Damn...this is good stuff Chris.  I just wish we had all of the data ported over to the Wiki http://80ad.pbwiki.com/.  That should be done, if I get my act in gear, by the end of the day.  We are encouraging people to start putting together slates.  Matt of SayNotoPombo is the lead on this one.  I am just helping.

I am actually on the DSCC.  I ran after volunteering for the Dean campaign and heeding his call to get more involved.  

The amount of work really depends on your AD.  Ours is not very active, so our main commitment is attending the two conventions.

There are a handful of us Deaniacs/reformers there, but the party is so large, that it's sometimes overwhelming.  Since we can't really overtake them now, we sort of see ourselves as timebombs, waiting for our numbers to increase.  A few more likeminded individuals would really help our eventual takeover.  But trust me, it's gonna be a huge task.

This is awesome work and needs to be done. I think this is something where it is particularly important to try to get the less active counties going. The big cities already have intricate, contested (sometimes very myopic) political hierarchies, but in most of the state activist reformers probably have a clear field. Please fill it, I plead from one of the most difficult of cities!

This is how the conservatives took over the California Republican Party in the sixties.  The result was Ronald Reagan.  This is really important!

Hi everybody:

I'm here in Philly, where Chris and others have done a great job taking back our country (and party).

Chris, when you get some names and groups gathered, let us know if and how we can help financially!

I'd love to make some inroads out there the way we did here.

Best of luck, everybody, and keep up the good work.  We're all pulling for you guys (and gals)!

In Bergen County New Jersey we have a corrupt boss Joe Ferriero as the head of our local Democratic party and at our last DFA meeting we voted that a goal of ours is to Defeat Joe Ferrerio in 2008.

I have been blogging about how the process works in Michigan, at MichiganLiberal.. my most recent post here. Right now the county parties are electing their new leadership - the new state party leadership will be elected at the MDP state convention in February.

Thanks for publicizing this, Chris.

I'm 95% likely to be running, and it's going to be a very tough election.  I'm in the 41st Assembly District, which goes from Santa Monica all the way north past Malibu and the like and into Calabasas in the West Valley.  As I understand it there are going to be two competing slates, one progressive and one more establishment.  Both slates are expecting to turn out hundreds of people for the caucus.  The meeting room where the caucus will be held seats about 40.  It should be absolute chaos.

This will be a major test for the progressive movement.  If we can't deliver a slate in a community this progressive, we have to go back to the drawing board.  There's a LOT of money in this district, and I'm guessing the establishment slate will be spreading some around.

There's actually an executive board meeting tonight in Anaheim, and the Progressive Caucus is meeting there at 9:30 and will have more information for anyone interested in running or participating.  All registered Democrats can attend.  More info here.  Jerry McNerney will be speaking there as well.

Chris - you are right about the pathetic condition of the California Democratic Party. However, many people around the state are working to take it over this fossil and create an energized, progressive and effective state party. These activists include my group, the Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club (WDRC), a very progressive and active chartered Democratic club across the bay from San Francisco.

Part of WDRC's strategy is to get our people into the state party structures, including electing delegates to the Central Committee. Most of our members live in the 14th and 16th ADs, and we're approaching these election meetings much as we would any other critical campaign.

Working with other Democratic groups in our area, we're creating slates of progressive candidates. We're planning a major GOTV drive to turn out our 200 plus members  and non-member supporters to vote for our slates. We're using email, snail mail, and phone calls, and we're prepared to drive people to the meetings.

However, our club is well aware that  we have to reach beyond our progressive East Bay bubble and work with other California electoral activists to build an effective and progressive state party.

WDRC has begun strategizing about how to work on state party rebuilding. We and other activists are realizing that we need a 58 county strategy in California, parallel to Dean's 50 state strategy. In many California counties, particularly in the red interior, there is in effect no Democratic Party presence. It will take investment and organizing to turn that around.

To build a 58 county strategy will require some seed money for travel and other expenses. The state party leadership, which views change as a threat, won't fund this kind of grassroots development, but local groups may be able to support themselves once they get going.

At Wellstone we've learned that we can raise money from our own base. WDRC funds all activities from its members and other supporters. The Internet has given us a great tool for tapping small donors. WDRC has also raised hundreds of thousands of dollars through fundraising house parties and other events, and would be happy to exchange how-to information with other Democratic groups.

Admittedly it is a pretty daunting task to organize a state as big and complex as California. The job won't get done overnight. But people seem energized and ready to work collaboratively. Any resources you could offer would be greatly appreciated.

I can't speak about California, but it was unbelievably easy to become a significant player in Colorado. Show up to a couple local Exec meetings with a pulse and you'll quickly be handed a committee seat. Even if your local committee is highly conservative/traditional, they're still burned out and looking for new worker bees. Three of us moved from being on the outside to being Chair, 1st Vice and 2nd Vice within one year, with a team of committed progressives at our side.

Granted, some interesting stuff was going on then. Progressives in CO were energized in '02 by Mike Miles, a committed, honest, well-qualified guy running for US Senate (he announced before then-Sen. Ben Campbell pulled out. Unfortunately, as soon as that race got vaguely interesting, Ken Salazar jumped in also). Long story short, but Miles got NO support from the local and state party people and so there was a massive upheaval. We took over our local party; at the state level, the admittedly successful State Chair (Chris, um, Gates, I believe) was ejected by all the pissed off Miles' supporters who had become delegates to the State meeting. Pat Waak (for better or worse) became chair in '05.

If we could get 10% of the people who read these blogs to sit on Exec Committees, believe me, we'd have a very different world in six months. It's just a question of showing up, to (as Mike Miles and Gandhi would have said) 'Be the change you wish to see in the world).

Well I just applied online to run in Assembly District 45.

Unfortunately I will be out of the country on the date the election will occur (the weekend of January 13 and 14th I will be in Mumbai, India) so I'm not sure what else I can do to make sure  I get elected.

I live in CA AD#6, and the meeting in San Rafael is just mile or so from my house. I feel like I really should go and participate.

However, I must admit I am confused. I read most of this thread, and scanned the wiki referenced above, but I still can't quite figure out what this is all about. Perhaps this is because I am almost completely ignorant about how party politics works.

It would be very helpful to me if some expert, like Chris, could give me some background on what this process is like, how it works, and what the positive outcomes could be. I was not able to figure that out just from the wiki.

Thanks, -Mark

I'm in CA Assembly District 52 (Mervyn Dymally, Compton and Paramount).  I can drag myself and probably two others to the January 14 meeting in Compton.

But who should I vote for, to help the netroots?  I have no idea.  Please let me know who our preferred guys are.

I've never run for anything in my life before, so this should be interesting...