March 15, 2005 -- The Dawning of a New Day for the Dem. Party of Ga. - Kudos to Chm. Kahn & Company for a Great Job on the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner!!

What a great day March 15, 2005 was in the life of the Democratic Party of Georgia ("DPG"). You could just feel it, sense it and hear it all around!

In the early afternoon the first meeting of the new, county-based State Committee was held. Under new DPG bylaws developed with the invaluable direction of bylaws committee chair Steve Leeds, each County Committee has at least one State Committee Member, a position I fill for Coffee County.

Basically, under our still fairly new bylaws, each County Committee gets one State Committee Member per 35,000 citizens. Chatham County -- with its 2000 population of 232,000 -- has 7 members, and Fulton County under this formula has 23 members.

At the meeting of the State Committee Members Chairman Bobby Kahn reviewed the November 2 campaign and election results in the following contexts as we discussed what happened, why it happened, and how the Party can work to keep it from happening again as we prepare for 2006:

• We had to deal with a presidential campaign that wrote off not just Georgia, but the entire region, sending just $5,000 to our state;

• The Bush campaign wasn’t so much a grassroots, get out the vote ("GOTV") operation, as it was a micro-targeted, consumer-research driven organization, where the Bush campaign made unprecedented use of consumer research data in message targeting;

• Of the 403,000 voters registering in 2004, almost 34% were African American, the most loyal Democratic constituency, far outpacing the percentage of the electorate or existing registration; and

• The Democratic strategy in Georgia and around the nation since FDR having been based on the assumption that there are more Democrats than Republicans, and if enough Democrats vote, we always win, and with this appearing to be no longer true here in Georgia nor nationally, there is an obvious need for us to figure out a way to change minds, so that our challenge becomes figuring out a formula for convincing swing voters to vote Democratic next time.

Chairman Kahn noted that the key to unlocking that formula is message, and this important issue was discussed at length by the group under the leadership of Rep. Winfred Dukes of Albany, a DPG Vice Chair.

Some real rallying of the troops and raising the energy level in the packed room occurred when former U.S. Senator Max Cleland shared his thoughts with the group that centered around the theme of ours being the party of hope and help for the common man and woman.

Everyone was in a great mood at a reception following the adjournment of the meeting of the State Committee Members. My highlight at the reception was getting to chat with my longtime friend former Gov. Roy Barnes and be in the company of the always lovely Marie.

Gov. Barnes was in his usual high octane, backslapping mood, moving from huddle to huddle, and from a distance you could tell exactly where he was as a level of cheers would erupt when he would move from one group and join another.

A friend asked me, "What's Roy doing now anyway?" My response was brief and to the point. "Making money."

Everything at the 2005 Jefferson-Jackson Dinner that followed was as good as it gets.

I got an e-mail Friday afternoon from Party headquarters that noted that the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner was "a success." This might well go down as the understatement of the decade.

I wish my buddy Bill Shipp had been in attendance. Only someone with his unique journalistic ability could accurately describe and convey what a great evening it was.

For starters, approximately 1,600 people attended the reception and dinner at the Georgia International Convention Center. And what great food and fellowship there was to enjoy.

Prior to hearing from keynote speaker Virginia Governor Mark Warner, the following dignitaries were recognized:

• Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor (who performed a truly remarkable feat in raising over half of the record amount of proceeds for this grand occasion and event);

• Secretary of State Cathy Cox;

• Attorney General Thurbert Baker;

• Commissioner of Labor Michael Thurmond;

• Commissioner of Agriculture Tommy Irwin (who, we would learn later in the evening as he was presented with the Hope Award by former U.S. Senator Max Cleland, was attending his 49th consecutive Jefferson-Jackson Dinner); and

• Former U.S. Senator Max Cleland.

What august company we were in! What great Georgians and Democrats!

Now to the message we heard that night by Virginia Governor Mark Warner, and was it ever a message!

Gov. Warner noted that when he ran for governor of Virginia in 2001, Virginia had not voted Democratic since 1964, and had not had a Democrat governor elected in 10 years.

Warner said the reasons he ran, in addition to cleaning up the mess the Republicans had made in Richmond just as they have made a mess in Atlanta, were to:

• Show it is OK to like country music and be a Democrat;

• Show it is OK to own a gun and be a Democrat; and

• Show it is OK to be a NASCAR fan and be a Democrat.

Warner stressed that we must reject the approach of writing off the South. To return to power, Democrats must be competitive in every state.

Gov. Warner said he believes strongly that to capture the White House:

(1) Democrats must appeal to moderate Republicans and rural America; and

(2) Democrats must be fiscally responsible, and become the party known for being fiscally conservative. For him, being fiscally conservative means someone who pays his bills and meets his commitments.

In connection with being fiscally conservative, Gov. Warner noted that ours is going to be the first generation ever to leave our children worse off than we were, and this is just wrong.

He says that the Republican administration under Bush has told America that it can wage war and cut taxes for the affluent at the same time.

To retake the White House, Warner says Democrats must reach out to folks who have not voted Democratic in years.

He noted that moderate Republicans are an endangered species.

Moderate Republicans don't like:

• The debt that Bush has given us in lieu of the surplus former President Clinton left;

• The mean streak that the GOP is identified with in persons such as Ralph Reed and Rep. Tom DeLay; and

• A party commited to winning at any cost, as typified by Senator Chambliss' attack against former Sen. Max Cleland.

Gov. Warner noted that in days gone by, folks who are now moderate Republicans would have been conservative Democrats. Our challenge is to get these moderate Republicans to vote Democratic.

And we must win back rural America.

The Governor noted that Democrats have been misrepresented on:

• Accepting values and personal responsibilities;

• Having respect for the Second Amendment; and

• Having a litmus test for abortion and guns.

As a party we must do more than just be against things. We must be for things! Things we must be for include:

• A Party that is for a strong military and presence in the world.

• A Party that is for an aggressive and engaged foreign policy and enlists the cooperation of our allies. (On this point, the Governor noted that in the last presidential we lost a great opportunity in not asking Americans to be willing to be willing to experience some personal sacrifice versus willing to go into debt and still reduce taxes.)

• A Party that honors and rewards work.

• A Party that is an advocate for innovation.

• A Party that is recognized for racial reconciliation across the United States with black, Hispanics and other minorities.

• A Party that is for reforming things.

• A Party that wants to balance the budget and meet its responsibilities.

• A Party that continues to remember the role that faith and religion and values play in our lives.

Gov. Warner concluded by saying he was encouraged at the present, not discouraged. If it can and did happen in Virginia, we can do it in Georgia and other southern states.

And more than anything, he noted in closing, the challenge we face is the challenge to once again lead; stand up and lead.

Needless to say, the crowd in unison stood up, and as one who was there and did that, I can tell you, we are ready, ready to stand up and lead. Bring 2006 on Bubba Perdue; bring it on Ralph Reed; bring it on Philistines; bring it on. We are ready, willing and able -- and cannot wait -- to once again lead.
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I understand that -- with the able assistance of Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor (who, as noted above, raised over half of our record proceeds) -- the DPG raised over $800,000. Not bad, not bad at all while the General Assembly is in session and regular fundraising efforts are put on hold.

Such amount was in excess of the amount that the state GOP raised at its March 3 President's Day Dinner. And how about our 1,600 strong in attendance. We trumped their 1,000 here as well. Way to go Democrats, way to go!

(And you might recall that the state GOP confirmed what Gov. Warner told us sometime back when it changed the name of its annual dinner from the Lincoln Day Dinner to the President's Day Dinner. When Gov. Warner said that the path to victory for the Democratic party is to go after moderate Republicans and convince them that the Republican Party they once knew is gone, he noted that moderate Republicans are upset that the party of Lincoln and Eisenhower has become the party of Ralph Reed and Tom DeLay. The state GOP apparently agreed with him as evidenced by such name change.)