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You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2010 / Curtis is Back

Curtis is Back

by Kay|  September 27, 20102:39 pm| 10 Comments

This post is in: Election 2010

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In 2003, Curtis was a 17 year old local high student who volunteered with the county effort for the Kerry campaign. He just showed up one day. He wasn’t old enough to vote, but he wanted to help.

We lost track of him after that, and I figured he had moved on, which is right and good and what someone that age is supposed to be doing, and he had.

Curtis showed up again Friday. After 2004, he went to a state college 60 miles away. He volunteered with the Obama campaign while a commuter student at that college, got his degree, and is now back in town. He’s working as a manager at a nursing home, and wants to get involved locally again.

Curtis got me thinking about the national discussion of the 50 State Strategy or the Kerry Campaign or the Obama Campaign or OFA, and how those efforts and organizations are presented as a series of distinguishable events with clear lines of demarcation that begin and end abruptly with a change of national leadership. It looks and feels very different from the ground.

It’s not like the national leadership changes and everyone involved is summarily fired and replaced with brand new people. They move on, or up, or sideways, or away, and they often turn back up, with a brand-new email address and a new title.

In 2003, we had a full-time Kerry organizer who came from a state Party in Kentucky, and he went back there the day after the election. We got a Dean 50 state strategy state Party hire. He came from a union. He stayed less than a year, but he is still out there. He has contacted me on behalf of two different issue advocacy groups. After he left, another state Party organizer appeared in 2006. She was hired away by the Obama campaign, where she became “Northern Ohio Coordinator” or something equally impressive-sounding. She’s now working for the Ohio Democratic Party in Columbus. Our current county organizer started with the Obama campaign, then worked briefly for OFA, and now works for the state Party. Our current OFA organizer started with a union. One of our homegrown local-issue advocates ended up with a paid position on Sherrod Brown’s staff.

The nature of their work, how they go from job to job, blurs the lines at the local level, and makes changes in national strategy or national leadership much less important than the local conversation.

We’re having that conversation with people who have cycled through a lot of strategies and a lot of leaders, and a lot of time they’re the same people.

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Reader Interactions

10Comments

  1. 1.

    Culture of Truth

    September 27, 2010 at 2:43 pm

    I thought this was going to be a story about terribly disappointed and disillusioned Curtis is. Those are very hot right now.

  2. 2.

    lol

    September 27, 2010 at 2:51 pm

    Isn’t this supposed to be a story lamenting how the incompetent Tim Kaine destroyed Howard Dean’s 50 State Strategy and how there’s no one working the grass roots anymore?

  3. 3.

    jurassicpork

    September 27, 2010 at 2:53 pm

    Mrs. JP volunteered for the Obama campaign when she lived in Florida and is now one of a growing number of people who feel cheated and left behind by this administration. I didn’t campaign for Obama because I could see through his lies but I still voted for him because I never believed this administration would actually rival the last one in ineptitude and corporate allegiance. Fast forward 2 years later:

    Barb’s and my back are up against the wall and we’re truly screwed thanks to the Massachusetts DET and the federal government. Anything you guys could do to help would be appreciated. More details are here or here.

  4. 4.

    Violet

    September 27, 2010 at 3:11 pm

    I’m glad to hear that Curtis is back. I hope a lot more “Curtises” show up to help elect Democrats again. I’m not a huge fan of what the Dems have done, since I think they should have done a lot more, but they’re not totally batshit crazy like their opposition is.

  5. 5.

    Linda Featheringill

    September 27, 2010 at 4:14 pm

    Kay:

    So, you are saying that OFA might have LONG-LASTING influence here on the ground?

    Cool!

    [“Don’t mourn. Organize.” Joe Hill]

  6. 6.

    aimai

    September 27, 2010 at 4:18 pm

    I think the moral of this story, if it has to have one, is that the younger people are when they get involved politically, and the more they do, the more they will do. Outreach to non-alte-cockers must be a central part of getting people involved. If it were we wouldn’t have to have policies which primarily please old white retired people because students would be voting their own interests reliably.

    aimai

  7. 7.

    Binzinerator

    September 27, 2010 at 4:43 pm

    We’re having that conversation with people who have cycled through a lot of strategies and a lot of leaders, and a lot of time they’re the same people.

    And among Teh Stupids, we have seen cycle through Bush, then McCain, now Palin and the Tea Party, while cheering for
    A Guy I’d Have a Beer With
    Axis of Evil
    You’re Either With Us or Against Us
    Slam Dunk
    Shock and Awe
    Osama Bin Laden Wanted Dead or Alive
    Fight Them There So We Don’t Have to Fight Them Here
    Mission Accomplished
    Stay the Course
    New Way Forward
    The Surge
    Drill Baby Drill
    Country First
    and now
    Take Our Country Back.

    A lot of time they’re the same people, the Republican base. They never go away, they never tire of the stupid.

    There must be some natural law regarding the conservation of Teh Stupid. Maybe that’s why they call themselves conservatives.

  8. 8.

    kay

    September 27, 2010 at 6:34 pm

    @aimai:

    I think the moral of this story, if it has to have one, is that the younger people are when they get involved politically, and the more they do, the more they will do.

    Curtis is extraordinary. Big, broad smile, open nature. It’s funny, because he knows a lot more than he did in 2004, he can discuss the health care bill, pro and con, where in 2004 he was just a cheerleader, but he’s not at all cynical.

    I got emails after he re-appeared, which means he didn’t just contact me, he called all of us.

  9. 9.

    henqiguai

    September 27, 2010 at 8:15 pm

    @Culture of Truth (#1):

    I thought this was going to be a story about terribly disappointed and disillusioned Curtis is.

    Funny, my first thought was “Curtis LaMay is back?”; but I’m strange that way.

  10. 10.

    Anne Laurie

    September 28, 2010 at 3:18 am

    Kay, you may never see this, but I wanted to thank you for cheering me up with this post.

    It’s easy to get distracted by the tribalism, that’s part of our heritage, but as long as Curtis (and his fellow utes) keep coming back, there’s still a future to hope for!

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