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Far from being demoralized by the 2004 presidential election, the Hamilton County Democratic Party (HCDP) appears to be capitalizing on the momentum that built during the campaign.
In preparation for the presidential election, the local party created a new set of organizational tools. With this framework still in place, the party has been able to continue to harness grassroots energy and mobilize volunteers.
“Instead of people going away to cry and lick their wounds, it seemed that it just made an awful lot of people more determined than ever to stay involved in the process to make it better, to make the political structure that supports Democratic candidates stronger, so that there are more victories to celebrate in the future than there were this past November,” says Tim Burke, HCDP chair.
The party is now focused on the upcoming congressional, judicial, mayoral and gubernatorial races.
Staying mobilized
People are still angry with national and international issues, according to Chandra Yungbluth, the party’s executive director.
“President Bush is many things, but he is a great mobilizer, motivator,” she says.
Yungbluth, who took the job in January, developed experience at energizing volunteers while managing Greg Harris’ campaign for Congress last year. She is also tech savvy — a skill that’s becoming an indispensable part of the grassroots organizing strategy.
“Chandra has been bringing the headquarters into the 21st century,” says County Commissioner Todd Portune.
Yungbluth has increased the party’s ability to rally support online through a calendar of events on its Web site (hamiltoncountydems.org) and an e-mail newsletter. Using the contact list from Sen. John Kerry’s presidential campaign, the newsletter provides timely information on candidates, events and protests to about 5,000 people.
“Overall, one of the things that was criticized was communication among the party and party members, and that goes along with visibility as well, like the T-shirts and the bracelets and the Web site and having people out there,” Yungbluth says.
She believes online communication is important but says it doesn’t do much for the party’s base in poorer communities, which might not have access to the Internet.
“We are Democrats, so we transcend cultural and socio-economic boundaries, so not everything will always be electronic based and we won’t abandon paper-based altogether,” Yungbluth says.
Three organizations born out of the presidential election have been working with the party to mobilize and educate local citizens. The Democratic Forum restarted itself, Kerry volunteers formed the Southwestern Ohio Progressive Alliance and Dean for America became Democracy for Cincinnati.
These organizations helped spread the word about the 2005 Hamilton County Democratic Party Campaign School, held April 16 at Cincinnati State College. During the eight-hour program, 150 people attended four sessions designed to train and educate participants on every aspect of staffing, volunteering or running a political campaign.
It is through such initiatives that the HCDP has recruited 250 new precinct executives since November, joining 400 that had been in place. Precinct executives work to mobilize voters in their neighborhoods by introducing candidates, canvassing, working phone banks and trying to get Democrats to vote.
“The precinct executive is the neighborhood liaison for the party,” Yungbluth says. “They’re our eyes and ears on the ground. If we’re in a war, they’re our foot soldiers. In reorganizing and restructuring the party and revitalizing it, that’s where you must start. It’s basic grassroots.”
The growth in precinct executive recruitment is significant because it’s unusual for people to be so politically involved during a non-presidential election year, Yungbluth says. She gives the new “foot soldiers” much of the credit for Paul Hackett’s overwhelming success in the special primary election in the 2nd Congressional District.
“Partly why Paul Hackett won so overwhelmingly is because, once the Democratic Party endorsed, it had a ground force ready to go in some of those wards,” Yungbluth says. “I knew Paul was going to win, but I’m very happy about the margin and I think it’s due in part to those new people that got involved and have really jumped in with two feet.”
From the ground up
On May 22 the HCDP co-sponsored a program with the Democratic Forum, Democracy for Cincinnati and the Progressive Alliance of Southwestern Ohio focusing on the 2nd District primary; 250 people learned about the mechanics of the special election and listened to six of the Democratic candidates.
Burke says that kind of turnout is indicative of a movement that he describes as “unlike anything else that I’ve seen in the 30 years I’ve been involved with the Democratic Party.”
Unlike past elections, this year the HCDP isn’t letting Republican candidates for municipal court run unopposed.
“One of the things that people were rightly upset about is that we didn’t have a single candidate for judge,” Burke says. “This year we didn’t want to go through that again. So we have seven candidates running for judge, and frankly I think we’ve got a terrific group of candidates.”
Leading the ticket is Fanon Rucker, who received 95,000 votes in the election for county prosecutor last year. Rucker is running for municipal court judge in the 3rd District, where he outpaced Joe Deters, who won the prosecutor’s race, by 4,000 votes.
“I think we’re really in a position to make a difference in the municipal court system this year,” Yungbluth says.
Even with the enthusiasm, Democrats remain the minority party in Hamilton County. The board of elections shows 57,435 voters registered as Democrats and 66,308 registered as Republicans, among a total of 569,479 registered voters.
“Hamilton County is still a right-leaning county,” Burke says. “It is not the solid rock of the Republican Party that it used to be; it has eroded significantly. But the numbers are still slightly against us — not as bad as they are in Warren County or Clermont County, not nearly as bad as they used to be. We’re making great gains here. But it will still be five or six years before we’re on an even playing field, maybe a shade longer than that.”
Is meaningful change underway in the HCDP?
“The fact remains that the party is still struggling locally in that respect but at least people are willing to talk about it, and that’s a healthy sign,” Portune says. “But there’s been a real push from the ground up — not so much from the top down, but from the ground up — since November to keep people who were mobilized in the fall mobilized, keep them involved and energetic.” ©
This article appears in Jul 20-26, 2005.
