Democratic Party, heal thy self.

Reuters is reporting the John Kerry is "thinking hard" about running again in 2008. Please, for the love of God, somebody talk him out of it. He was the least inspiring campaigner we put up since Walter Mondale. I supported Kerry last time out and was sorely disappointed in his performance. If you can't even muster a spirited defense of your own heroic military service against a pair of draft dodgers, then you lack the fire in the belly that the Democrat Party desperately needs. As yet, I don't have a candidate yet. I am intrigued by Wes Clark. I think Russ Feingold would be a breath of fresh air. But more than anything, we need someone that people can stand behind because of who he or she is, not just what they stand for or against. Hopefully, Democratic Party kingmakers will figure this out before it is too late. Electing Howard Dean to lead the DNC was a step in the right direction. I am praying that the momentum continues.

In the same vein, I just finished "Crashing the Gate" by Jerome Armstrong of MyDD and Markos Moulitsas Zuniga of DailyKos fame. I have read both blogs for a while now and saw the power that the online community can muster in a targeted manner. When Paul Hackett took on Jean Schmidt on the Ohio's 2nd (one of the reddest Congressional districts in the country), the online community pushed Hackett to within a hair's breadth of victory. On the last day of the race, the Hackett campaign sent call went out for $30,000 to fund voter turnout efforts. The blogs responded and raised $60,000 in 6 hours. That is power.

What was missing was a way to translate that power into a national movement. "Crashing the Gate" addresses that issue and a few others head on. It is a guidebook for tossing over the failed narrow strategy of conceding all red territory and focusing efforts on the few swing areas of the country. Kos and Armstrong also call for ditching the Beltway consultant class and their disastrous media strategy. The jokers make a killing by pushing candidates to spend huge money on TV and radio, while taking a cut of as much as 15% of the total spent. The prime example here is Bob Shrum. This guy is 0 for 8 in Presidential campaigns and people still long to hire him. WTF? If anyone was this ineffective in the private sector, they would be canned post haste.

The overall message of the book is that the Democratic Party must be overhauled. Power must be decentralized and transferred from the insiders like Kerry and Shrum, to the grassroots and netroots. Democrats must contend in every district to build a national movement with a national infrastructure. And now the web can be the vehicle to organize the takeover. Eli Pariser of MoveOn PAC, in a now famous email to the Democratic Party put it best:

"In the last year, the grass-roots contributors like us gave more than $300 million to the Kerry campaign and the DNC, and proved that the party doesn't need corporate cash to be competitive. Now it's our party: we bought it, we own it, and we are going to take it back."

It is a full throated call to arms. And, it is the only way that Democratic Party can once again be the Party of the people.