DPOC Does Something Right! (It Doesn’t Involve OC)

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I don’t want to make enemies of OC candidates (any more than is necessary and inevitable), but DPOC and its clubs are doing something right this year — at some arguable cost to its own domestic campaigns.  Three of the first five entries on its page of volunteering opportunities currently on its page are recruiting people to call and text into Arizona!

This idea that a county party can actually boost its profile and public esteem by focusing on issues outside of the county is one that I proposed in the wake of Michael Brown’s shooting in Ferguson, Missouri — sending money to the Black leadership there, which incidentally would probably allow for greater fundraising among county Democrats — and I was told that diverting money outside of the county was atrocious and a violation of the DPOC’s charter.  (It was neither — and the critics had a now-unfashionable lack of interest in the police murder of African-American youths.)

Via electoral-vote.com, these are Virginian forecaster Larry Sabato’s predictions as of Sept. 14.  The states in yellow — including Arizona — are the swingiest of the swingy.

Let’s face it: the two most important races this year are for President and control of the U.S. Senate, and nearby Arizona is critical to both.  Not only is it one of the most critical swing states — Biden is about a 2:1 favorite there, and a win there would counteract a loss in one of the upper Midwestern swing states (Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan) — but a win by Mark Kelly is critical to demoting Mitch McConnell to Senate minority leader status.  You can make a case for focusing on Nevada — as I have most years since returning to OC in 2007 — but it has about half of Arizona’s Electoral Votes, has no competitive Senate race, and is already likelier for Biden.

The Aliso Niguel Democratic Club is sponsoring a Flip the Senate phone bank in support of Mark Kelly, husband of former Rep. Gabby Giffords (who likely would have been running, but for the assassination attempt she survived.)  It will occur at least this Wednesday and next at 5 p.m.

A group called Field Team 6 (funny!) is holding training sessions for phone banking into Arizona this Thursday and next at 4 p.m.  I presume that this will focus primarily, but maybe not exclusively, on the Presidential race.

Field Team 6 (still funny!) is also holding an event for text banking to Arizona’s college students every Friday at 1:30 p.m. between now and Halloween.  I’m pretty sure that they arrange it so that your own phone number doesn’t show up.

If you visit that page, you’ll also see opportunities to call your neighbors within OC — and hey, go ahead if you’re so disposed — but Arizona is sort of our moral responsibility, so let’s help them out as well.  They watch our shows; now we should watch their backs!

I should really credit the Aliso Niguel Club and Field Team 6 more than I do DPOC, but even being willing to promote something outside of its domain is a kind of progress.  Who knows — maybe next time they’ll care as much about fighting the good fight in Anaheim as they do Arizona!