The First Executive Committee Meeting in the New Unity Era

Thursday night was the first EC meeting in the new era. The business of electing vice chairs and other positions were addressed. It went relatively uneventful. The MDIA/Chism slate was elected. Cherry Davis 1st chair, Desi Franklin 2nd chair, David Holt 3rd chair. It was interesting that in a new day for Shelby County Democratic Party, good old fashioned dealmaking ruled the day. The two people who talked about ideas for the party, Brad Watkins and Ted Strom, lost in all three contests they competed in. Notable in the voting for the MDIA/Chism alliance were the Ford supporters. I guess they don't want to come off as obstructionist at the first meeting. That is very considerate. They didn't walk out for the next two years. The jobs for the chairs, an idea presented most thoroughly by Joe Young, were not discussed. Chances are Davis will do GOTV, Desi will be responsible for voter registration, and David will be doing group outreach. (How was the EC supposed select the best people for positions if no one knows what the positions are? I'm sorry, I just realized that's not what these votes were about?)
It seems as though it has been recognized that Bredesen and Ford will run independent campaigns apart from the SCDP. SCDP will do county elections. Interesting, considering Chism will be a candidate for County Commision. Will the SCDP put resources into state level races?
I know that the primary problem Women for Kerry had with Bowers was how the campaign was run and resources allocated in 04. How will the two groups in the new alliance handle the distribution of finite amounts of money in the 06 campaigns? Will money go to south Memphis GOTV operations at the cost of voter registration? Who will Matt have to say no to first and how will they deal with it? As a friend of mine said, "the caucus and convention were the fun, easy and glamorous parts. Now it's just work, fundraising, arguing your side and competing for resources."