Wednesday, November 03, 2004

Amid a terrible election for the civil rights of gay Americans, North Carolina elected its first openly gay State Senator. You go, North Carolina. A principled press played its role, too. You remember this story: Woody White, the guy appointed to fill Patrick Ballantine's NC Senate seat, was endorsed by the Wilmington Star-News  -- but then the paper took it all back after the GOP ran some ugly anti-gay ads. White's opponent, Julia Boseman, is now North Carolina's first openly gay State Senator. The unofficial tally has Boseman winning, 39,991 votes to 38,056. 1:34:04 PM    comment []

"I think McCants is the x-factor. If he really wants to be great, he can be great. And that would make the difference for this team." -- EdCone.com, December 4, 2003. True then, true now. 11:37:35 AM    comment []

I am wounded, but am not slain I'll lie me down and bleed a while then I shall rise and fight again. Moping period ends at noon. Better candidates. Better communication. Courage of conviction. Optimism. Organization. That's what we need. Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Maybe because I live in North Carolina, grew up here, know lots of actual Republicans, but I don't think the world is ending. I don't think we're headed for some right-wing apocalpyse. There is a sensible middle in this country. Today's GOP is more liberal in some ways than many Democrats used to be. My new Senator is Richard Burr. I grew up with race-baiting Jesse Helms. Are we really going backwards? My biggest differences with Republican politicians tend to be on social issues. I'm not sure that the rise of social conservatives helps the GOP in the long run. A court that fails to protect the right to choose, for example, could help elect a lot of pro-choice legislators. Martin Luther King: "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." Be of good cheer. Plan. Think. Prepare. You have 30 minutes left to mourn. 11:35:17 AM    comment []

If you want to use the web effectively in the next campaign, start now. Local and state parties should be identifying candidates who get the web's potential, and potential candidates should be starting blogs. It takes time to build a community. Blogs and other web tools didn't win any races yesterday, or lose any, either. Their effect was incremental at best. But that will change in the near future. Could a more robust web campaign have turned the tide for Erskine Bowles? I don't know -- Burr is a strong candidate, he had Bush's coattails, and the late-breaking tobacco settlement may have made him untouchable. But I do know that I first spoke to Bowles about web strategy almost a year ago, in late 2003. He was enthusiastic. Yet his staff, including communications director Susan Lagana and campaign manager Guy Cecil, didn't get serious about the Web until June. Don't wait. Blog now. I know that the NC Democratic Party is getting ready to upgrade its web capabilities, working with some top-notch advisors. From the rise of Dean to last night's results, the web has begun to make its impact felt on politics. So far, $ is the proven payoff -- we know you can raise a ton online with minimal cost. Next time: community and organization and alternative media. Will your candidate be ready? 8:53:37 AM    comment []

Footnote to history: Kerry and Bowles carried Guilford County. Complete Guilford County results here. 8:15:04 AM    comment []

Andrew Sullivan: "I wanted Kerry to win. I believed he'd be more able to unite the country at home, more fiscally conservative, more socially inclusive, and better able to rally the world in a more focused war on terror. I still do. But a slim majority of Americans disagreed. And I'm a big believer in the deep wisdom of the American people. They voted in huge numbers, and they made a judgment. Not a huge and decisive victory by any means. But at least a victory that is unlikely to be challenged. The president and his aides deserve congratulations. And so, I think, does Senator Kerry, whose campaign exceeded the low expectations of many of us." 8:07:18 AM    comment []

Jay Ovittore voted in a homemade t-shirt that said "Bush Is A Terrorist" on the front and "God Loves Gays" on the back. Jay: "I expected a lot of bad things to happen because of the shirt. Anything from being whisked away for a vacation to sunny Cuba, be arrested, or confrontations with Bush supporters and the religious right were possible. None of the above happened. I was surprised. No one said anything. People looked and talked amongst themselves. No one said a thing. I was proud of my fellow voters in my home district. The only comment I did get was from a Kerry supporter, who joked, 'Voting for Bush, are you?'" 8:03:51 AM    comment []

Blog Business Summit, Seattle, January 24-25. 7:37:09 AM    comment []

CSPAN electoral map. 6:53:54 AM    comment []