After long consideration, I have decided to run for Chairman of the Cabarrus County Democratic Party for 2009-2010.

Why?

Because I'm crazy enough?

Seriously though, we've come a long way from the summer of 2004, when I first got involved with the Democratic Party. Thanks to past leadership and a "hardcore" group of active Democratic volunteers in Cabarrus County we helped realize huge victories in 2008. We now have a Democratic President and a Democratic Congressman and Democratic Senator representing us in DC.
Well, I believe that, since we just took our country back, it's high time we take our county back.
More than 38,000 Cabarrus County voters right now are not represented in our County government. There is absolutely no Democratic voice on our all Republican Board of County Commissioners. A government without an opposition is not a democracy. It's time we bring democracy back to Cabarrus County.

How?

By expanding and improving on proven successful tactics from the recent past, while at the same time trying new things.

The best place to find new Democrats is in your own backyard.
Back in 2004 I could count the number of local Democratic precinct organizations on one hand. Since then we've grown by leaps and bounds, but we still need to expand our local precinct organization.

We need to keep the newly discovered Obama volunteers engaged. This past year a lot of people came out of the wood works to help with the Obama campaign. Many of those volunteers had never been politically active before. We need to keep these volunteers engaged and in tune with our local Democratic Party organization.

We need to continue our effort to register new Democratic voters.
Thanks to a very dedicated effort to register new voters last year we closed the gap in voter registration between Democrats and Republicans by 4,000.
If we register another 4,000 new Democrats, we will turn Cabarrus County blue.
There are already more Democratic women than Republican women in Cabarrus County.

We need to engage folks who recently moved to Cabarrus County.
Our County is growing rapidly and a lot of traditionally Democratic people are moving in. We need to make sure to register these Democrats a.s.a.p. and get them involved in our organization.

Connecting with other local Democratic parties in "blue" counties and learn from their efforts while at the same time passing on our knowledge to other Democratic county organizations in our 8th Congressional District.

I will start a Committee that actively searches for excellent local candidates.
You can have the best county organization, if you don't have any candidates you won't win elections. In 2010 there will be 3 seats on the Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners up for grabs. With some excellent candidates, who have the backing of a good Democratic county organization, the voice of almost 40,000 Democrats will be heard.

Of course, I am not going to do this all by myself.
It will take a big effort from all the active Democratic volunteers in our County, who I've gotten to know over the years, and many more who we still need to get to know.
I'm energized and hopeful for our future. Let's get to work.

How can you help me?

If you've attended your local Democratic precinct meeting this past March and got elected to be a delegate at our County Convention, i need your vote.
If you're not an official delegate you won't have voting rights, but I would love to see you come show your support at our convention as well.

The Cabarrus County Democratic Party holds its Convention on Saturday, April 25th from 10.30 am to 1.30 pm at Troutman's BBQ restaurant, 1388 Warren Coleman Blvd in Concord. You can click here for directions.

If you use facebook, you can join my support group on there.

I am, naturally, open to any questions and suggestions you might have.