Grassroots Length Comparison
It’s kind of a political studliness contest. Anyone doing the math on how the turn out on the amorphous thing know as the national Tea Party is going compared to Obama’s big mega-email and doorknocking campaign last month to drum up pro-spending rage?
My money’s on Tea Party. OK, quick Google news check.
Ambinder, April 2, Atlantic Online:
When Terry McAuliffe was the chairman of the DNC, his staff used to joke at his expense that any number he uttered — usually a brag about some fundraising goal or field accomplishment — had to be reduced by about a third in order to comport with reality. Dana Milbank, writing in the Washington Post, suggests that the current DNC regime is overboasting, too, about the number of Obama budget pledges it received.
In fact, the canvassing of Obama’s vaunted e-mail list of 13 million people resulted in just 114,000 pledges — a response rate of less than 1 percent. Workers gathered 100,000 more from street canvassing. The DNC got to 642,000 by making three photocopies of each pledge so that each signer’s senators and representative could get one.
Not to echo Milbank’s dismissiveness, but if the DNC brags about 642,000 pledges, one has to assume they’re talking about 642,000 individual pledges from 642,000 individual people — quite an impressive number. But Milbank is correct. Fewer than 215,000 individuals signed on to the pledge drive.
Ouch. Almost sounds like DNC opened one of those grassroots enlargement emails. Anyway, it’ll be interesting to see what kind of numbers come out of the 300-odd events today, at which people actually took it on themselves to show up, to see how leaderless radicalized extremism measures up.
NYT reports 750 events. AP went with a blanket “tens of thousands” at Tea Party protestors nationwide. But every report I’ve seen so far cites numbers ranging between 500 and several thousand, but most at about 1,000. Whether its 300 or 750 events or 800 as AFP reported, that begins to suggest Obama’s 215,000 emails and signed pledges is at least matched and probably bested by people who actually made signs, acquired “Don’t Tread On Me” flags, put on knee breeches and tricorn hats, took the day off and took the train into town.
UPDATE: Here’s 538, the poll-monitoring site that compiled press reports of attendance and came up with 262,025. 538 notes that individual protests in favor of illegal aliens and against the Iraq war did better than that, but fails to observe that Obama’s big pro-spending effort to the pull the grassroots up from the top down didn’t.
Reports indicate some people are looking to capitalize on Tea Partyism. Dick Armey’s FreedomWorks got involved in promoting it. Newt Gingrich and Mark Sanford attended events. Bobby Jindal sent people, which sounds kind of lame, but I haven’t seen that he actually showed up. Maybe he did. I hope more people tap into the sentiments expressed today. OK, not the sentiments like that guy I overheard discussing the numerology of disasters yet to befall us, evilly plotted for specific dates by the Obama admin. More like the small government, less taxation, less pork and less hackery sentiments. Lefties are slamming it all as a Dick Armey, FOX news setup. “Astro Turf,” not grassroots. Though, as Ambinder notes, who offered an assist on organizing and promoting is irrelevant when that many people show up. Especially in a movement that was undeniably spontaneous and viral in its generation and growth. And unlike Obama’s tepid days of pro-tax rage, organized by the DNC, did not involve the RNC. Which, now that I think of it, sounds like an issue the RNC may want to address.
Some people might think a movement without leaders is a problem. I don’t know at this point it is. Leaders theoretically will have to take their cue from the movement, and may come out of it. That could end up working better than the model the Dems are now working with, a leader who is trying to tell his increasingly unenthused movement what to do.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 1:00 pm Comments (6) on Wednesday, April 15, 2009
6 Responses to “Grassroots Length Comparison”
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April 15th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
I’m glad to see the effort but the money’s already spent. The effort is too early to help in 2010. Job numbers will rise a bit by then and everyone will forget the screwing we took.
Who is John Galt?
http://www.jourtegrity.blogspot.com
April 15th, 2009 at 10:16 pm
Everybody seems to be saying that the Tea Parties of today are too early for real voter change in 2010. Seems to me that the Tea Parties of today are enough to rattle our tax-and-spend congresscrooks into trying to amend their ways before 2010, at which time we can decide if we trust them to keep to the straight and narrow or not.
April 15th, 2009 at 11:00 pm
There were a bunch of folks in Spokane but since I don’t have a degree in guestimating, I won’t. They were all looking for solutions to this governance problem though.
April 16th, 2009 at 1:41 am
Full not O.C. Tea Party action is up at my page!
This is just the beginning! Look out Fourth of July!
April 16th, 2009 at 4:37 am
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April 16th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the – Web Reconnaissance for 04/16/2009 A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day…so check back often.