More Than Tauscher?

There are tons of things in this world that I'll never understand without studying, researching, and thinking hard about, like discrete mathematics and chemistry. There are tons more that I'll never understand period, like computer animation and astrophysics, because while I think of myself as pretty smart, there are plenty of people who are smarter. Then there are things that I just don't care about knowing, but mostly that covers things that pay the bills at Entertainment Tonight. But how much could I know if someone would just tell me?

Being a semi-pro rabble rouser and professional Californian, the sands through Ellen Tauscher's hourglass of late have been fascinating to watch. Through all the blogging that's begun to chip at the tip of the iceberg, the most striking issue for me has been the preexisting grassroots distaste for Tauscher. You can see from high school kids, you can see it among the commenters at DailyKos, and my guess will be that you'll be able to see it plenty of other places over the next two years. But this diary isn't about laying out the case against Tauscher- others are handling that already. This is a diary about just how unique Tauscher's situation probably isn't.

There are four congressional districts in this country that I feel as though I understand well enough to have insights that others might have a use for. The most recent addition to the list is CA-10, which joins CA-50 (Bilbray), CA-53 (Davis), and my dearly departed hometown district, VA-08 (Moran). In CA-10, there's clearly a vocal and motivated faction of voters interested in change. Back in Virginia, we're about a year away from gearing up again for the biennial primary challenge to Jim "Moron" Moran who made a career of being both crazy and crazy like a fox enough to keep the local machine firmly behind him. In CA-50, with a mountain of very much-due respect, I stand by my long standing belief that the district needed a stronger candidate than Busby, or at least a stronger, more progressive and more pugnacious candidate than we got for the special election. Susan Davis in my very own CA-53, well...she's a Democrat in San Diego and we don't take that lightly, though she's been making her fine career largely on a strategy of keeping her head down and voting for anything that gives money to the military. Which leads me to this- I know four districts well, and three of them are ripe for a kickass Democrat to step up and seize power.

How many other districts are there in this country who are similar or even more ripe? How many districts would be ready for a primary challenge or a strong challenge in the general if someone would just tell me? How many more districts are just waiting for a few intrepid organizers or bloggers to ignite a keg of gunpowder, if someone would just tell me?

We built our Netroots Actblue page this year almost entirely based on reports from the front who made the case that these longshot districts were for real this time around. As a result, we've made a lot of progress towards efficiently mobilizing the netroots for funds, volunteers and general chatter that spills over into offline venues. In spite of the impressive work done to this end, it was exceptionally piecemeal in nature. As the numbers, clout, and local connections continue to grow over the next several years, the netroots is going to be in a position to take on more and more. If we're going to do this in an organized manner, we need voices on the ground everywhere. I want to know a year ahead of time that Denny Rehberg's ass could be in the fire, or that something's simmering in South Carolina, or that people wherever you live are starting to wonder whether their representative is a little too chummy with Dubya (The Caress). Whatever it is, how many more places could we take on if, with a bit of notice, somebody just told us?

I wrote this week about the importance of the netroots becoming a place that fosters community organization and encourages people to report about their experiences locally. This is (surprise!) an extention of that same sentiment. The more we get into the community, and the more we share what people say and do, the more ready we are to lend our collective efforts to supporting preexisting anti-incumbent sentiment. I'm not presuming that there are dozens of districts ready for primary challenges by any means. I'd be shocked if we saw a half dozen legitimately fertile opportunities in a cycle. But how would I know?

Don't get me wrong, there's a vibrant network providing volumes of invaluable information already. But there are more dark corners than bright ones right now, and it needn't be that way. Collectively, the netroots should be able to produce a profile of every Congressional district every time out. The Democrats who know what we need to know are on the ground ready to tell us all about it, and we can do a lot once we know where to do it. We need to get these sentiments online and we need to find out what they need to make a serious go of it. I just need them, and you, to tell me.