Georgia Democrats Assemble Their Coalition: Where Do You Fit In?
[guest post by JVW]
Eliana Johnson has quickly become one of the best young investigative reporters in the conservative movement. From chronicling the serial exaggerations and fictional buddies of Newark mayor (and now U.S. Senator) Cory Booker to the EPA’s curious (and potentially illegal) use of fake email accounts by fictitious employees to the amazing work she has done in piecing together the lies and illegalities of Lois Lerner’s IRS (way too many articles to mention; check out her author archive on NRO for the full list).
So today Ms. Johnson reports on a fascinating discovery from the campaign of Michelle Nunn, a Georgia Democrat who is seeking her father’s former Senate seat. Last December the Nunn campaign briefly and probably accidentally posted a campaign strategy memo detailing Ms. Nunn’s strengths and especially her potential weaknesses as a candidate. Ms. Johnson’s article goes into fairly interesting detail about Ms. Nunn’s history heading up the Points of Light Foundation and some of the more interesting characters who managed to secure funding during her tenure. But what really caught my eye was the cynical treatment that various interest groups in the Democrat coalition – Jews, gays, African-Americans, Asians, and Latinos in this case – receive from the party’s consultants. The document in question is titled “Constituency Outreach Goals & Objectives” and is linked at the NRO piece. At the risk of opening myself to accusations that I am cherry-picking pieces from it, I want to provide some direct quotes from this document regarding how the campaign views these interest groups (all added emphasis is mine):
African Americans [sic] Community
This constituency group is critical as the campaign must secure a very
high percentage of the African American vote and drive a large number of voters who do not typically turn out in an off election year to the polls. . . .Primary Target as a constituency – validators, volunteers and voters.
Latino/as Community
While the campaign has identified a core group of volunteers, these individuals have not been connected to the elected officials and other leaders in the community. This community has not been appropriately engaged and needs to be fleshed out. . . .
Primary Target as a constituency – validators through all forms of media and volunteer recruitment targeted to Spanish speaking voters
Asian-American Community
While this community isn’t as large as Latino/as, it is very tight, works to become citizens quickly and has higher voter participation than many other ethnic constituencies. This is a community more likely to be a fundraising base than some of the others. . . .
Primary Target as a constituency – fundraising, validators and volunteering in community
Jewish Community
[. . . ]
Primary Target as a constituency – fundraising and volunteers
LGBT [sic]
[. . .]
Primary Target as a constituency – fundraising and volunteers for the campaign.
So what it sounds like here is that if you are a Democrat in Georgia (and let’s face it: this strategy is probably replicated nation-wide to one degree or another), you have certain responsibilities within the party. If you are black or brown you are wanted for your get-out-the-vote abilities. If you are Jewish or gay or Asian, the party is really mostly interested in your money. Know your role, lefty.
P.S. – I also found it interesting to read what the memo had to say about Teachers. Here it is:
Teachers
This community continues to be large and hold sway in many areas, however, their position as a validator needs to be examined given the continued assault teachers are undergoing. . . . Teachers are a great way to disseminate information about volunteer opportunities for students. Additionally, many schools have Election Day off – making teachers fantastic volunteers for Election Day.
Primary Target as a constituency – volunteers and voters with the possibility of fundraising and validators
Interesting that Ms. Nunn, who is after all trying to run as a moderate, is being forewarned to avoid looking like a suck-up to the teacher’s unions and instead focusing her efforts on recruiting individual “beloved teachers.” I think even Democrats are starting to realize that associating themselves with the failed education establishment is an express ticket to Nowheresville. There’s also some good stuff about labor (the campaign wants their money and volunteers) and gun owners (the campaign wants them to talk up Ms. Nunn as a Second Amendment advocate in the media). We don’t always get to see what’s behind the curtain, so it’s nice to have most of our suspicions confirmed.
– JVW
David Perdue beat the hand-picked Chamber of Commerce lackey.
It’s good for America when that happens.
happyfeet (8ce051) — 7/28/2014 @ 5:35 pmSo her foundation funds Islamic relief which funds Hamas
narciso (ee1f88) — 7/28/2014 @ 6:24 pm“Points of Light” is another example of Conquest’s Law.
Any organization not explicitly right-wing sooner or later becomes left wing.
Mike K (b5c01a) — 7/28/2014 @ 6:31 pmI’m sorry, I’m just not seeing the offense here. Jews and Asians are just not a significant source of voters in Georgia; there just aren’t enough of them for it to be worth expending any resources to campaign for their votes, any more than it is to campaign for the votes of dwarfs or WW1 veterans. They will either be reached by ads aimed at the general population, or they won’t. But they are a significant source for money, and it’s definitely worthwhile trying to raise money from them, provided that the candidate’s positions are likely to appeal to them. For instance, if the candidate doesn’t support Israel then there’s no point in trying to raise money from Jews, so the campaign shouldn’t waste resources trying. But if she decides that she does support Israel, then significant money can be raised from this community, and several people should be assigned to work on that. The same may be true for issues that matter to Asians (e.g. opposing racial quotas in college admissions?) This seems like plain common sense; why should anyone be offended at it?
Milhouse (c63fe5) — 7/28/2014 @ 8:06 pmhttp://hotair.com/archives/2014/07/28/georgia-democratic-senate-candidates-leaked-campaign-memo-you-need-jewish-donors-also-you-sort-of-funded-hamas/
There is a lot more meat on this bone.
JD (755f96) — 7/28/2014 @ 9:58 pmThis seems like plain common sense; why should anyone be offended at it?
Well, two things Milhouse: (1) everybody knows that political candidates need money and everyone knows that Democrats treat their voters as monolithic members of various racial/ethnic/union/sexual groups, but I think it is at the very least extremely tacky that the Nunn campaign is privately acknowledging that certain groups are most useful merely as ATMs for the party; (2) I’m trying to imagine myself as a gay Jewish Democrat and what I would think when I read that memo: my party wants me to write checks and man the phone banks so that they can spend my money and my volunteer time turning out African-American and Latino voters — in order words, spending the resources that I donated in somebody else’s community, and maybe spend them on groups that aren’t particularly simpatico to my political beliefs. Or if I’m a black Democrat I find out that the Nunn campaign thinks I’ll vote however my preacher tells me to vote. I can never get over the level of contempt that Democrats have for their voting base.
JVW (feb406) — 7/28/2014 @ 10:43 pmThere is a lot more meat on this bone.
As Patterico always says, read the whole thing (in this case, the entire article by Eliana Johnson). It really is stunning. Apart from the little racial/ethnic/lifestyle/professional boxes that the Nunn campaign is placing all of their potential voters inside of, there is the issue of “let’s figure out our Israel policy based upon what Jewish donors want,” the issue with the Hamas and other questionable funding at the Points of Light foundation, the acknowledgement that Ms. Nunn is going to have to pretend to give a tinker’s damn about rural Georgia in order to appeal to what she probably thinks of as the goober vote, and the breezy confidence that they can get their mainstream media (in this case undoubtedly the Atlanta Journal-Constitution) allies to kill or at least downplay any negative stories about the candidate or campaign that will spring up. It’s an amazing look into the mind of Democrat operatives. I only hope the Perdue campaign is developing ways to use this information to their advantage.
JVW (feb406) — 7/28/2014 @ 10:50 pmcan’t say as i can blame them: your average LIV Demorat voter is about as contemptible as they come…
IMHO, of course. 😎
redc1c4 (abd49e) — 7/28/2014 @ 11:38 pmas a straight, white,gun owning, conservative veteran, i obviously belong in the box labeled “racist teabagger H8r!”
redc1c4 (abd49e) — 7/28/2014 @ 11:41 pmMy favorite data point was how they plan to enlist useful idiot gun owners to bolster the “moderate” position Nunn holds on gun rights.
Ed from SFV (3400a5) — 7/29/2014 @ 1:46 amMay I also recommend this post by Instapundit, showcasing a wonderful Twitter exchange involving Johnson and some other half-watt (wit?) bulb.
Another Anon (f43943) — 7/29/2014 @ 9:02 am