August 10th, 2006

Mr. Premo,

Thanks for taking the time to respond to my comments. It's a pleasure to have a challenger that understands and respects the progressive netroots, and it sure looks like Dave will have a high profile in the national blogosphere. Hopefully this will generate interest and financial support for the campaign, and in turn garner strong support from the DCCC.

Dave's high profile on the national blogs, though, can only go so far in generating the local grassroots support neccessary to knock out Peter King.

Whether or not the campaign decides to create its own blog (which I highly reccomend), Dave would do well to make frequent public appearances all over the district. Ned Lamont's outsider campaign was built upon the dedication of grassroots activists who felt a real connection with Ned. Ned gave so many stump speeches that the 'base' voters had ample opportunity to ask tough questions, meet Ned individually, etc. These people, in turn, went out and told their friends and neighbors about Lamont. Ned made a point of answering every question and meeting most everyone at his events. Dave should strive for the same.

It's all about 'people-power', online and off. Blogs are a great way of keeping your local netroots motivated and active. Supporters take on the cause as their own when they feel 'in the loop'. You can do this by providing a public comments section, fundraising drives with public goals, (with a meter on the site, etc.) You could have an intern bring a digital camcorder to Dave's events, and put the video on the site and youtube.com. the netroots are REALLY into video , because if they can't make it to a rally, speech, etc, they can still watch the video online.

As far as messaging goes, I've definitely appreciated Dave's tough posture so far in decrying King/Bush, so keep it up :) If you've been around Kos/MyDD a bit, you know that the progressive netroots rally behind leaders who express genuine outrage regarding the Republicans' policies. A progressive in this mold is someone who will call a spade a spade, and demand accountability in Washington. Definitely hit upon King's sources of funding; Republican corporate money is disgusting, and people need to hear how campaign contributions affect King's votes. There is a real bad taste in Americans' mouths lately because of this corruption and greed. Get people angry. Explain why Dave is different. The 3rd CD is no Berkeley, but across America, Democrats are finding success by drawing sharp distinctions between themselves and Republicans.

The voters need to hear the particulars of King's rubber stamp votes, and Dave should not hesitate to frame these decisions in stark moral terms. A big stinker for me is the Republican budget. Keep telling people that King would rather give tax cuts to billionaires than student loans to college kids.. things like that. Remember, a budget is a moral document.

Thanks for reading, and hopefully you don't find this too presumptuous coming from a college kid like myself.

Godspeed,
Tim