The Monroe County endorsement loop is closed - Brighton Endorses Massa
The town of Brighton Democratic Committee overwhelmingly endorsed Eric Massa in his bid to unseat Randy Kuhl in 2008. That means all Monroe County committees in the 29th have endorsed Massa.
Of particular interest was the fact that David Nachbar actually showed up at a committee meeting and gave a presentation (apparently knowing this was an endorsement meeting) .
It was video taped and once I get the video I’ll process and post some clips with my notes.
The net of the endorsement meeting can be summed up by this comment said by a truly non-committed attendee.
After hearing Nachbar’s comments, I realize Massa respresents my positons much more than Nachbar.
Once I get and process the video, I’ll have additional commentary.
Some good stuff.
Related posts:
Massa Gets Brighton Endorsement, Nachbar Speaks Again…
Stlo7 of Rochesterturning attended the Brighton Democratic Committee meeting last night and reports that Massa gained that committee’s endorsement. David Nachbar appeared and made his case at this meeting. Rochesterturning will be posting video and co…
Why did this happen?
In a nutshell, there were three questions that I looked at last night; I suspect others felt similarly:
1. Which candidate best represents the positions I support?
2. Which candidate has the better chance of winning the election?
3. Is it appropriate to be endorsing candidates so far in advance of the election?
Mr. Nachbar provided sketchy, at best, answers to how his positions differ from Eric’s. Where he did, he mostly seems to be less in sync with what I’m looking for than Eric does (with the possible exception on equal marital rights). Plus, his claim to be the candidate with experience “creating” jobs rings hollow– since that isn’t the function of an HR VP.
In this committee, we often look at candidates’ electabilities by asking questions about their die-hard supporters, a larger circle that can help broaden their support and raise funds, and their own, personal experience either campaigning or helping to campaign.
Mr. Nachbar’s response to that question boiled down to a statement that he can afford to hire the best campaign assistants– including people who had previously worked for or with the DCCC. Also, that he feels that between self-funding and fund-raising, he thinks he can raise $2.5M for this campaign.
That’s fine; if that’s his opinion of what’s important for a campaign. I understand that a congressional campaign in this size a district can’t be based entirely on retail politics. But an important component of it is; Eric proved by the end of the last campaign that he wasn’t just good at that– he seems to relish it; and Mr. Nachbar’s statement essentially devalued every person in the room who has worked hard– some of us for a few years, many others for a few decades– to get Democrats elected at all levels of offices.
So good luck getting elected, Mr. Nachbar– and I mean that honestly. But you’ve essentially said that you are content to do it without the foot soldiers who provide the labor to make campaigns successful. And, I think that shows his lack of experience in what a campaign takes. While dollars are important, it isn’t just money.
I came in of the mind that I was willing to consider endorsing Eric but that it was too early in the election cycle. If anything, Mr. Nachbar’s assessment that the campaign will require stratospheric amounts of money pushed the argument that an early endorsement is key, in order to help Eric both in his fund raising and to help make his message heard by the DCCC (assuming they won’t be swayed by their personal ties to Mr. Nachbar’s campaign aides).
David Nachbar was invited to an Ontario County Democratic Meeting last night in Canandaigua for the purpose of discussing his qualifications and intentions to run for Congress. After several emails last week, he said that he was concerned that the Comm. might endorse a candidate for the 29th.He thought it was too early. I assured him that if he came, we would listen to both candidates-Eric Massa and Mr. Nachbar. Late yesterday afternoon, Mr. Nachbar emailed and said that he had “another meeting” and could not attend ours….Mr Eric Massa came and delivered. We also enthusiastically endorsed him–Mr. Nachbar may claim the process was flawed but he had the opportunity to attend and talk to the Committee.
Plus, the DCCC under Van Hollen’s leadership is now taking “movement” into account in addition to fundraising capability, especially since Kissel’s House race in North Carolina was lost by a couple hundred votes despite being outraised and outspent.
With the army of folks Massa mobilized and energized last year, I assume they’re taking that into account.
Delighted to hear the results of this committee mtg. Time for MCDC to do the same thing. Are you reading this Joe?
To be fair,
the “other meeting” was probably the Brighton one. He arrived a little before 7:30, spoke for about half an hour and then probably took about an hour or an hour and a half of questions. He deserves credit for patiently answering our questions even though in some cases they were somewhat repetitive.
I think many of us were listening with an open mind but many of us also came to the meeting already at least leaning towards Eric. But Mr. Nachbar never hid or retreated or answered questions with anything less than professionalism and warmth.
I give Mr. Nachbar credit for handling the meeting with class and dignity and patience. While I think that Eric’s positions are closer to mine, Mr. Nachbar isn’t so far off that I wouldn’t consider voting for him in some other context.
I’d be happy to see him run for some other office– especially if he gains some experience, himself, campaigning and better understands what is involved.
I wonder if the fact that Bausch & Lomb is being purchased may be contributing to Nachbar’s now is the “right” time to run attitude. If Warburg Pincus is outbid by a competitor (Advanced Medical Optics according to the D&C), he may very well be out of a job.
I’d agree with that assesment. If he walked in talking about a County Exec or State Senate run (hint hint David), it likely would have had a different result.
You think?
There was an interesting dialogue BDC as to when Mr Nachbar would actually start campaigning and resign from B&L.
There was a specific reason for that question, btw– Eric clearly has fire in his belly (is fire a strong enough word?). I was trying to measure just how committed to this campaign Mr. Nachbar is– and my sense was that he’s not ready to commit yet. You can contrast that with Eric who is absolutely focused on winning this race.
Again– at least partly a difference in what’s valued. Eric believes in campaigning and reaching out to people and Mr. Nachbar is relying mostly on hiring good assistants.
And that room is full of people who work campaigns– people who value campaigning because that’s how we help candidates.
There is this whole thing about it being too early to endorse and according to emails from Nachbar, much of this “too early” crap comes from Joe Morelle.
I assume if they say it is too early to endorse, then it is too early for Nachbar to make the rounds and speak to groups of his constituents. That in turn must also mean it is too early for Nachbar to respond nicely to requests to speak in front of groups. (Knowing that a DFA member left two phone messages for Nachbar, which contained invitations to speak at a monthly meeting) and neither of those messages got a response. So at this part in the game, Nachbar is operating in a hole that he might not be able to crawl out of. (Why does Nachbar’s behavior remind me of Kuhl’s town hall meeting in which Kuhl won’t ask questions….Nachbar says he is a candidate and yet doesn’t seem all that interested in voter contact)
Sure it’s a bit early to start a 2008 campaign, but it has started and Nachbar and Morelle need to realize that and deal with it. If starting this early is the price we pay to defeat Kuhl, then lets pay that price.
The 2006 Massa campaign never really stopped…it rested and now it is back with eyes on 2008. The people are showing excitement, commitment and loyalty to Massa because Massa exudes the passion and anger that progressive Democrats feel. A person without passion and anger cannot represent me. It’s that simple.
[...] think Tom in the comments of this post sums it up well when he said The 2006 Massa campaign never really stopped…it rested and now it is [...]
So Van Hollen says. Sounds like he’s sucking up to the netroots.