Content Begging For Scraps

I am beside myself after reading this article from The Tribune. A party breaks out at the Weld Democrats' First Friday Lunch? Are you kidding me? What do the Weld Dems have to justify a public party?

Let's just say this clearly: Weld County is no more blue than it was in 2000 or 2004 or 2006. Sure we made a few gains in registration, but we'll have to see how many of those people stay active and vote in two years. How many of these were UNC kids who jumped excitedly on the Obama bandwagon, but will resume their apathetic ways, well, last Wednesday?

If I read the unofficial Weld Co. results properly, outside the Markey-Musgrave race, Weld Democratic candidates did what Weld Democaratic candidates do: they lost by 7,500 - 10,000 votes. Obama. Udall. Pilch. Hell, even Jared Polis lost Weld County in his easy walk into Congress. The data suggests that something was different with regards to the Markey-Musgrave race, and that this was an external factor, outside the control of our County party - and possibly outside the control of the candidates as well.

Democrats in Weld County have absolutely no justification for having a public party at a regularly scheduled meeting. We had a great election night party, but it's time that executive members of the party behave like professionals. Mary Stack, it's time to realize that making gains in Weld Co. is not a magic process that just happens, or that requires only a GOTV effort.

Making gains requires an understanding of status quo. It requires the development of a strategic plan: not a list of goals, but a list of metrics that can be used to gauge performance, and an assortment of tactics that can be used to reach the strategic goals. It requires the ability to dispassionately evaluate performance. And it requires that you carefully evaluate which things were under your control and which weren't.

Anything else is cheerleading, and cheerleaders don't win games. They don't even play.