The back story
Last week I argued that a strange set of circumstances made it possible that a political newcomer might be able to win WV-01. The seat had been safely Democratic for decades in the hands of the Mollohans, until last year when Alan went down in a primary to a right wing fringe candidate, who then promptly lost the general election to a Tea Party Republican. For various reasons the obvious mainstream Democratic big names in the district have declined to run. This summer, at the urging of Democrats across the district, Sue Thorn decided to take on the task of winning the seat back.
Growing exponentially
Since then the movement has been growing exponentially. In September there were half a dozen people meeting a table in a restaurant. By the end of October, there were thirty people at an organizational meeting. Last night, 175 people showed up. If her supporters keep expanding by a factor of five every month, sometime next year Sue will be unanimously acclaimed ruler of the world.
The key has been that everyone who has found out about Sue has gone out and recruited their own friends. I realized how prevalent this was on Wednesday afternoon. I was meeting with a colleague to discuss a scientific paper we are writing, and he said that he had something to show me. He had an email from someone outside the campaign telling him that he needed to support Sue.
Why word of mouth campaigns won't work in WV-01
West Virginia is a difficult state for a people to people campaign. I never heard of Alan Mollohan having a campaign rally. He relied on collecting big money for advertising and on his status on the House Appropriations Committee (and Robert C. Byrd's on the Senate Appropriations Committee) to bring in money to the district. This spring Governor Tomblin and his wife campaigned hard across the state for the special election. When she was in Morgantown she drew a crowd of about twenty- most of them members of the County Democratic Executive Committee.
The 1st district is made up of twenty counties, most of them small and isolated. There has never been a district-wide political organization- Sue's work at OFA was the first time anyone had tried to build one. There has been cooperation among the big counties in the Monongahela River valley to build a high tech corridor, but little outside of that.
The district is not enormous (at least by western standards) but because of the geographic barriers and terrible roads it takes hours to drive from east to west. Morgantown may be the most accessible city in the district. From Morgantown to Wheeling is a ninety minute drive, most of which is through Pennsylvania; Keyser is an hour and forty minutes, most of which is through Maryland; Parkersburg is two hours. Even Kingwood, next door in Preston County (only 20 miles away), is a forty minute drive. Once I went to a friend's funeral in New Martinsville, on the Ohio River directly west of Morgantown. It is only about fifty miles by the shortest route, which is a local road. Big mistake. To save time coming back I drove thirty miles out of my way up to Wheeling so that I could come back on the interstates through Pennsylvania.
The point of this digression is that no one has ever tried to get people from the 1st district together for a campaign because it simply won't work. People from different counties don't know each other, they have different elected officials and issues, and the driving times are prohibitive.
Uniting the 1st District
When Sue said that she was going to hold the rally on a Wednesday evening I began to suspect she was crazy. Who is going to drive for hours after work to listen to a fifteen minute speech, eat some catered hotel food, and then drive hours to get back home? In December the weather in West Virginia is questionable, and even if it isn't snowing in Morgantown the roads to the east are likely to be impassible. It is deer season, and when driving after dark on rural roads you risk having one come through your windshield. People have to get up for work the next day, kids have to get ready for school, and college students have to get ready for finals. Then she said that she wanted to have 100 people there and I knew she was crazy.
Sue managed to get people from Barbour, Brooke, Grant, Harrison, Marshall, Marion, Monongalia, Ohio, Preston, Taylor, Wetzel, and Wood counties to come to Morgantown to support her. This wasn't just token representation- more than half the crowd was from outside Monongalia County. The activists who worked with her in OFA came out to support her, the Democratic establishment who met her when she was organizing came out to support her, the union members who heard her talking about economic justice came out to support her, and ordinary people who visited her web site came out to support her.
So how did she do it? She asked each of the people at the October meeting how many of their friends they would commit to bring. She assigned someone to contact potential supporters in every county. She kept us focused on the goal of making this a success and held everyone responsible for their commitments. Finally, she provided a role model by working harder than anyone else.
Sue herself says:
I think a major reason we succeeded in turnout was because we had to "name" the people committed to attend. My experience is that having to name who'll be there helps tremendously in turnout. You can't easily say "yeah there's 6-8 people who'll attend" you actually have to name who they are.
I was also amazed that we actually exceeded the number of Committed Names we had, which was 169. We also had 50 Maybes. When most events have "flake" rates of at least 50% we either more seriously considered what a Committed Name was or, and I think both of these came into play, the "Committed Names" were more committed than the people who are usually say they'll attend an event. In other words, we were more convincing in our "asks" or people are really wanting someone different.
That is Sue in a nutshell: dream big, organize, hold people accountable, and execute.
Character matters
This is hard, emotionally draining work. Everyone pitched in and nobody quit. We would not have done it if we didn't believe that we not only have a candidate who can win the election but that we have a future congresswoman who we will be proud to say we helped put into office.
I have enjoyed watching the Tea Party Republican candidate of the month club (at least as long as I think that they are unelectable). It is easy for me to see that Palin, Perry, Cain, and Gingrich are weasels who are just spouting the latest focus group points. They have no moral center and are only interested in attention, money, and power. Eventually their supporters figure this out also and move on to the next bozo.
It is less enjoyable when it happens to me. In 2007 I was convinced that John Edwards was the real thing. He said all the right things and did all the right things. I ignored the warning signs, sent him money, and supported him until he imploded.
My friends have told me that they are going to support Sue because if I believe in her she must be good. That is an important responsibility, and I have thought about it carefully. I have known and worked with her for several years now, and I can say with confidence that what she says she stands for is what she really believes. She was focusing on income disparity and economic injustice before the Occupy movement started and before Elizabeth Warren's campaign took off.
I know that Sue won't sell me out as soon as she gets to Washington. The other people involved with her campaign feel the same way, and that is why we have been willing to do what it takes to reach our goal.
How to help
Sue has proven that she is a viable candidate and that she can bring together the groups that are necessary to win the election. Our networking is solidifying Democrats behind her. She is getting attention from the press and the public. Now she needs money! This is not a rich district, and the coal and gas companies donations are going to her opponents.
To donate to Sue Thorn:
Act Blue
or her web site
Also check out the campaign Facebook page
Update: I left out attendees from Grant County, which makes 12 total. Text changed to correct that. |
