Join in the Joint Campaign!

Saturday, September 1, 2007

(Arlington County Democratic Committee)

Report from the Chairman

Peter Rousselot

As this issue of the Voice reaches your mailboxes, our Arlington Joint Democratic Campaign will be swinging into a higher gear! Under the outstanding leadership of School Board Vice Chair Ed Fendley, Karla Hagan, and Amanda Brino, the 2007 edition of our Joint Campaign continues to build on a great tradition. We urge each reader of the Voice to review our Joint Campaign volunteer opportunities, and sign up for as many as you can!

Our Joint Campaign tradition began in the 1970’s. In 1971 (a “Constitutional Year”, as is 2007, because Arlington’s Constitutional Officers were up for election), there was some collaboration among Arlington’s Democratic candidates, but it tended to be divided among three groups: those running for Constitutional Offices, the County Board, and the state legislature, respectively. The candidates running in each group worked together on some activities, but there wasn’t much joint campaigning across the groups.

That began to change in 1975 (the next Constitutional Year), under Dave Bell’s Joint Campaign Chairmanship, when all Democratic candidates agreed to co-sponsor a Joint Democratic Sample Ballot for the first time. In the1980’s, this collaboration expanded further to include joint promotion of all Democratic candidates in the Democratic Messenger newspaper---a tabloid that had begun in 1980 to promote the individual County Board candidacy of John Milliken. Besides Bell and Milliken, other early leaders of our Arlington Joint Democratic Campaigns included Mary Margaret Whipple, Lucy Denney, Sharon Davis, and Al Eisenberg.

In the quarter century since the mid-1980’s, our Joint Democratic campaign concept has expanded still further to include more and more other forms of joint visibility and promotional activities.

The genius behind this Arlington Democratic tradition lies in our candidates’ acceptance of the efficiencies and enhanced electoral prospects that flow from collaboration. Under the Joint Campaign banner, Arlington Democratic candidates can do more for each of their candidacies than they can do working only for themselves. This core concept is just as true today as it was in 1975.

Nevertheless, the challenge for each year’s Joint Campaign leadership is to decide how this powerful concept can best be applied to the special circumstances of that year’s campaign. For example, in 2006, the Joint Campaign leadership correctly concluded that the energy, enthusiasm, and spirit among Arlington activists supporting the statewide candidacy of Jim Webb for Senate was a critical ingredient to integrate into the local campaigns for Arlington County Board and School Board. That decision enabled Chris Zimmerman and Sally Baird to surprise the pundits by the magnitude of their local victories.

Constitutional years like 2007 present particular challenges for our Joint Campaign leadership because Arlington electoral history tells us that turnout will be the lowest among the four years in each electoral cycle. Turnout this year could be in the 34,000 to 39,000 range---compared to the 73,499 who voted in the Senate race in Arlington last year. History tells us that a disproportionate amount of this forecast drop-off will occur among voters 40 and under. Many of the voters in this age bracket have fewer ties to the local community and local elections because they have lived in Arlington for a shorter period of time, but many of them also have an affinity for the Democratic Party and the issues that it is championing nationally.

Recognizing these challenges, our 2007 Joint Campaign leadership will be pursuing a variety of strategies. For example, they will seek to recruit and motivate Arlington Democratic activists and voters who are particularly interested in working to further the Blue-ward momentum in Virginia, finding its expression this year in our 21/51 campaign. (See www.2151virginia.org ) In addition to seeking out the 21/51 activists, our Joint Campaign leadership also will be reaching out to the Arlington Democratic supporters who are working hard for various Democratic Presidential campaigns.

If you are already involved in 21/51 or a Presidential campaign, you have just as much of an interest in networking with our Joint Campaign team as they have in working with you. You can reach out to them to volunteer on a critical Virginia Senate or House of Delegates race or for your favorite Democratic Presidential candidate. This is the 2007 version of a great Arlington Democratic tradition. Please join us!