Democrats' goal:
Compete across state
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BY DON WALTON / Lincoln Journal Star
Determined to rebuild their party after a decade of decline, Nebraska Democrats are embarking this week on an ambitious 93-county grassroots strategy.
A regional training session for Democratic activists and candidates in North Platte this weekend is the marker jump-starting a determined bid to create a two-party state.
"This will be a concerted effort to build a structure in all 93 counties (and) compete in areas that now may be considered hostile," said Barry Rubin, the Nebraska Democratic Party's executive director.
Not since the party-building days of Jim Exon in the 1960s and during his governorship in the 1970s has there been "a commitment to compete everywhere in the state," said Heath Mello, the party's deputy director.
The party plans to create a permanent "political force that still is operating the morning after the election," said Ian Russell, who will travel the state as field director, building upon what the party calls its "Democratic community" in every county.
Today, Democrats are organized with party chairpersons in only about half of Nebraska's counties. The majority of missing county organizations are in western and central Nebraska's vast 3rd Congressional District.
But in many unorganized counties, Democrat regularly meet in coffee shops or restaurants in small towns and county seats.
The state party plans to tap into those local resources, build Democratic communities in every county and help with candidate recruitment, voter registration, campaign services and grassroots training.
"Give them the tools," Russell said.
Out in sparsely populated Arthur County, where President Bush defeated John Kerry by a 10-to-1 margin last year, Becky Swanson, a Democrat, said she's become accustomed to Republican domination.
"It used to be that a Democrat didn't vote for anyone but a Democrat, but party is not as important to younger voters anymore," she said.
Swanson is the elected county clerk and also serves as assessor, register of deeds and clerk of the district court.
Although Arthur County is not one of the counties Democrats need to win because of its small population base, it provides a dramatic glimpse of the political disparity in some portions of the state.
Arthur County voter registration: Republicans, 253; Democrats, 60.
Presidential vote: Bush, 240; Kerry, 24.
Nebraska's Democratic Party was "on the brink of extinction" after the 2002 election, Rubin said. Republican
Sen. Chuck Hagel and GOP Gov. Mike Johanns were re-elected by historic landslide margins in a Republican sweep.
In the two years since Rubin has been executive director, the party has built its donor base, greatly increased its resources, added staff, sharpened its visibility, taken advantage of Internet-driven technology and enjoyed considerable candidate recruitment success.
But those gains have not yet paid off in election victories for major office, although Democrats did pick up three seats in the nonpartisan Legislature in 2004.
"People can see the blood is flowing again," Rubin said. "Our heart is beating now (and) we're here to stay."
Voter registration is one of the more daunting challenges. Nebraska Republicans have built a registered voter advantage over Democrats exceeding 179,000, which gives GOP candidates a clear edge at the starting line.
The Democratic rebuilding strategy in Nebraska has been bolstered by a $100,000 commitment from the party's national committee.
But the key ingredient for success lies at the local level, party leaders said.
"It's your plan," Mello said. "We got it from you" by seeking community ideas and feedback before building a strategy.
"They know better than we do" about what will work, Russell said, and who the local candidates should be.
In devising its plan, the party decided its first obligation was just to "show up" in counties it had previously abandoned or simply forfeited to Republicans.
No longer, it decided, would Democrats in some communities be left alone on an island.
What the Nebraska party is doing is similar to the effort now under way nationally, Rubin said.
Under the leadership of Howard Dean, the national party is committed to no longer write off so-called "red states" like Nebraska that dependably vote Republican, especially in presidential races. Hence, the $100,000 commitment to one of the reddest states.
Reach Don Walton at 473-7248 or at dwalton@journalstar.com.
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