This is why I am really fed up with these 2008 threads

[FogerRox]

Gore, Obama, Clark, Richardson... whatever....I really dont give a rats ass about all these '08 threads right now. In fact on a personal level I am fed up. Its going on allover...not just here @ DU, @ D-KOS too.

Its not like I am saying STFU already, but I certainly dont have the same level of vigor that some of you do. You see it goes like this...


I live in NJ & we have Municipal elections this spring, in may.
& primaries, then generals for State Assembly & State Senate. I know the DEMs have a slight advantage in the State Senate in NJ, but many of us are hoping that we can knock off a few repubs.

I'm sorry, Barack who?

In 2006 I was the Essex County Field Manager for Tom Wyka for Congress (NJ11). I'll know if I get the job of campaign manager for a major city council race, in january. Which would be great to go into the assembly/senate races with that on my resume. And you know what? One or 2 of those state senate races are in NJ11, where Tom Wyka is running again in '08. Thats even cooler.

I'm sorry, Gore who?

So hopefully you will understand if I am preoccupied with something I consider to be far more important, the next election, which for me is in May of '07. I want to see the bluewave continue to wash over those reddish areas of NJ. Thats what I am spending the next 2 years doing.


Which by the way is also going to bring in more DEM votes for president in '08.

Did I say that Tom Wyka is running again? We need to send Tom to DC, hes going to be a real good congressman. Tom is a real progressive, DFA, PDA. It doesnt have to be like this, We can do better.



And quite frankly, maybe we can do better than Gore, Obama, Clark, Richardson or whoever... I dont have my heart set on any of them, not yet. But I dont think its about any of these names,,, not yet. You see its bigger than just a name like AL Gore... its about the process that gets us to the point that we are talking about Al Gore being the nominee. I am not talking about creating buzz for your favorite candidate. I am talking about the process of running campains in '07 that talk about single payer health care, and progressive taxes or marriage equality. We need to advance our issues, mainstream issues. The progressive issues that give families hope for the future. Hope that in '08 we will do better.

But dont you dare forget about '07, there is so much work to do in '07.

[MadMaddie]

1. I have to agree with you....

07 cannot be overlooked there is a lot of work to do..

[SaveElmer]

2. I admire your zeal...but

Do you really expect the rest of DU to be up on New Jersey Municipal elections...people here talk about things most know something about...

Now that 2006 is over, 2008 is the next big thing!

[IndyOp]

5. You could be excited about your *own* municipal elections...

You don't have to care about New Jersey's -- we could and should be excited about our own municipal elections. Yes? Were do good Congresspeople come from? City and county governments.

:hi:

[SaveElmer]

6. Well certainly I am...

2007 is a big year here in Virginia...but if I started threads about them on DU there wouldn't be much in the way of conversation...

There are Virginia specific blogs I go to for that!

[Mabus]

9. I can do both

I've already got marked the date on January's calendar to go by the county courthouse and pick up the first round financial disclosures by the candidates. I've gone through past reports and published the contributors, the amounts given and the business they have pending before the city commission and its various boards that it changed people's votes. I also forced the local paper to start publishing the campaign donor lists on-line. Finally, my research raised enough questions about a certain last minute political mailing that a complaint was filed with the state's ethics board and the offender was exposed and fined. I'm planning on doing the same thing this year. In the meantime I've got a Gore meetup in Kansas City that I signed up for. I can do both. I've done it before.

[FogerRox]

15. Someone brings some balance, excellent....

[FogerRox]

7. DO I think that you think .... the point of the META

is the NJ Municipal elections... Nah, I dont think that you think that.

And as far as any zeal is concerned, That job...The campaign manager gets paid $1,000/ week. Just to be fair about the Veal, I mean ZEAL.

[longship]

12. No, we expect you to have a realistic view of the situation.

The next big thing is the 110th Congress which, if you haven't been keeping track--because you are so fixated on 2008--is going to be in the hands of the Democrats for the first time in a dozen years.

You do know:

* That the 2008 election doesn't get into gear until 2008.

* That today's perceived 2008 candidates are 2008's dead meat.

* That polling now for 2008 is not only stupid, it's damned stupid.

* 2007 is likely to be a wild and wooly political ride. The chances that the political environment for the 2008 campaign will be *anything* similar to today's is fucking nil.

* Posting threads about the 2008 election now on DU is a waste of space, and waters down the forum for other, more important things.

Some of the things you could be doing other than fixating on an election which doesn't occur for 22 months:

1. Become active in your local Democratic club.

2. Ask to be appointed as precinct committeeperson.

3. Go to your local Democratic Party headquarters and volunteer.

4. Find out when the next local election and volunteer to help candidates who are actually running for office in 2007.

5. Volunteer for a Democratic state Congress critter.

6. Help organize an effort to lobby the new Democratic US Congress for any number of important issues. (Like there aren't a bunch of those?)

Etc.

All these things are more important than wringing your hands over who is going to run in 2008.

[SaveElmer]

14. Hmmm...

"That the 2008 election doesn't get into gear until 2008."

From the number of candidates jumping into the race I would say it is getting into gear now

"That today's perceived 2008 candidates are 2008's dead meat"

Sometimes yes sometimes no...don't see how that has any bearing

"That polling now for 2008 is not only stupid, it's damned stupid."

Hardly...gives a fairly accurate snapshot of the mood of the electorate. It is what it is...not necessarily predictive...but shows us where we are...

"2007 is likely to be a wild and wooly political ride. The chances that the political environment for the 2008 campaign will be *anything* similar to today's is fucking nil."

Again, maybe yes maybe no...are we to keep to ourselves until 2008...? This is a political board, folks come here to talk about political topics...

"Posting threads about the 2008 election now on DU is a waste of space, and waters down the forum for other, more important things."

I wasn't aware you were the arbiter of what is important and what is not. However if you do not like the 2008 threads DU has provided the following for you

1. To add someone to your ignore list, find one of their posts, and click the icon next to their username.

2. To hide a thread, click the small icon next to the title of the thread. You can also click the small black "Hide Thread" link in the bottom left-hand corner of the message.



"Become active in your local Democratic club."

Am

"Ask to be appointed as precinct committeeperson."

I am a precinct chairman

"Go to your local Democratic Party headquarters and volunteer."

Am a memnber of my county committee

"Find out when the next local election and volunteer to help candidates who are actually running for office in 2007."

Not only do I know who is running I recently attended a fundraiser for that candidate and got to meet the Governor of my state...one of many events I attend

I do all this and still manage to find time to post here at DU...see it is possible!

[FogerRox]

16. "precinct chairman" props

I havent done that yet, but I did organize a catered fundraiser for Tom Wyka for Congress, my first fundraiser.

Precinct chairman are very important as are the county commitee, thats where it all starts.

[longship]

17. Your special pleading doesn't change the *facts*

The 2008 election is a media game played by corporate media. Just like the latest missing blonde. Just like rich, white folks trapped on Mt. Hood. Just like the 99% of the rest that appears on the tube.

That's why we're hearing: Hillary!!! Obama!!! McCain!!! Giuliani!!! Rinse, repeat.

It's totally lame at this point and all your special pleading will not change that.

[SaveElmer]

18. Whatever...

As I pointed out...if it disturbs you the moderators have kindly provided the tools you need to ignore such caterwauling...

[IndyOp]

23. Lol -> Polling now for 2008 is not only stupid, it's damned stupid.

:applause:

To the extent that I have been contributing to threads about 2008 it is because I DON'T want it decided now - without me, without us. I am so frustrated with the primary system in which two small states - New Hampshire and Iowa listening primarily to the council of the corporate media - wind up deciding our candidates.

I would add to your "what to do now list" -- get your local Democratic Party moving on some Blue Tiger projects - helping community members one-one-one with day-to-day problems like heating bills, accessing government programs that can help...

Blue Tigers

[liberalhistorian]

3. Umm.........if you're "fed up" with them, there's

a simple solution-don't click on/read them! It's just that simple. You might not like them, but there are others who do.

[FogerRox]

4. You are exactly right. & Sometimes I do click on them.. LOL.

[muntrv]

8. I remember when they didn't talk about the Presidential election until

about the November before.

[FogerRox]

10. Yup, not too long ago.

Though to be fair folks are proly pumped about the congressional wins and how that means we have a chance to win in '08. ANd many primaries have been moved up.

[Old and In the Way]

11. It would be nice to focus on the task at hand....2007 agenda.

Regardless of who your preferred candidate is and the + and - of everyone who might run, it's a waste of time and counter-productive...the threads won't resolve anything but are guaranteed to piss off everyone who disagrees with the OP analysis on who the favorite should be or why ___________ can't win. Actually, I'd like to see the later thread types locked....they are pure flame posts, IMHO.

[FogerRox]

19. Old and In the Way, yes I agree

And I think & hope that once the 101st congress gets in gear, some of the '08 hype will calm down. A lot of what we do in '07 plays into how '08 goes down. But I guess in the meantime theres going to be a bunch of so & so in '08 hype... >sigh<

[Morgana LaFey]

13. Oh, Amen! My biggest personal fear

is that I'm going to be so up to my eyeballs sick and tired of whoever ends up being the nominee that I'll have to try hard not to vomit in the voting booth. I'm already sick and tired of several of them.

I wish DU would limit those threads to one forum (Politics?) and that way I'd just not go into that forum. Problem solved.

[NI4NI]

20. New 110th Dem Congress hasn't convened yet

and hasn't done a dam thing, good or bad, but people are all hyped up about 2008.
Before the November 2006 election how many folks were angry about fraudulent voting machines?
Does anyone think that problem went away because we won in 2006? There's still a lady Democratic congressional candidate in Florida (Katherine Harris's former seat)who is still fighting to find out where 18,000 votes in her district went. Will we be still worried about that in the 2008 Presidential? It seems to me that voting machines and the SCOTUS are the blame for the trouble we're in today.
I'm really curious to know about how many times concerned/angry activists who had often contacted their congressional reps and senators, or LTTE and media outlets have done so since 11/06, regarding ANY issue.
I just hope to anything that's holy that the same paperless trail voting machines that cheated Gore, Kerry, and the lady Dem candidate now in Florida will be replaced, because if not, it won't matter who the 2008 Democratic candidate will be.

[FogerRox]

21. Some perspective from NI4NI, thanks.

[Sparkly]

22. I think it's like shaking the boxes under the tree...

The prospect of having a REAL president again -- one who can think, speak, and represent the country well to the world -- is so exciting, people enjoy thinking about it. It's understandable. True, we need to think about state politics, more immediate races and events, the new Congress, etc., but we're on the brink of the campaigns that will finally fill the seat of the pResident; the long-awaited END to the Chimperor's reign is in view, and I think it's natural that the buzz is starting (even if it's pretty much speculation and box-rattling right now).

[FogerRox]

25. Well said Sparkly, thanks.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

24. THAAAANK YOU!

So many people seem preoccupied with promoting their favorite celebrity pol for 2008, often for reasons that are based more in PR than in the needs of the country, but the real work of governing takes place in those unglamorous local offices.

If there is one thing I wish I could convince American voters of, it's the fact that the ongoing actions of their state legislature, city council, and school board have a lot more to do with their everyday quality of life than most things the president does.

If more Americans were aware of the workings of their local governments and understood the abilities required, their newly found savvy would probably transfer to the national level.

[FogerRox]

26. You are WELCOOOME, LOL.

[Strawman]

27. Right now, projecting to Nov. 2008 is like projecting to Nov. 1976 in Dec. 1973

Bush had an escape hatch and a chance to innovate and reverse course to a more sensible policy in Iraq under the cover of this Baker plan and he did not take it. We're in for a real showdown in 2007.