"Veni, Vidi, Vici." Not exactly. - The Executive Committee of the Democratic Party of Georgia gets together for the first time post-Nov. 2.

While certainly no one was able to claim that we conquered on Nov. 2, neither was the all-day Saturday meeting in Atlanta of the Executive Committee of the Democratic Party of Georgia marked with gloom and doom.

Rather the meeting -- accurately dubbed "Executive Committee Briefing/Meeting" on the distributed agenda -- was very upbeat, reviewing what happened, why it happened, and how the Party can work to keep it from happening again as we prepare for 2006.

Party Chair Bobby Kahn and Executive Director Jeff DiSantis had a powerhouse program lined up. (It was good seeing Jeff again; I had forgotten that our paths had crossed paths several years ago while we were independently working on the Attorney General's campaign.)

Listed on the program as providing the "Historical perspective" were Bert Lance and Mayor Andrew Young. While each did a superb job in doing just that, I would have to describe these two greats Americans as more than just providing an historical perspective; they also were Special Guests, and very special guests at that.

I have been with Mayor Young on a number of occasions, but I believe this was my first with Mr. Lance, former Budget Director under President Carter and Party Chair.

(I will move on rather than dwell on Bert Lance, someone for whom I have always had a lot of respect and a very high opinion, not to mention my strong feelings about how he was treated in D.C. Getting to meet him and being able to chat with him for an half hour was a personal highlight of the day.)

State officeholders in attendance included Secretary of State Cathy Cox, Attorney General Thurbert Baker, Commissioner of Labor Michael Thurmond, and Commissioner of Agriculture Tommy Irwin.

(Thurbert Baker and Michael Thurmond as usual were surrounded by admirers wanting autographs. Not wanting to miss an opportunity, and jealous that I wasn't getting shown any respect or attention, I couldn't resist asking the crowd if any had heard what happened to Commissioner Thurmond at the GADCC Richard B. Russell Dinner in Macon this past August (the event was the subject of a 08-22-04 post).

At the dinner the Commissioner -- who was attired in a white dinner jacket -- began his remarks to the dinner crowd as follows:

"It's been a thrill getting to see so many of my friends and acquaintances tonight. And it's been fun meeting some of you I haven't met before, including that guy who looked me right in the eye and said 'Hey waiter, how about bringing me another drink.'")

Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin also was in attendance, along with numerous state Senate and House members, including Party heavies House Minority Leader Rep. DuBose Porter, Rep. Calvin Smyre, Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver and Sen. David Adelman.

(If you question my inclusion of Sen. Adelman, stay tuned. His contributions may be below radar as far as the public is aware, but ask those in positions of leadership and in need of assistance in campaigns.)

And last and most important, Party officers and the workhorses of our Party -- the County and Congressional District Chairs and their entourages -- were present, with several participating in the day's program.

Ross Willis (who now has a marketing and communication company) and Tom Crawford of Capitol Impact also were in attendance, and may provide the meeting with a little press.

Rounding out the agenda were separate sessions on GOTV featuring Bernard Craighead, and targeting and market research presented by representatives of Hamilton, Beattie & Staff.

Messrs. Kahn and DiSantis apparently designed the excellent program and panel of speakers and discussion leaders after the adage that "[t]hose who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it."

Thus we heard what worked and didn't work on various federal and state races. On the federal level, John Kirincich, Campaign Manager and Chief of Staff for Congressman Jim Marshall was on hand, as was Roman Levit, Champaign Manager and Chief of Staff for Congressman-elect John Barrow.
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Now to some select impressions of the meeting:

-- Bert Lance's message was powerful. He noted that the state GOP organization used to be more concerned with who controlled the party rather than getting candidates elected. He also observed that the GOP always fielded candidates, even if the prospect for success was not great. He advised that our Party must do the same.

Mr. Lance's first point about GOP party control led into his discussion of the DNC, and no one missed the analogy of the state GOP and the DNC on the federal level.

The former Party Chair indicated that the South must take control of the DNC, with it appearing that as of late the Democrats have not cared who won the White House as much as they were concerned with controlling the DNC.

To do this -- Mr. Lance counseled during our conversation -- the 13 Southern states must get together before the February meeting when the DNC Chair is to be chosen and speak and be heard as one voice.

He said that our Party will not be able to elect a Democratic candidate to the White House until such candidate not only comes to the South, but can relate to Southern voters.

Losing 7 ouf of 10 elections should be enough to make this apparent, he noted.

And it is imperative that the method of conducting our primaries must change, a topic discussed in a 12-12-04 post entitled "Praise the Good Lord: Democrats to study possible primary changes."

-- Mayor Young noted that he believes in prayer, and that no one is going to out Jesus him. He said that faith was important, and he recounted how President Carter impressed Northerners when he went to their church services and was able to sing all verses of Amazing Grace. In contrast with President Carter, Kerry was never seen attending church services during the campaign.

-- Rep. Calvin Smyre echoed much of what Mr. Lance had said, but was more forceful, firing up those in attendance in the process. He is fed up with the DNC ignoring the South, and reviewed how completely writing off the South will continue to portend disaster for us landing a Democrat in the White House and its trickle down effect.

He reviewed some data similar to that posted in a 12-19-04 post that noted that the South includes 13 states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. Together they cast 168 electoral college votes, more than three-fifths of the 270 required for election.

Rep. Smyre thinks it is time to quit being nice and sugar-coating our feelings about the national Party.

He seems close to the point of thinking Georgia Party officials should go public, letting the powers that be know how sick and tired of the DNC we all are.

The former Party Chair is an eloquent spokesman who can rattle off statistics backing up his position. I hope we do go public, and the sooner the better. And if we do, there is not a better spokesman for the Party than Rep. Smyre.

-- Rep. Winfred Dukes of Albany made the point that just as Georgia and the South feel left out of what is going on with the DNC and the just completed Presidential campaign, the Other Georgia -- O.K., Rep. Dukes said South Georgia -- feels left out on what goes on with respect to Party affairs and attention on the state level.

-- One Party Chair made a fascinating report on part of a successful strategy employed by a Democratic candidate this summer (for the reason that should be apparent given the discussion that follows, the Chair and the race will not be identified, although I feel certain that state Party officials will be happy to share the same with you upon presentation of proper security clearance).

I had closely followed this race this summer, but had no idea of the brillant strategy revealed by the County Chair during our meeting.

Observing that a candidate must have a base and at the same time appeal to the center, the following plan was developed and executed. While the Party will take on the responsibility of securing the Party's base, the candidate would move to the right toward the center where the candidate felt the candidate's District, like much of Georgia, was.

I hereby invite this Chair and candidate to join the A Team. I love to see a plan come together. Great work you two, and our hats are off the the County Committee for carrying out its part of the winning strategy.

-- There was some interesting discussions on negative campaigning and the issues of control of a campaign in the context of top down vs. party up. Also negative advertising was debated, with one legislator (who shall remain anonymous) making the interesting point that this legislator does not believe negative advertising works very well with women voters.

On the other second topic of the proper balance of Party control over a candidate's campaign and it message, some strongly advocated that the candidate -- being the one with whom an issue ultimately rests -- must have more say than the Party on calling the shots, etc., while certain ones in attendance seemed to feel just as strongly about the wisdom of a top down philosophy.

In the above context, the word leverage was used several times. While not spelled out, it seemed obvious to me that such talk alluded to the other Golden Rule, as in he who has the gold rules.

-- I learned that 43% of the freshman class at UGA got their social security numbers from another state. Read: Georgia is growing from without.

-- As noted in my 11-07-04 post entitled "As we regroup, let's get off to the right start. - Here's to hoping Rep. DuBose Porter will assume the reins tomorrow," I am a big DuBose Porter fan, my neighbor several counties over.

The Minority Leader-elect exuded confidence and demonstrated a "take charge," "I've got a plan," and "I am interested in what you think" posture in his remarks at our meeting.

I perceived a strong consensus among those in attendance that we are in good hands with Rep. Porter. Encourage your legislators to line up behind him and support him and our other Party leaders in the upcoming legislative session.
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In conclusion, without question Bert Lance and Rep. Smyre each hit a grand slam at the Saturday meeting. These two guys get the big picture. They both understand what we must do to prevail in 2006 and 2008. If they say it, we can take it to the bank.

The feelings of those attending the Executive Committee meeting is summarized in the conclusion of my 11-27-04 post:

"As we regroup, remembering from whence we came will not interfere with our being flexible, innovative, and above all, inclusive of all, including new and accomodating ideas and platforms.

"We are down but not out.

"We are in the John Paul Jones mode. In his famous naval battle in which over half of his crew, including Jones himself, were either killed or wounded and many men were horribly burned. It was during this battle, when asked if he wished to surrender, that Jones gave the reply 'I have not yet begun to fight.'

"Let's fight, but let's fight smart.

"And to borrow from the Coffee County Democrats' new website the following from the Ballad of Sir Andrew Barton:

"'Fight on, my men,' says Sir Andrew Barton,
'I am hurt, but I am not slain;
I'll lay me down and bleed a while,
And then I'll rise and fight again.'"