November 29, 2010 09:03 PM UTC

To Democrats: Giving Thanks for the CO 2010 Election

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• by: nancycronk

Thanksgiving Thoughts on the 2010 Election: Post-Election Gratitude

They said it couldn’t be done. They said 2010 was going to be the anti-incumbent year, when conservatives would sweep the Senate and House races in every state, all over the nation. Together, we proved them wrong in CO. We not only elected a Democratic Senator, but a Democratic Governor. We retained some Democratic members of Congress, as well. Not every race was a win, and we did get out butts kicked in many local races, but still, we have much to celebrate.

The Bennet race was watched all over the nation, and will become one for the history books. Something magical happened in CO.

It couldn’t have been just the money. Despite Team Bennet raising impressive amounts of cash in the primary and beyond, the SCOTUS ruling allowed corporations to pour huge amounts of money from unknown and foreign sources into our election. And still, the people  won.

It may have been the great team Craig Hughes and Adam Dunstone assembled. Many of the staff members were brought in from other states with Obama election experience. They did an impressive job, but they could not have done it on their own. They needed us desperately — the citizen leaders. We shared our contacts with them, opened up our homes and our wallets, provided volunteers and support — again and again and again and again. No campaign can bring in outsiders and successfully create a grassroots movement from the top-down. They could not have done this alone. Sure, they  organized us, but they didn’t create thousands of volunteers and activists out of thin air.

Despite Dick Wadham’s whining to the contrary, I believe it was all of us that turned the 2010 election. Many of us have been connected since pre-Obama, when we banded together to elect a Democratic President in our previously red state. Using facebook, twitter, list-serves, neighborhood groups, telephone  and email, we not only stayed connected, we built on our previous win. With the help of Organizing for America, Progressive Outreach Colorado, Progress Now, New Era, SEIU, and so many other wonderful groups, we mobilized our forces. Women’s groups, Latino groups, GLBT groups, unions, People of Color, Pro-Choice groups, Interfaith groups, Retirement groups, Environmental groups, and many others — we did this.

We did it despite attacks from the right, the far-right, and sometimes even, the far-left. We did it with no help from corporate-owned “liberal” radio. At some point, we all knew Michael Bennet had a chance, and if we wanted someone left-of-center to win this race, he was our best and only shot.

Despite all the odds against us, all the nay-sayers, and all the money, we kicked Ken Buck’s corporate-interest, fundamentalist, misogynist tushie.

On behalf of all Americans who will benefit from one more left-of-center Senator in the nation’s capital, I thank you. I thank you for the many hours of volunteering you put in — for the phone calls, the emails, the doors knocked, the donations made… for all that you did. You did what they said we could not do. YOU DID THIS.

What’s next?

Conservatives in CO, despite weak leadership, are madder than HELL that we did this. We must keep holding our line. We must always defend our progress. We must work just as hard to keep what we worked tirelessly to attain. How do we do that?

* Stay connected to your “Obama” family.

* Stay connected to progressive groups and progressive friends. (No one else has our interests at heart.)

* Stay informed as best you can.

* Continue to write letters to the Editor of every paper in every town.

* PUSH PRESIDENT OBAMA AND SENATORS MICHAEL BENNET AND MARK UDALL to do your bidding. You elected them. WE elected them. Never let up. We did not work this hard to turn our futures over to ANYONE.

* Call the Congressional switchboard and leave messages for Bennet, Udall, and your member of Congress… often.   1-888-245-0215

*Tell members of the “Party of NO” what you want, as well. Let them know they do not have our support to take this country down the path of corporate-fascism and restriction of individual freedoms.

* Call or write the President. Let him know what you want, how you want it, and when you want it. Tell him when he is doing a great job (he needs to hear that, too!).  https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact

Again, “Congratulations”, and from the bottom of my heart, a very sincere, “Thank You”.