional district in a Presidential year, well that remains to be seen. However we have learned one thing, that here in New York City, where incumbents and party machines seem to rule, good old canvassing and volunteer armies can shake things up from time to time.