You Have The Power

by: BranfordBoy

Fri Sep 29, 2006 at 10:55:41 AM EDT

You see, I have been troubled by the fact that our efforts on phonebanking and canvassing are, in a very real sense, "lost" when we head home for the day. The little nuggets of data each of us, as individuals, generate through these efforts is fed into the gaping maw of the campaign's database operation. The hope is that the intelligence will be put to good use, but you and I have no guarantee of that.

And campaign data operations are notoriously balkanized. In theory, there is an effort by the Party to gather and consolidate voter information generated by various campaigns around the state. But candidates are reluctant to share the fruits of their campaigns' labors. "Why," the reasoning goes, "should I provide my field intelligence to a central clearinghouse where a future primary challenger can have access to it and use it against me?"

That's one way in which your efforts get lost. Here's another: Let's say that at some future date, some brave progressive decides to take on Dodd (not saying that someone should, just trying to come up with a ferinstance) and you decide to back that candidate. Can you use the work you did for Lamont? No. It's "lost." You will have to volunteer for the new campaign and do it all over again.

So what to do about it?

Back in the days when the Irish ward bosses of New York were inventing modern retail politics, the precinct captains and ward heelers were vital cogs in The Machine. They were tasked with identifying, staying on top of, and herding to the polls the people within a very narrow geographical area, usually one in which they lived. It was a great system. And it worked. It worked in the service of a corrupt machine, but the corruption was in the hearts of the men who ran the machine, not in the system itself.

My Left Nutmeg, at vast expense (okay, 300 bucks) has acquired the voter rolls for the entire state of Connecticut. This is the latest list, containing (I am assured) all those new voters and new Dems who were energized by the Lamont campaign. BTW, I obtained it without any subterfuge. This is public information and anyone who cares to pay for it can get it. More important, anyone who cares to get it can turn around and share it with others, as I intend to do with you.

The voter rolls tell you how people are registered (D, R or U), when they registered, their date of birth, and their voting activity (not how they voted but if and when) for the last ten elections. It's not perfect and there are errors: For example, in my little neck of the woods, the list shows both the current and former owners of a nearby house all living together.

So this is what I propose: That each MLN reader make a commitment to become their own precinct captain. Make a commitment to get to know, intimately, the Democrats (and Rs andd Us, too) on your block, on your street, within a three block radius, in your condo development -- you pick your own parameters.

There is a vast difference between calling and saying, "Hi, I'm Susie Q, a volunteer with the Blotnik campaign," and saying "Hi, I'm Susie Q, your neighbor at 123 Elm Street." The conversation will flow much more easily and the information gleaned will be more detailed and more valuable. And since this is an ongoing project, you will be able, over time, to gather a considerable amount of valuable data. Who has kids? Who is active in local politics? Who is passionately pro-choice?

First, you need your local voter information and that's where My Left Nutmeg comes in. MLN will provide you, via email and free, your local voter rolls. Actually, a lot more than that.

See, the state roll is divided into four sections, each containing a whole bunch of towns. First, I thought of doing it just town by town (which I think has some obvious strategic advantages), but I discovered that would be A LOT of work. So I decided to distribute it in chunks for now. If I can figure a way to create 169 separate town databases, I will, but for now... You will get not only the info on your own town but a lot of other towns as well.

For that reason, I encourage you to look into getting just your own town's data from your local registrar or town hall. Some towns give it for free, others charge (it was $20 in Branford). But I know from experience that it's much more manageable.

Once you get the information, you will still have a lot of work to do, so until this little scheme matures and becomes more "user friendly," this may not be for everyone.

You will need some basic computer and database know-how. The data comes as zipped files which when opened reveal a "Unix executable file," which is something I'd never heard of. On my Mac system, I discovered that I could open the file in Word, save it as a text file, and thus open it in FileMaker Pro as a database. Something similar could be done, I suppose, in Excel.

I would suggest that you make your first project to export just the data you are interested in (your condo development, the three streets around your house, etc.) to a separate database where it will be much more manageable.

Next, you will have to create your own way of dealing with what is a rather unweildy set of data (there are over 40 fields in each record). In FileMaker, I was able to create a layout that captures the most important data and then add additional fields, including a "Notes" field that lets me make note of things like "Lamont lawn sign" or "has kids" or "pro-Joe." There may be (in fact, I am sure there must be) better ways to do it. The important thing at this point is to get started. Perhaps, if this project catches on, people can contribute their techniques and layouts and make them available to everyone.

If you become your own precinct captain, you will develop a depth of voter intelligence that will be invaluable to any campaign you choose to work with. And since you control the information, it will not get "lost." Instead of helping just one campaign, it can help many -- from a DTC primary right up to president. And with each campaign, your date will get richer and more detailed.

Also, what I am proposing is not meant as a substitute for volunteering for Lamont or DeStefano or whoever, but as an addition. The process of information gathering that I am proposing is not limited to an election cycle; it is ongoing. I think there is a lot we can accomplish with this project between now and election day (and I hope to post some more detailed suggestions in the coming days), but the real fruits of the effort may not become apparent until the next election -- and that's okay. Like I say, the important thing is to get started.

Also, I have decided to institute a certain level of "quality control." I certainly have no interest in aiding and abetting Lieberman's GOTV effort. So this is what I propose:

If you would like the chunk of the state voter rolls containing your town, send an email to myleftnutmeg -AT- gmail -DOT- com. Tell me your name, your town, and give me your phone number. That will give us a chance to chat about what we can do to advance the progressive cause in the state. It will also, I trust, serve to weed out the wackos and provocateurs.

I will then email you the zipped file with the data. Simple, right?

As you can tell, if you've made it this far, this is very much a work in progress. Any suggestions for how to refine and improve it are welcomed in the comments.