How Sister McKinney Lost and what we can learn from it

I came out to help Cynthia because I am crazy out my damn head.

How Sister McKinney Lost and what we can learn from it

Being a racist paranoid idiot does not get you elected.

I came out to help Cynthia because she spoke truth to power.

Always watch out for people who use the phrase "speak truth to power".

Um, BARF ALERT needed!

How Sister McKinney Lost

By being a kook.

and what we can learn from it

Don't be a kook.

There, that was straighforward enough....

the conventional wisdom was that if Cynthia could get her base vote out in heavily black south Dekalb County, she was favored to win, if narrowly

Unfortunately, the dead and repeat voter blocs did not come through this time.

Nothing to do with all those "interesting" names on her donor list (some from questionable organizations with possible terror links)...OH no !!!

The only good thing about this article is that it also points out the real reason she lost...SHE'S INCOMPETENT!!

You know, I disagree heavily with the politics of the author, but he does make a cogent analysis of why this woman lost.

Black conservative ping

If you want on (or off) of my black conservative ping list, please let me know via FREEPmail. (And no, you don't have to be black to be on the list!)

Extra warning: this is a high-volume ping list.

"Cynthia was unbought, unbossed, and unbowed.."

AND THAT WAS HER PROBLEM. First of all, an elected official works for their constituency. In the case of a US Representative that includes everyone in the congressional district. Now that the people have spoken, perhaps she will bow a little.

The campaign operation I walked in on was heartbreakingly inept. There-was no field operation whatsoever. The McKinney campaign had failed to conduct a voter registration drive in her district.

Sounds like a inside job that was orchestrated by jews, I'll betcha.

The problem according to this man is that McKinney did not organize her base. Yet for 5 straight elections her base was energized and organized. The came out and voted for Cynthia.

Can you imagine her doing all the organizational things to get her base out five straight times... doing it five times when she had no real opposition in any of those 5 elections. Then on the one time she had serious opposition she did not organize or get out her base.

That is beyond belief. It is as if to say that for five great fights Mohammad Ali trained and worked out until he was in perfect condition. Then for some reason when he had to fight Joe Frazier he didn't train or work out. No one would believe that.

This story is written by a man who thinks you are as dumb as he is. Cynthia and her supporters worked their rear ends off doing all they could to energize her base. It did not work. McKinney was certain that if the black core voters came out as they had in the past she would win.

She could not imagine that with all that Muslim walkin around money being passed out, she would not win. But she lost. Much larger efforts than those that had worked in her behalf before, failed.

The truth is the black people in her district did not come out to vote for her. They did not support her black leadership positions. That is becuase the blacks in her district did not want to follow her leadership.

What McKinney proved beyond a shadow of a doubt is that many blacks in her core distist are loyal American citizens. They will not come out to vote for a woman who talks like a traitor. They didn't come out to vote for her Dad either. That is why both were beat.

McKinney has proved that the black leadership is out of step with the the black rank and file. My Family has been in United States politics for 200 years. To be a leader requires just two thinkgs. Find out where the people want to go, then get out front to lead them there. Kinney and her Dad were trying to lead where the followers don't want to go. That always results in a leader with no followers.

Interesting.

PhiKapMom, you may want to look at the stuff BELOW the full commentary in the source link. It's got some good rules that we could apply AGAINST the Left.

Is this "truth to power" some sort of quantifiable ratio? Is there a certain amount of truth that needs to be applied to a given amount of power, or is it more of a perception thing? If Cynthia McKinney has a monopoly on the truth, we're all in really deep do do.

"Although the nearest edge of her district was 35 miles from my home north of the city"
Wait a second, I thought outside involvement was the reason she lost? You mean outsiders like YOU flocked in to support her? Or are some outsiders more outside if they don't happen to share your ideology? A vexing question...

The campaign operation I walked in on was heartbreakingly inept.
You'd think a five term incumbant would have an idea on how to win elections. Perhaps her arrogance finally got the better of her?

I also thought this might be interesting: It's below the commentary in the source link.

I love it when the other side lets us see their playbook.

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Below is Bruce Dixon's prescription for a winning voter canvas and registration operation.

CONDUCTING A CANVASS AND VOTER REGISTRATION DRIVE

In Chicago, independent progressive candidates frequently face black and Latino opponents funded and sponsored by what we fondly call “the Machine”. Sometimes the progressives lose and some other times they win. When they do win it’s by sticking to a set of steps much like the following for the registration drive phase of their campaigns:

A. Set a numeric registration goal for your drive and appoint someone to be responsible for doing whatever it takes to accomplish this goal.

B. A modest amount of radio advertising pushing arguably nonpartisan voter registration during the 2 weeks before the registration deadline is necessary. Set some funds aside in your budget for this. Registration being a legally “nonpartisan” activity in most places, it is possible to hit up donors who may have already reached their hard money contribution limits. It may be advisable to maintain a separate “nonpartisan” entity to collect and administer funds for your voter registration drive.

C. Recruit and train a core of volunteers who will conduct registration activities either directly through the campaign or indirectly as members of their unions, church, community or other groups. Offer technical assistance – advice on areas, sites and techniques. Set aside some funds in your budget as volunteers or their organizations may have to be compensated.

D. In the several weeks before the cutoff of voter registration, concentrate forces to conduct a door-to-door registration drive in population-rich but registration-poor areas of the district.

E. Have volunteers carry the candidate’s propaganda along at the same time you are conducting the registration drive. While the person doing registration is not permitted to advocate on behalf of the candidate, someone else tagging along on the same encounter, is. On some high visibility occasions have the candidate out there doing registrations in person. That always sends a nice "nonpartisan" message.

F. Record each door-to-door contact, along with phone numbers, absent neighbors and family members who may need to be registered, and possible absentee ballot or other such needs.

G. Photocopy all registration forms before turning them in and add them to your contact database. Use the campaign’s bulk mail permit to send a “thank you for registering” postcard signed by the candidate and informing them of the polling place location, election day and registration deadline and giving them a phone number to contact with any registration or voting related questions. Your campaign or civic organization doesn’t have a bulk mail permit? Think about getting one, perhaps in combination with some other progressive campaigns in neighboring districts.

H. Follow up area visits/phone calls to catch absent family members, and put out door hangers telling those you miss where to go before the registration deadline hits.

I. There should be 2 follow-up mailings to the newly registered in the weeks before the primary election.

J. Phone calls and visits to the specific people you registered asking for their commitment to vote for your candidate.

K. If local laws allow you to hand carry registration forms to the authorities, the candidate or some other newsworthy figure should try to show up at the registration office with a hand truck or wheelbarrow of completed forms for a photo opportunity. Alert your local media contacts.

L. On the weekend before the close of registration conduct a field operation to get registration volunteers on the ground in as many precincts as possible, along with telephone support to direct some of them to visit the homes or businesses where unregistered people are, and to place and publicize the placement of registration forms in as many locations as possible. This is the time for low-budget media buys reminding folks that it’s their last chance to register for the election. Make the candidate visible in this effort too.

M. Use this registration drive to expand your volunteer database and ties with organizations that provide occasional manpower for street activities such as student and women’s groups, church groups, unions and the like. Ideally, a single group of people should adopt a single precinct or precincts throughout the drive, but week-by-week accountability to a registration goal is a must.

Before Election Day operations, the canvass is the central activity of a campaign field operation. Without a canvass to measure the results of its activity more reliably than polling and among demographic sectors in which poll results have been less than dependable, campaign management has little or no accountability for results until election day.

A. Designate a person to be not just “in charge of” but also accountable for the conduct and results of the canvass. The canvass manager has to be able to command the resources to get the job done, and must report accurate numbers (voter contacts and dispositions, along with current and next-day volunteer activity) daily to the campaign manager and other responsible parties.

B. Obtain poll sheets or lists of registered voters, make several copies and designate one as the office master copy. Better yet, get the list on disk and rig up your database program to spit out walk or phone sheets or mailing labels based upon various criteria such as precinct, even or odd numbered addresses, senior citizens, etc.

C. Obtain updated phone numbers for as many voters as possible in areas targeted for phone canvass, and reconcile these with your voter list.

D. Carefully train your canvassers. They are your contact with thousands of voters.

E. Set aside an area in the campaign office where noise levels from other activities will not interfere with the phone canvass, and where phone canvassers can work. Set aside several phone lines for this purpose and make it a top priority to keep trained volunteers working these lines each and every evening from 6 to 9, and all day Saturday and Sunday. Since many people have lots of unused cell phone minutes after 7 or 8 PM and on weekends think about distributing scripts and log forms to some to use off the premises, though it is vastly preferable to have people working together.

F. Develop scripts for canvassers to use that ask the question you want without leading the voter, and train canvassers in their use. Train canvassers to record their contacts and to fish for relevant information such as the names of other registered voters, and whether any of these need absentee ballots, transportation to the polls, or have specific issue concerns. Canvassers for incumbents are certain to encounter constituent service issues which should be referred to the incumbent’s service office and handled there. Constituent problems encountered in this manner should be given a fast track to solution, as these are the same folks whose votes your representatives are personally asking for.

G. Both door to door and phone canvassers must record each voter contact immediately on the appropriate forms so that it can be reported in a meaningful way to the canvass manager and the campaign.

H. Develop special issue-oriented scripts for certain groups such as senior citizens or other identifiable groups as dictated by the needs of the campaign. Follow-up special interest mailings may be directed at voters contacted by the canvass.

I. Use the canvass as a tool to recruit more volunteers from among those most interested in the campaign’s objectives.

J. The primary use for volunteers in a well-run campaign is to staff the canvass and election day operation.

Are you on crack?

Cynthia lost because she's out of touch with her constituents. Maybe now she'll wake up. On second thought, let her sleep.

Please, we must have the full quote:

Crush your enemies, see then driven before you, and hear the lamentations of their women -- Conan the Wise