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Podcast: Defenders leader explains how the unbeatable Pombo got beaten
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| Parent(s) |
Race
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| Contributor | WesternDem |
| Last Edited | WesternDem Nov 30, 2006 11:46pm |
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| Category | Blog Entry |
| News Date | Friday, December 1, 2006 05:45:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | How did a small phalanx of environmental groups use political trench warfare in the November 7 elections, to topple their chief enemy in Congress — the dreaded California Republican Rep. Richard Pombo?
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The environmentalists decided to target Pombo in the fall of 2005, when he sponsored a House bill that nearly succeeded in gutting the Endangered Species Act (Schlickeisen refers to the “ESA” bill). The campaign intensified up to the primary, when greenish Republican Pete McCloskey challenged Pombo, and climaxed in the general election, when Democrat Jerry McNerney — a wind-energy consultant nearly orphaned by his own party — carried the banner.
There’s a larger message that could resonate into the future. In this election cycle, environmentalists proved they can again be a political power where it counts the most: electing people they agree with, and driving their enemies out of office.
They did it, using tactics similar to what the pros within the political parties do: sophisticated polling of voters, TV ads and other media to mount a rising yearlong drumbeat, analysis of districts down to the street level, and knocking on thousands of doors.
And, Schlickeisen says, these enviros did it with little help from the Democratic Party — mostly on their own. |
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