DNC Winter Meeting  ...4 of 6 >
Much of the activity on the first two days of the meeting occurred in various constituency and regional caucuses, where members heard from Chairman Tim Kaine and assorted guests of interest.  (In a posting titled "Reinventing the DNC Meeting?" Frank Leone, DNC member from Virginia who runs the DemRulz blog, reported that more than half of the scheduled meeting time over the 2 1/2 days was spent in caucuses, and he suggests that some of this time be devoted to workshops and training). 

In his remarks in the caucuses, Kaine acknowledged Democrats lost among Independents and "got out-messaged" in 2010.  "We lost a lot of those folks (Independents) in '10, but we can win them back," he said.  To that end the DNC is working to put together draft constituency outreach plans by the end of March; these will then be circulated for input from the relevant caucuses and by May the party should have 18-month outreach plans for its constituency groups outlining events, activities, policies, people and priorities to focus on through to November 2012.  To avoid duplication, the DNC will share these with the re-elect campaign, which should be up and running in Chicago in early April.  Kaine also addressed the selection of Charlotte to host the Convention, a decision that did not sit well with many labor and LGBT members.
Feb. 26, 2011--The Rural Caucus met at 8 a.m. on Saturday morning.  Organizing for America (OFA) regional directors Steven Walker and Meagan Gordon addressed the caucus.  OFA is the new structure within the DNC, formed after the 2008 campaign, that seeks to mobilize volunteers.  Walker and Gordon received a lot of feedback and suggestions.  There was a consensus that "in some states it's worked really well; in other states there's been a disconnect."  For example some of the members complained of instances where there had been no coordination between the OFA person and county committees or local clubs.  A member from Alaska said that the OFA people in her state were doing a good job, but were not given any travel money and that "people want face to face."  A member from Washington State said that the OFA person went out as far as Everett, but not further out into the more rural parts of the 2nd CD.  A member from Virginia was concerned that not enough was being done to tell voters about the successes of President Obama's and the Democrats' policies.  She said that many people think, "We didn get any of that [stimulus funds]" when in fact they did.  Walker pointed her to the DNC website progress.barackobama.com
Chairman Kaine spoke to the Rural Caucus and answered questions before heading off to the General Session.

Don Gray, Alaska vice chairman, developed this design after hearing Kaine's speech
in the Seniors Council; he ran off some photocopies and handed them our to other members during this Rural Caucus meeting.  The idea is that Obama and the Democrats care.

progress.barackobama.com
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