Barack Obama was a community organizer par excellence before
entering politics. He won the Iowa caucuses four years ago by out-organizing
Senator Hillary Clinton, and then rode that upset into the Presidency.
One of the critical keys to victory in an election, specially a close election, is to get
out the vote, which is a function of organization. First you register the
voters, and then you make sure they get to the ballot box.
Identify your supporters, register them to vote, and then
get them to the polls.
The 2010 elections gave Republicans control of most
statehouses, including the battleground states of Florida, North Carolina, New
Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, Iowa, and Wisconsin. The Republican
governors can bring their organizations into the campaign for Governor Romney.
The Obama campaign has spent a large percent of its budget
for this year on organization.
Of course, you only want to organize and motivate your
voters – not your opponent’s. Thus, you need to identify a bloc that will
support you. In the case of the Democratic Party that means those dependent upon
the government for support.
The most dependent class is those on welfare. President
Clinton reluctantly signed a welfare reform bill in the 1996 election year. It
required recipients to seek work. Workfare replaced welfare. Under section 407 of the act, parents must be
working, searching for work, or training for work to be eligible. The Section
did not provide for waivers. It was highly successful in cutting welfare costs while encouraging recipients to seek gainful employment.
The Obama Administration on July 12 through Kathleen
Sibelius, the Secretary of Health and Human Services issued an “Information
Memorandum to State Welfare Administrators” claiming “waiver and expenditure authority”
for Section 407. The Secretary will now grant waivers to states. Workfare will
now revert back to welfare.
HHS is, of course, the agency that will issue hundreds of
thousands of tortured pages applying ObamaCare.
The joy, the euphoria, and hopefully gratitude of the new
non-workfare beneficiaries will reflect itself in November at the ballot box.
Of course, they still have to register and vote. That
‘s where Massachusetts and Professor Elizabeth Warren come into play.
Massachusetts is a reliably Democratic State, but the race
of Professor Warren against Senator Brown is exceedingly close. President Obama
should easily carry Massachusetts, but whether his coat tails will sweep the
Professor into office is “iffy.” She has turned out to be a poor candidate.
Hence the need to get out the Democratic vote in a heavily
Democratic state.
Demos, a New York City based advocacy and public policy
organization, brought suit against several states for violations of the National
Voters Registration Act of 1993. the “Motor – Voter” statute.
Massachusetts recently settled the lawsuit, being the only state to
agree to mail out letters and voter registration cards to all welfare
recipients, about 500,000, in Massachusetts. The cost to Massachusetts is
$257,000 for a state which can no longer afford to send out driver renewal
notices.
President Obama does not need additional votes in Massachusetts,
but Professor Warren definitely does.
By a coincidence, the chair of the Demos Board of trustees
is Amelia Warren Tyagi, the daughter of Professor Warren.
Another coincidence. One of the law firms representing Demos
in the litigation is the prominent Boston firm of Ropes and Gray. The
Governor’s wife, Diane Patrick, is a partner at Ropes & Gray.
Yet another coincidence is that the Attorney General of Massachusetts
is Martha Coakley, who lost to Senator Brown 1 ½ years ago.
Everyone involved denies everything, and Professor Warren is
outraged that anyone would think anything was askance. She protests too much.
I lived in Massachusetts for 18 years. Politics is a blood
sport in Massachusetts. There are no coincidences in Massachusetts politics.
Senator Warren has asked the Warren campaign to reimburse Massachusetts
for the costs. The Professor has refused eventhough she could afford it, having
raised $13.5 million so far, mostly from out of state.
I miss Massachusetts politics.
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