Reply #40: Any Primary can get brutal, it is how you act afterward that defines a partisan. [View All]

[davsand]

I don't care what level it is at, a Primary can get pretty bloody. I have been on the winning side sometimes and I have been on the losers' side too. What allows me to self define as a Democrat is the fact that I am still working for the party as a whole after that Primary is over--win or lose.

I have had times when I would focus on a different race and work the hell out of that--but I was still out there working for the party. Literally, I have carried lit for the guy that I just lost to, and that is how it works if you are hauling your freight in a political party. You may not be thrilled with one particular candidate, but I'll guarantee that there is at least ONE race on the ticket that you can feel good about working-and THAT is how you keep on going.

Locally, we had a particularly brutal Primary fight in a County Board race. It got ugly and stupid and there were a lot of people dragged into it from outside that district. Once the race was done the losers kept on attacking all the way into the General--to the point that they recruited a candidate for the Green party to be slated in that race.

Dems held the seat, but it is 6 years later and the battle STILL rages on with that SAME faction working in court to remove a Dem from the ballot in this last election. I understand being unhappy with somebody and taking them on in a Primary--but NOT at this level--NOT like this. Those people have become a danger to the local party and THAT is a problem to me. Had they been successful MUCH that our party has worked for would have been lost.

It goes on everywhere--and we see it at a national level here at DU. My advice to anybody that is unhappy with the outcome of ANY given race is to either suck it up and find a place to be constructive or else STFU and stop saying you are a Dem. It is hardcore, but it is how I honestly feel.

Regards!



Laura