Filing season is upon us and the Montgomery County Democratic Party is accepting applications for those wishing to run on the Democratic ticket. So far, only one candidate has filed; Adrienne Cadik for County Chair. When I heard, I breathed a sigh of relief.
I was not relieved that only one democrat filed, I'm confident there are more to come. I was happy that Adrienne had decided to dedicate herself to at least two more years as our County Chair.
Adrienne has been the County Chair since 2008 and was elected countywide in the March primary. I have worked with her on various projects and serve on the Senior Advisory Committee at MCDP. I have been impressed with the organizational and leadership skills that she brings to the table and over the past two years, we have made significant progress under her direction. While we are under no illusion that we are going to turn the county democratic in any election cycle in the near future, we are making an effort to get there. We are getting back to the basics, getting organized, increasing infrastructure, increasing communications, and increasing our fundraising base.
While we will continue to chip away at republican votes on our way to a competitive election county, in the meantime we will be a viable party, able to deliver precious votes to statewide candidates.
From my perspective, here are some major accomplishments since Adrienne took office:
- Administered a primary election with an historic turnout of 31,000 voters and 6,000 precinct convention attendees
- Conducted a County Convention with a record number of 1,500 delegates
- Operated a highly successful, strategically located campaign headquarters, allowing centralization of campaign activities and a visible Party presence in the community
- Coordinated the campaign for the general election, including developing a targeted precinct strategy, recruiting a team of volunteers, distributing Party and candidate campaign materials, supplying and training campaigners and poll workers, and organizing phone banking and block walking
- Made concerted GOTV efforts in strategic precincts, increasing democratic performance; Montgomery County cast 36,000 votes for President Obama, a 28% increase over 2004
- Hosted three successful fundraising events and an election night party, attracting serious statewide candidates as speakers.
- Cultivated a positive image of the party through active public relations efforts
- Created a formal budgeting and financial planning process
- Increased political contribution income to record highs
- Fostered a strong relationship with the new Young Democrat chapter
- Increased communication among all democrats by utilizing an email blast service, building a list of 6,000 recipients
- Increased communication and interaction with democrats through social networking sites
- Revamped the party website, resulting in a state of the art online presence and significant tool for online organizing
- Provided training and informative bi-monthly meetings for the county executive committee
And this list will be growing in the coming weeks as the county party prepares to re-open its headquarters and initiates a sustaining member program.
All in all it has been one of the greatest eras of progress in the recent history of the county party. It's true that the 2008 election season generated maximum excitement on the democratic side, but the MCDP leadership worked strategically to harness that excitement and to keep it alive through a dull off-cycle year.
Working with Adrienne and the rest of the MCDP leadership has been one of the most rewarding things I have experienced. This and all of the reasons above are why I am excited that Adrienne will seek another term as our County Chair. The stability of the party must be further strengthened and we must continue to build on our accomplishments in 2008 and 2009 as we go into 2010. Even if we only end up with one democrat on our local ticket, I'll be glad that it is Adrienne.
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