campaigning

Marshall, 64, is right at home working the barbecue joints. She is a natural at old-fashioned grass-roots politics, seemingly unguarded, self-deprecating, with a style as plain and

comfortable as an old brown loafer

.

Read more: Today's N&O profile

Burr's profile was run yesterday; Beitler's on Monday

I deeply admire people who have the chutzpa to hang themselves out there as candidates and expose themselves to the judgment of total strangers. It takes courage to run for a race on any level (okay, either courage or a few loose screws, in some cases) and I always want to call up the candidates who did not make it on post-election day to say "at least you had the stones to run."

Civility is more than etiquette. Etiquette is just maintaining social conventions as required by tradition or authority.

Civility in the political context is the acknowledgment that our opponents may have a valid contribution or point to make. It's the reflection of an agreement that campaigns are not purely cut-throat competitions to be won by any means available. It's the commitment to the inherent value of the democratic process and the rule of law. It's a statement that what matters in campaigns includes what their results permit us to do through government afterward.

There were a few actual registered Dems running for Town Council this year. Nice.

They didn't win any seats, but I was glad to see them interested enough to run, anyway. Just wish they had been interested enough to campaign like they seriously wanted to win (Rev. Cotton excluded - he was working like he wanted it).

However, the candidates who won seats yesterday were candidates from whom I received mailers & doorhangers and who's signs I saw every where; one progressive I (incumbent), and two conservative Rs (one incumbent, one challenger).

Clayton Council races are non-partisan, but they are all at-large which (and this is just my unprofessional opinion) seems to keep the council homogeneously caucasian, male and conservative. Not saying that ALWAYS matters, but you know even conservative white men know in their gut it does matter. If we broke up the town into districts and asked folks to run for the seat where they lived, things would certainly shake up a bit.

Admittedly, Person County is not an "A" list county in the world of statewide politics. Other counties have more votes, more money and are easier to get to. so it is understandable that we are not overrun with statewide candidates.

But this year we seem to be especially overlooked, ignored even. We have well over 12,000 democrats who vote rather well and are only 30 minutes north of Durham and the I-40 corridor so we are not that far out in the sticks.

What do these NC General Assembly members have in common?

Lucy Allen, Julia Boseman, Linda Coleman, Janet Cowell, Margaret Dickson, Katie Dorsett, Susan Fisher, Alice Graham Underhill, Pricey Harrison, Maggie Jeffus

Yep. They're all women. Very good!!! :)
Yep. They're all relative newcomers to the GA. You know your stuff!!
Yep. They're all well respected progressive Legislators.

But there's something else that links them.

I highly reccomend that everyone take a look over at this diary on kos. The quick summary is that the Edwards campaign is sending DVDs to 70,000 Iowa houses. In the first campaign mailing of the 08 cycle, the Edwards campaign has put a 6 minute introductory video on his Health Care plan together and sent it to the most likely caucus attendees.

Tired of struggling with election software programs that aren't user-friendly, won't speak to each other, or won't print out cleanly? Have a "tech nightmare" to share?

This just popped into my mailbox. I pass it along for your perusal:

Sign the Integration Proclamation

If you work for a progressive organization or campaign, you probably struggle with technology. You probably have multiple databases and tech tools that half-work, but drive you crazy because they don't work together, and do everything you need. You're not alone. Thousands of us have struggled for years with splintered systems that don't get the job done.

If you want the progressive movement to finally have the tools we need to win our campaigns, you should sign The Integration Proclamation. Check it out at IntegrationProclamation.com, and after you've signed it, send it around to your co-workers, colleagues, allies and anyone else who fights for progressive social change.

Integrated? Seamless? Interoperable? They can't mean Democrats.

There has been some talk on the site about the creation of a 100 county strategy for the state in 2008. I have been thinking about it since before the election and I have come up with some ideas. Let me say that I know that I am new to NC so some of my planks are more general and could be (and I believe should be) applied to all states, but I still think that they are good ideas. The second thing is that in my experience working in politics, the majority of what I have done has been field work. This has made me a devoted advocate of field. I truly believe that I dollar spent in field is worth 5 spent on TV ads.

So here is the plan:

1) Hold all current office holders accountable. This includes everything from Dog Catcher up to Gov., Sen., etc.

2) Create, support and help fund local county organizations in every county. Even here in Buncombe there are precincts that do not have leadership. This needs to be fixed in every county in the State.