NCDP Hires a New Executive Director

running through his veins. Here's hoping he can liven things up a bit.

p.s. I put this on the front page for a couple of reasons, one of them being my desire to piss off the author of that recent Gene Messick-ish e-mail. ;)

We exchange a Heath Shuler afficionado for the Executive Director who was there when Alvin Greene gave Jim DeMint one huge pass.

I would prefer someone from a state in which the Democratic Party has a pulse.

Remember - state parties all around the country were somewhat hampered by having resources taken from them by the DNC and given to Organizing For America so that the President's re-election committee would be around to take less time to ramp up in 2012.

Since right after the 2008 General Election, we've seen how well ObFA/OrgFA methods work when someone other than Obama is on the ticket. 4 major elections from the GA Senate runoff in December 2008, the NJ and VA Gov races in 2009, and the Coakley-Brown races in 2010 - ALL LOST, and OFA methods were a big part of the problem. No emphasis on sustainable party-building - it's all just a race between one election and another. No concern for the needs of the grass-roots.

I think this new guy will understand that we've got two 800-pound gorillas in the room - one is the Obama campaign and the other is the DNC convention. I care much more about my party and all the other candidates on the ballot in my county and state than I do about Obama. He's gonna have a 1-billion-dollar business behind him to get him elected. And after 2012 - what happens next? Whether he wins or loses, he can't run again. So whatever he and his campaign generals do to hamstring the Democratic Party will be over with.

But we have to watch out for others trying to do the same and make sure that no one single candidate is more important than the good of the hundreds and thousands of other Democratic candidates running for office OR the MILLIONS of rank-and-file Democrats who are the heart and soul of the Party.