The Norman Candidacy

This weekend was the Shelby County Democratic Caucus. Apparently, it had record attendance, which is good I guess. I didn’t take part in the Caucus and it doesn’t seem most of the liberal bloggers did either. The reports from Thaddeus and Jackson Baker say the race for Chairman is between two people, Jay Bailey and Keith Norman. Bailey is a more known character, especially with his past being vetted publicly on Thad’s blog. Norman is new player on the political scene. The little I’ve heard about him has been all positive. This is what makes him such an interesting partner with Chism.

Chism is a crafty intra-party fighter. He outmaneuvered the Ford Faction in 2005 six ways to Sunday. But the actual management of the Shelby County Democratic Party has been sorely lacking and from past reports in the Flyer archives, this seems par for the Chism course. The past 2 years have been like a boat with a broken rudder listing back and forth and sailing into one storm (crisis) after another. Culminating in the whooping Shelby County Democrats took in the 2006 election. A dearth of transparency concerning the steering committee has undermined the Party’s legitimacy in the community as well. Combine this with the general collapse of belief in local political officials (like we had much to begin with), the choice of Norman makes a lot of sense.

The Party needs to have a new face, with no ethical/corruption baggage, and street credibility. Rather than seeing his lack of political experience as a deficiency, the public will see it as a positive. If Norman is chosen as Chairman, it will most likely be hailed as a new day. He will be given a long grace period because Norman is learning about the Party and job as Chairman. As long as there aren’t any big scandals it will be seen as a successful chairmanship. Will any progress be made on the ward/precinct system, building neighborhood clubs, or any of the other basics necessary for a real Party? Most likely not, because if it is not in Chism’s interest, it will not happen. He would still have his hand on the Party steering wheel.

Now I have no idea how many people each faction brought to the caucus and what districts each control. But the way it sounds, Norman brought a bunch of folks from the Binghampton area. While the Binghampton area is not rich in delegates it does overlap Dsitricts 89 and 92, and perhaps 90. Perhaps that will tip the scales towards Norman rather than Bailey.