(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Facing off with the Vaunted Nassau Co. GOP Machine -- Yes We Can! [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-02-12 Nassau County Republicans have, i was warned, what Politico called “a robust field program.” And i kept looking for signs of it. I’ve seen GOP field operations before, with young men (and sometimes women) paid to knock on doors, put out yard signs, “flooding the zone,” often with really flamboyant demonstrations of visible support. Trump’s unique kind of branding fit well with an existing trend in GOP field and visibility, and that’s not what i found here. Yes, those were the signs i was looking for. But that’s not what i found, and as Amanda1 pointed out, “NYT had a huge spread on the Republican machine.” That it did, and it told me i was looking for the wrong signs. The Nassau GOP machine is like the Madigan machine back in Chicago, and i should have known better. I was looking to signs of young people, paid canvassers and not precinct captains — patronage workers — everywhere. Now i’ve run and worked campaigns against the machine for decades. Hope Springs from Field PAC’s use of the Issues Survey, which drove our traditional canvass in the Summer and our hybrid/GOTV canvass on Long Island this month, stems from one of the things for which the Madigan Machine was known. Precinct captains in Chicago’s 13th Ward (back in the day, of course) were expected to drop by the homes in their precinct 4 times every election year (twice in off years) to touch base with voters there. This kind of frequent contact allowed precinct captains to develop a knowledge base of what drove or motivated their electorates. One of the GOTV Rallies for Suozzi last week Since Friday night, Hope Springs volunteers have knocked on 60,005 doors in the “heel” of NY-03. During the Saturday and Sunday canvasses, we not only urged people to go vote early, we offered rides to Massapequa Town Hall to vote early. “There’s a storm coming, supposed to be worse on Tuesday,” we’d remind them. We have two shifts out today. Our first group (41 volunteers showed up for our “daylight” shift) wasn’t nearly as targeted as tonight’s turf will be. For the third time in this campaign, we’ll be dropping door hangers (and, in some places, “planting flags”) for voters we expect to vote for Suozzi, haven’t yet voted (that we know of — that’s another story) and want to “nag” to get them to the polls. It hasn’t been hard to remind people of the stakes here. If we want to take back the House this year, we have to start winning in these kinds of Congressional Districts. And we have to do it in the face of motivated, frustrated opponents who have been winning everything these last 3 years (here on Long Island). But, by and large, precinct captains are older than what we have seen as regular Republican canvassers elsewhere. And no matter what their age, they are much more familiar with their turf, and, thus, less tentative, as they move between houses in their rounds. So less noticeable. Like neighbors, not canvassers. A good precinct captain can be invaluable to a great GOTV operation. They (a good precinct captain) knows where all the votes are, who’s reliable, who needs extra tending. Who needs a ride, who doesn’t like to be bothered. A great precinct captain makes sure all their notes and comments are entered into the database, so their efforts can be duplicated by their replacement if and when that time comes. But not all patronage workers make for great precinct captains. They don’t always make for good ones, either. Many times, patronage workers do what they have to and little more. Sure, there are always some who want to move up, be promoted and know one of the candidates and feel extra motivated. But the NYTimes article, In the Land of George Santos, Machine Politics Fuels a G.O.P. Revival, makes it clear that this election is really Joseph Cairo vs. Tom Suozzi. Pilip is just the cardboard cutout for Cairo. It is the kind of organized force that has made the group perhaps the most powerful remaining political machine in the country, one that could make it possible for Ms. Pilip to upset Tom Suozzi. The three-term former Democratic congressman enjoys a partisan enrollment edge, a major fund-raising advantage and decades of political experience. At a time when Republicans have struggled in the suburbs nationally, Mr. Cairo’s party now controls all three of Nassau County’s powerful towns, the county executive’s office and, until Mr. Santos’s expulsion, the region’s four House seats — equal to the Republicans’ narrow majority in Washington. Hope Springs from Field PAC has been knocking on doors since January 13th for the special election in the New York CD-03. We are canvassing Democrats and unaffiliated voters with a systematic approach that reminds them not only that Democrats care, but Democrats are determined to deliver the best government possible to all Americans. Obviously, we rely on grassroots support, so if you support field/grassroots organizing, voter registration (and follow-up), GOTV and our efforts to protect our voters, we would certainly appreciate your support: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/hopespecial Hope Springs from Field understands that volunteer to voter personal interactions are critical. Knocking on doors has repeatedly been found to be the most successful tactic to get voters to cast a ballot and that is the goal of what we do. x YouTube Video . The Nassau County Republican machine is something to be envied. But it’s hard to replicate — there are lots of places where there aren’t thousands of county jobs that can be control by a political boss. Democrats have really been more successful when we have been able to get our disparate interest groups to mobilize their members for their own reasons. Instead of trying to “resurrect the old-school machine,” as the Times writes that Nassau Republicans have done — and without the benefit of the patronage jobs that is driving that resurrected machine — Democrats and progressives have allowed our diversity to create cohesive units to identify, motivate and mobilize our electorate for their own reasons and motivations. While i think of this kind of emergent unit cohesion — often around identity groups, which may be why MAGA opponents are so critical — as military-like, i may be the only one. We live and volunteer for each other, for principles we share amongst ourselves, and not for a job, or a cult-figure or even a political party. We don’t always need charismatic candidates to be on the ballot, we simply need our diverse organizations and interests to be organized towards that end. Perhaps coordinated is a more accurate term than organized here. Because many of the groups Democrats now rely on self-organized. Their connections to the Democratic coalition (with its roots in the FDR coalition some 90 years ago) can be somewhat tenuous. And yet, we can be mobilized. Smart campaigns, even smart party orgs, can coordinate these different self-organized groups not by trying to control them, but by trying to fill in the spaces or holes that remain. Maybe our diversity does make some things difficult compared to a tightly-controlled political machine, but it offers unique advantages, too. We shouldn’t dismiss the enthusiasm and loyalty we share with those who share our political interests. There’s more than one way to skin a cat, or so it is said (never had that experience!) and people don’t always see how our interest group cohesion fits together to make victory possible. It’s only important that it does. So, yeah, it is notable that “After decades of electoral losses and corruption scandals, the organization has roared back to life in the New York City suburbs, reviving a political tradition that has largely become an anachronism elsewhere in the country,” as the NYTimes writes. If Cairo (i mean, Pilip) wins tomorrow it will be even more notable. But we are finding our own success, without having to build a cult (or is it counter-cult?) to do so. That’s noted, too: “As a week of early voting wound down on Sunday, Democratic turnout had outpaced that of Republicans and independents and looked stronger than in other recent elections.” Cairo is said to trust his field operation, but i trust the “string theory” turnout operation we’ve built, too. And, like yesterday’s Super Bowl, it’s strength against strength. I like being the underdog here (it’s more comfortable). But i will repeat: winning is contagious. Delivering victory tomorrow, in the face of crappy weather and attempts by Texas governor to sink Democrats, will really set us up for 2024. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/2/12/2223027/-Facing-off-with-the-Vaunted-Nassau-Co-GOP-Machine-Yes-We-Can?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/