Concentrate on November!

[Indyfan53]

Don't let the special election in Florida throw off you ambition and confidence. Many of you, including myself, felt the same way after the special elections in Colorado and South Carolina in 2013. Remember what happened in November of that year? We had wins in most of the elections, such as New York City, Virginia, and Boston.

Fight for November! rally the troops and GOTV. We have a very good chance to win senate seats in Kentucky, Georgia, Maine, West Virginia, North Carolina, Alaska, and Nebraska. Yes, that Nebraska. Support Dave Domina for that seat.

Volunteer, donate, do whatever it takes to get the grassroots movement going. Rally the troops and move full steam ahead.

Stay alert, stay active.

[calimary]

1. Appreciate this. I donated to Sink's campaign. And I'm feeling, pardon the pun, pretty sunk.

We do have to fight for November.

[Indyfan53]

3. Also, Jolly's win was very slim.

For a republican district, he underperformed. He only won by 1%. Imagine if it was November. Alex would have won!

[former9thward]

4. Obama won the district twice.

How is it a R district?

[Indyfan53]

7. They reflected their republican congressman.

Even when they voted for Obama, the reflected their republican congressman.

[blkmusclmachine]

2. ,

,

[daybranch]

5. One thing that gets everyone down

is that the parties made such erroneous statements. Sink up, Sink still up, Sink barely up, Sink etc. etc.
I recognize this is to raise funds but it starts rto seem that asking for money is all our party organizations seem to do. Do they ask for volunteers? No they ask for money to pay organizers they hire? Do they ask those in other states to help make phonecalls to that district? No, they ask for money. Do they ask people to come in and help from neighboring states or even offer sleeping accommodations for those farther away? No they ask for money. And do they really listen to us. No, they ask for money. There were many opportunities to support candidates and I, like many of you, wonder if what we are told is the known truth or just what they want us to believe. After being involved with larger campaigns than Sink's and knowing the campaigns work really hard to prevent truth from dampening anyone's enthusiasm, I have some doubts. Do not misunderstand, I if possible would have worked to get her elected, but I will not just feed money every time democrats are running anywhere.
Now the special election is over and Lolly beat her by a few points, and the fundraising has begun for the November election as it should. But the campaign should not delude themselves, the votes of the Libertarian candidate were against her too. She has a much larger hill to climb in November and trying to ignore that and concentrate on fund raising to the exclusion of volunteers may be a disaster. She needs phone calls, And shoe leather, education about her positions and those of her opponents. Money helps but people do more.

And please, please, do not buy that crap spread by those hiored to run campaigns that they can pinpoint voters and thus know who to talk to and how not to talk to. it is self serving bologna. Obama started out at the beginning of the summer leading by 3 to 5 points in Ohio. After all that wonderful targeting , he won by 3 in Ohio. Any volunteer who spent appreciable time working with the public can tell you it was totally different than portrayed and that even on election day, we were sent to homes where the residents were mistakenly believed to be supporters.
But be that as it may, lets get out and work for Sink, with no illusions, but a strong commitment to getting her elected in November. Speaking to voters face to face is best. Combining that with phone calls to them is even better.

Remember this special election has made many voters solidify to support to a particular candidate. Registering new voters and increasing turnout would seem the best strategy. If money is needed for that please keep asking. But if it is another jobs program for young people and you expect them to do most of the talking to seniors in Florida, good luck with that.

[BlueDemKev]

6. The lesson from this election is...

...TURNOUT. Once again, we shot ourselves in the foot by failing to get enough Democratic voters to the polls today. Jessica Ehrlich, who ran against Bill Young two years ago got almost 139,671 votes in Nov. 2012. Today, Alex Sink got only 84,877 votes. That's almost a net loss of -55,000 votes. Keep in mind, Alex Sink would be governor of Florida today had just a handful of more liberal voters had gone to the polls on Nov. 2, 2010 (and the congressional districts in Florida would be FAR less gerrymandered in favor of the Rethugs).

In addition, FL-13 is a conservative-leaning district with a heavy population of affluent retirees. We lost narrowly here today (thanks to the 2011 gerrymandering) but that doesn't mean we can't win a statewide election in the Sunshine State (and other battleground, bellweather states such as Ohio, Nevada, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania).

As Indyfan53 aptly said, we need to focus on this November's midterm elections. Don't worry about 2016 right now (there's plenty of time for that). But work, donate, volunteer, register voters, encourage people to get their government-issued photo ID's , and do whatever it takes to keep the Senate in Democratic hands and win back the governorships we never should have lost four years ago.

Midterm apathy is not an option. The battle for the heart and soul of America is FAR from over...get out and vote as if your life depends on it--because it does.