Democrats' missed opportunity

Republicans have muddied the waters on Griffin's attempt to steal the election.

A conservative group called Right Count led by former Republican Governor Pat McCrory launched an ad blasting the GOP’s effort to throw out more than 60,000 votes in the Supreme Court race here. The ad features a Republican whose vote is being questioned. He says that he voted for both Trump and Griffin and blames “politicians” for cancelling votes and calls for unity to fight the injustice.

On social media, some progressives are applauding the effort. Not me. I just see a missed opportunity. Republicans are muddying an issue that should be damaging to them. If Griffin is unsuccessful, Republicans will be able to mute criticisms from Democrats by claiming, correctly, that they ran ads criticizing him. If he’s successful, they will just shut up and dominate the court.

Where the hell are our billionaires? They’ve had over two months to hang this issue around the necks of Republicans and attack the GOP brand. Yet we’ve seen no TV ads. Nobody is out there tying Griffin’s effort to cancel votes to the broader GOP.

Instead, the first TV ad about the effort to cancel votes is from Republicans, deflecting blame from the GOP. It’s clearly a damaging issue or they wouldn’t be spending the money necessary to run TV ads. Democrats will never be able to blame Republicans again. They missed their chance to define Republicans and control the narrative.

Part of Democrats’ problem is that they are essentially a party run by committee. Instead of being organized around a shared sense of values, like freedom, justice, and equal opportunity, it’s organized around an alliance of interest groups and 501(c)4 organizations—End Citizens United, Human Rights Campaign, EMILY’s List, America Votes, etc. Most decisions are a compromise, trying not to offend somebody in the coalition. They move slowly when they need to be moving quickly. Money and decisions flow through “the table.” That structure may have worked at one point, but it doesn’t anymore.

Democratic campaign organizations, nationally and at state levels, should be organized more as military operations with a top down structure. In the age of Trump, they need to be agile, not sclerotic. News cycles are now sometimes hours instead of days and party organizations need to be able to react them quickly.

It’s time for the Democrats and their political operations of re-organize and modernize to meet the moment. Their machinery is outdated and top-heavy. They lack strategic vision and good political instincts. They need to be lean and opportunistic. We're operating in a new political environment and it doesn’t favor progressives. Adapt or die.