If you have money and ideas you can buy organization.
If you have ideas and organization you can get money.
If you have organization and money you don’t need ideas and that’s how most people do it.

Unless you can guarantee substantial money or an incredible amount of organization to a candidate it’s hard to draft someone.

Sure the web helped, but the key grassroots tool wasn’t the Internet — it was the telephone. It was an intense, focused effort.

Really, I felt like history was made yesterday in New Orleans (when last has something come together that fast?). Incredible thanks to all of you who came together like clockwork to produce the makings of a campaign.

Exactly, mominem. This wasn’t a prototypical “draft” effort. (Something with which I’m familiar.) It was born of desperation, and if Latoya didn’t have understandable personal concern, I think she would have done it.

Also, I think she could have done surprisingly well, had she run.

Bloggers have immense political impact, by the way– however, it is haphazard, and scattershot. ALmost random. The trivialization of details in political campaigns arguably plays right into the hands of bloggers.

The “makaka-gate” thing in VA, for example, was largely blogger driven. That deal arguably tipped the balance of the Senate race, which tipped the balance of the Senate. Kos’ fundraising for Tester in Montana shouldn’t be underrated, either.

In coming days or weeks, I may publicly talk Green Party politics with Ed B. and try to get a blogger debate going.

What truly appalled me was the generally dismal quality of the candidates who did step forward. Desperation to have someone with competence and integrity in the race was what I think drove the last minute efforts.

I wouldn’t think to encourage someone to run unless they came to me for my opinion. Do I think Bart and Karen would make great city officials? Hell yea! Would I goad them into running for office if they didn’t express an interest in it in the first place? No. Why? For the reasons listed above and, more importantly, because they had their private reasons for not doing so I’m sure.

I just hate to think that those reasons might solely be the ones listed above? Because it should be something a citizen looks within themselves to do or not do. I couldn’t disagree more with the Clarke quote. Some seek the office for power, others don’t. Just because someone is enthusiastic about a job doesn’t mean they will corrupt the office, though some do. We aren’t living several thousand years from now. We are in post apocalypse New Orleans and the rule book was washed away in the storm.

My mom used to draft me to wash the dishes when I was growing up. I hated it and often broke the dishes or left scraps of food on them. I was repeatedly admonished for it but rebelled. I dug in my heels and let her decide if she wanted to keep forcing me to wash the dishes and deal with the breakage and the dried cuisine or compromise with me somehow. I simply wasn’t going to “play ball” regardless of the consequences. The dissidence and ensuing punishment was better than the sentence of continuing to wash the dishes. Eventually I was relegated to other household chores.

Also, a candidate has to be enthusiastic about running and prepared to turn their life upside down. It’s a major commitment, which is why *after* a draft effort, the candidate has gotta volunteer to do it.

The reason it seems to be that is quite simply the local bloggers blog about it.

There were many conversations which included other folks with experience in local politics.

The desire to participate in local politics is more than “running” many of us would like to be involved at many levels. Those of us that do need to talk.

Good points Bart.

Bart, you nailed it. The time to start looking for a date for the next dance is now, not later. And the way to convince them is to make the task a little less daunting.