One Year Later

One year ago tonight, at exactly this time (8:02pm as I start this post), I was standing outside a polling place in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania as the polls had just closed. My phone dinged with a text message telling me that NBC News only needed two minutes to call Pennsylvania for Barack Obama. My loyal, hardworking, and fiercely dedicated volunteers celebrated around me. Volunteers across the Lehigh Valley convened at Bethlehem Brew Works to watch history unfold. As I climbed atop the chair to thank and congratulate my volunteers, the hope and excitement I saw in their eyes amazed me, even after all we'd been through.

Last Night

After the embarrassment the Republicans issued Democrats in Virginia and New Jersey last night, I prepared to debut this blog with a madder than hell rant about anything I could blame for the blowout. Since Governor Corzine proposed a massive budget reduction for Rutgers University a few years ago, I have fostered a deep-seeded dislike of the man. While New Jersey was trying desperately to convince its best and brightest students to stay for college, he thought it was a good idea to propose a crippling 25% budget reduction to the state's flagship university. A half dozen varsity sports, filled with our most decorated student athletes, faced the axe so football could grow. At this point, you shouldn't be surprised by the fact that I was totally over his defeat by the time the sun came up this morning.

Creigh Deeds' defeat at the hands of Robert McDonnell in Virginia, on the other hand, should have alarm bells ringing at DNC Headquarters. While the results weren't entirely surprising, the degree to which his campaign mishandled golden opportunities on both sides of the ball should give Democrats plenty to think about between now and November 2010. The Deeds campaign's first mistake was how it handled McDonnell's Regent School of Law thesis in which he described working women and feminism as detrimental to the family. I thought "game over" when I read it. All his campaign had to do was use his thesis to disqualify McDonnell among voters he attacked in his thesis, while gradually establishing Deeds as a candidate all Virginians could trust. Instead, Deeds ran desperately negative ads based around the thesis almost exclusively. He was viewed as excessively negative by voters across the state, and Democratic turnout last night was low, at best. As a result, he lost to the Republican by 18 points a year after a Democratic presidential candidate won Virginia for the first time in 44 years.

What Now?

We have a long way to go to rebound in time for the elections in November 2010. Republicans have proven they can turn out their base in even small, 'off-off' year elections (election years between Presidential years and 'off' year Congressional elections). In the first election test of the post-Obama era, Democrats were much less likely to show up to the polls without Obama on the ballot. Democrats must come up with innovative ways to excite the Democratic base and attract independents without the high profile draw of a presidential election. One year ago, we made history. One year from now, we can't let that victory become history. We have the opportunity to give President Obama the support he needs to fully realize his potential. Thank you to all those who sacrificed their lives for the campaign last year. To my volunteers, interns, and fellow campaign staffers, I want to extend my deepest gratitude for all you have done for me, for President Obama, and for our country. We made history, and we will do so again.