Tim Kaine

Tim Kaine, the governor of Virginia and President-elect Obama's choice to be Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, released a YouTube video on Friday of him answering questions sent in from all over the country. I thought I'd share the video, and then take a bit to point out a few interesting answers.

Kaine gives young voters some recognition at about 6:35 in. While he's quick to include "first-time voters" in his answer, Kaine explains that the Democratic outreach efforts have been especially successful over the last couple years, due to Howard Dean and Obama. Dean's 50 State Strategy led Democrats into deserted territory, reintroducing the party to some Americans who got used to seeing the GOP as the only option. Kaine noted that Obama's campaign built on this by raising efficacy among potential voters -- each voter's donation or time spent volunteering mattered, and he used whatever tool he could to send that message. With that in mind, Kaine explains that he wants to bring Obama's message of engagement to voters, but with governance in mind.

Hopefully this means that Kaine will be incorporating even more technology into the day-to-day operations of the Democratic Party, in order to attract more and more young voters. I'm a bit concerned that Kaine was so quick to lump young voters in with "first-time voters." I'd like to hear more of Kaine's plan to mobilize young Americans.

About 19:34 in, Kaine answers a question asking for simple things the questioner can do to help. Kaine notes that the first thing they can do is "pitch in and help your neighbor," which made me think of Democrats Work's suggestion for the DNC to reorganize around the idea of service to others. Kaine's answer revolves around "communal responsibility," as the governor points out that many non-profit organizations are experiencing difficulty getting donations in these hard times.

If Kaine means what he says, infusing the party with a service-focused theme would be a great move. With the current state of the economy, the exhaustive list of volunteers the Obama campaign was able to collect this summer and fall, and the coming-of-age of service-loving Millennials, Kaine is in a position to establish and strengthen bonds with both newer, older, and younger voters. The political benefits would be outstanding, but more importantly, the Democratic Party would be tangibly giving something to Americans, not just asking for money or time on its own behalf.

Kaine speaks more about the 50 State Strategy at 23:00, saying that he will continue the strategy, while conceding that it may not look the same, as he and the DNC try to improve on Dean's efforts.

Finally, Kaine answers a young questioner asking how to "get started" in politics. Kaine repeatedly notes that everything starts with "a desire to serve others," explaining that that's what made him leave his job as a civil rights lawyer to pursue politics -- more people to serve.

I applaud Kaine's use of YouTube in answering these questions, and I hope it continues. I hope that Kaine will put much of what he says in this video into action, and that the Democratic Party will continue and broaden their efforts toward engaging every American.

Any thoughts/comments?

Update: I'm trying to find out more about O'Malley Dillon. Meanwhile, Marc Ambinder has more on the new DNC team and how they might work with OFA 2.0. He paints a sunnier picture than I did, which is encouraging, but his reporting is more general and not at all youth-specific. Notably, Ambinder suggests that the 50 State program will not only continue, but will actually expand.
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The Washington Post reports that Virginia Governor Tim Kaine will replace Howard Dean as the head of the Democratic National Committee. Kaine will serve in a part-time capacity until 2010 as he finishes his term as governor. Jennifer O'Malley Dillon will be named the Executive Director of the DNC and handle day-to-to day operations.

So what does this mean for youth within the DNC and any hope of seeing a coherent, long-term youth strategy emerge from the party? It's unclear at this point.

A friend involved with the Young Democrats tells me that this could be good for youth organizers. YDA ran a strong program in Virginia in 2005, and Kaine was very supportive of their efforts on his behalf. And in 2006, young voters in the state played a crucial role in the election of Sen. Jim Webb. All that, along with his early support of Obama's youth-driven campaign, gives hope that Kaine "gets it" and will support efforts to increase young people's participation in the party infrastructure and as a key target in their strategies.

Yet at the same time, Kaine is only going to be on board part time and I haven't heard anything either way about Dillon. She worked for Edwards in Iowa, where he garnered very little of the youth vote, despite efforts by the campaign to court young voters through it's One Corps service program. But she also switched over to the Obama campaign during the general election. Who knows where that leaves her when it comes to increasing youth participation within the party.

I'm also discouraged by a simple fact that a colleague reminded me of this morning. Every Democratic Chairman in the last 16 years who served under a Democratic President has left the party in a weaker position than he found it. Generally this is because the party is subservient to the needs of the President during the time he is in office. During a Presidential term, the party in power focuses on helping their President achieve short-term goals instead of focusing on long-term infrastructure building. The two counter examples are Terry McAuliffe and Howard Dean, both of whom were independent of a Democratic President and left a drastically improved party in their wake.

Not to be a pessimist, but history seems doomed to repeat itself. Obama For America 2.0 looks like it will remain an independent entity, separate from the DNC. This of course is in the name of "post partisanship." The Obama folks don't want to scare off any supporters who may not want to be associated with the Democratic Party, so they are going to operate outside the party. That might be smart politics in the near-term, but if it means that the DNC is neglected, or an after-thought, that's also a recipe for an atrophied Democratic Party, potentially undoing the work of the past eight years.

This seems particularly true of the young people supporting Obama. We're already stuck in the less than ideal position of having YDA and CDA competing for the Democratic youth brand. With separate structures, one inside the party and one outside, one heavily funded and one drastically underfunded, and no real coordination between the two, Democratic Party youth organizing isn't as strong or as unified as it should/could be. Now add into the mix an extremely popular Students for Barack Obama 2.0 organization. It's got more credibility than YDA and CDA among students, but it doesn't necessarily build party loyalty or help anyone other than Obama. It will compete with YDA and CDA for money and bodies, potentially siphoning off valuable resources, yet even if it out-organizes YDA and CDA in the short-term, there is no guarantee that it will outlast either organization. SFBO is tied directly to the Obama brand. Once he is out of office, the organization loses it's core mission - supporting Obama. The potential is there to build a stellar organization that disappears at the end of the Obama administration, leaving nothing in its wake.

Maybe I'm too much of a pessimist here. I hope so. Time will tell. The DNC Winter Meeting is on January 21st in DC. I'm attending as a member of the youth council. It's my first DNC meeting, so it should be interesting. I'm doubtful, but maybe we'll get some light shed on these questions.

Sunday reading material:

• Jack and Jill Politics reflects on an interview Jesse Jackson Sr. gave, talking about the generational division within the black community and its ongoing battle for equality.
• An impressive piece by a California high school student regarding the political issues impacting teenagers today.
• An article in The Guardian discussing Obama's popularity with younger voters along with a few interviews with Obama supporters.
• Tim Kaine campaigns for Obama in DC's Virginia suburbs.
• Another MSNBC profile of China's young people -- this time, it's about their nightlife.
• A San Francisco law restricting investigations on prostitution forgets about boys and girls trapped within the system.
• A column in the South Bend Tribune criticizes attempts at making a joke of the 1968 protests of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
• The Pottstown Mercury reports on the recent opening of an Obama office in Pottstown, PA.