One of the really remarkable stories of the past few years is the Democratic Party's resurgence in Ohio. In 2004, when Kerry lost, Democrats surveyed the crucial battleground and realized something startling: They didn't hold a single statewide office. Not a Senate seat, not the governor's mansion, not the attorney general's office, nothing. Four years later, the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, the Attorney General, the Secretary of State, the State Treasurer, and one of the Senators are Democrats. Yesterday, I talked to Chris Redfern, Chair of the Ohio Democratic Party (pictured above), about the transformation. He spoke a lot about party building, about the importance of infrastructure, about Strickland's role. He noted that in 2004, Kerry ran without the ability to tap into the political networks and popularity of a successful statewide Democrat. In 2008, Obama will have his pick of infrastructures to co-opt. And unlike Kerry, who had a Boston-based consultant running Ohio, Obama has tasked Pickrell, Ted Strickland's ace political director, with running his operations in the state.Towards the end of the interview, I asked Redfern a fairly banal question: What's the utility of a convention like this for you? I expected an equally banal answer. Instead, he said, "A dollar invested in a 527 like MoveOn.org is a dollar taken away from a state party organization and it's actually detrimental to state party organizations. I have to urge contributors to invest in state parties rather than 527s. It's great to invest in a 527 if you want to see a commercial in July. It's largely ineffective if you want to get the message out. Our job is to make sure we win in September and October and early-November, not to do some flashy news conference in July with some new ad." Yikes. The full interview is here. THE OHIO TURNAROUND.
One of the really remarkable stories of the past few years is the Democratic Party's resurgence in Ohio. In 2004, when Kerry lost, Democrats surveyed the crucial battleground and realized something startling: They didn't hold a single statewide office. Not a Senate seat, not the governor's mansion, not the attorney general's office, nothing. Four years later, the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, the Attorney General, the Secretary of State, the State Treasurer, and one of the Senators are Democrats. Yesterday, I talked to Chris Redfern, Chair of the Ohio Democratic Party (pictured above), about the transformation. He spoke a lot about party building, about the importance of infrastructure, about Strickland's role. He noted that in 2004, Kerry ran without the ability to tap into the political networks and popularity of a successful statewide Democrat. In 2008, Obama will have his pick of infrastructures to co-opt. And unlike Kerry, who had a Boston-based consultant running Ohio, Obama has tasked Pickrell, Ted Strickland's ace political director, with running his operations in the state.Towards the end of the interview, I asked Redfern a fairly banal question: What's the utility of a convention like this for you? I expected an equally banal answer. Instead, he said, "A dollar invested in a 527 like MoveOn.org is a dollar taken away from a state party organization and it's actually detrimental to state party organizations. I have to urge contributors to invest in state parties rather than 527s. It's great to invest in a 527 if you want to see a commercial in July. It's largely ineffective if you want to get the message out. Our job is to make sure we win in September and October and early-November, not to do some flashy news conference in July with some new ad." Yikes. The full interview is here. 
