State parties will publish their delegate selection rules and clearly explain how to participate in the summer of 2007.

Delaware Democratic Party
19 E. Commons Blvd. 2nd Floor
New Castle, DE 19720
800-685-5544 (toll free)
302-328-9036 (local)
302-328-9386 (fax)

District-Level Delegates: 10
At-Large Delegates: 3
Pledged Party Leader & Elected Official (PLEO) Delegates: 2
Unpledged Delegates: 8
TOTAL Number of Delegates: 23

Alternates: 4

TOTAL DELEGATION SIZE: 27

System type: Primary

State convention page: Available
State plan: Plan Available (PDF)
State filing form: Not available online. Please contact the state party to receive a copy.

** This information is prepared by the DNC's Office of Party Affairs and Delegate Selection and may be subject to change. For more information, please call 202-863-8000.

Delaware provides a delicious example.

On their side:

State GOP ousts staff Three paid employees out on Dec. 31; party chief blames money woes

The Delaware Republican Party has fired its entire paid headquarters staff, effective at the end of the year, blaming a post-election cash shortage.

State GOP Chairman Terry Strine said David Crossan, the party's executive director, Ken Grant, its communications director, and Chris DuHadaway, the office manager, will stay on the payroll through Dec. 31.

He said unpaid volunteers will perform the office manager and communication director jobs until the party is on a better financial footing, but that the GOP will look for a new executive director.

"It's a very, very difficult job and something I'd rather not do," Strines said. "But it's something we have to do to keep the doors open."

The dismissals follow disappointing Election Day results for the GOP, highlighted by the loss of three state House of Representatives seats and the defeat of Ferris Wharton, the Republican candidate for state Attorney General.

And on our side...

Democrats this year had three full-time staffers paid for through the 2008 election as part of Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean’s nationwide party-building plan.

But the state GOP has had to rely on its own fundraising prowess to pay staff salaries.

“It’s something that gives them a tremendous advantage,” Strine said.

And that's just Delaware.

DelawareLiberal has more on this development, including the GOP reaction to the news and the local County Democratic Party's newest action.

Plus, check out the Delaware Democratic Party website and blog!

Here is what The News Journal had to say about the event:

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean brought a message familiar to every Delaware candidate in a Tuesday visit to rally the local party forces he is helping finance.

Person-to-person politics beats big media campaigns when it comes to winning over voters.

"You can't win a campaign with just expensive TV ads," Dean said. "You've got to go out and make yourself known. ... You have to go to people who didn't vote the way you voted and convince them of your position."

And that's why Dean has pressed through criticism to follow through on a "50-state" strategy for building stronger Democratic voting in all states, whether they are currently red or blue on the political map.

Extra funding from the national party has allowed the state party to hire a full-time communications manager and two field directors.

Now some would consider a state like Delaware, where Democrats hold almost every statewide office, pretty "blue" and doing ok by Democratic Party standards. Well almost isn't good enough for Governor Dean:

"We only have seven of nine [statewide] offices," said Dean, former governor of Vermont. "We're not 100 percent Democratic here yet. We still have work to do right here."

And the Delaware Democratic Party is doing that work, to make sure that we don't take any state for granted and we win races from the top of the ticket down:

Support from the national party is helping in a big way. The two-year DNC commitment means the party has five full-time people, and that translates into better organizing efforts and the ability to reach down below statewide and legislative races.

"It gets us beyond just being able to do triage and gives us the ability to go out, get the party organized and mobilized," she said. "And we know it's long-term -- at least through '08 -- so we can plan further ahead."

DelawareLiberal blogger Jason attended the event too, and gives his impression of Governor Dean:

[Dean's] common sense message is lost among people who want Dean to be a Democratic savior (like me) and people who want him to be the liberal bogeyman whose every utterance is used for the next GOP fundraising letter.

The bottom line is Dean is niether the savior nor the bogeyman that people make him out to be. He is what he has always been, a man who is using his position to say "what's so funny about honest and open government? What is so traitorous about a strong national defense that rests on telling the truth? And what is so crazy about health care system for everyone?"

There is nothing funny, traitorous or crazy about the Democratic Agenda, or our values. And no one is going to stop working - from the reddest of red states to the bluest of blue, until we set America in a new direction, starting with a Democratic Congress in November.

The News Journal in Wilmington, Delaware, reports that the 50-State-Strategy, which has helped increase the state party staff, is making it easier for local Democrats to recruit candidates at all levels and providing resources to help defeat Republican Congressman Mike Castle and elect Democrats up and down the ballot. Noting that this kind of 50-State-Strategy is long overdue from Democrats, and that Republicans have focused on rebuilding their party infrastructure since the 1970's, the article points out that even local Republicans admit that the Democrats are catching up and now have resources that even the state's Republican Party chairman is envious of.

The following are excerpts from the articles:

All 88 Are Key: Ohio Dems To Leave No County Behind
By Anastasia Pantsios
Cleveland Free Times
Volume 14, Issue 15
8/2/06

...After taking over at the DNC, Dean created and implemented his "50-state strategy." While provoking grumbling among some party insiders, it aimed to maintain the energy and commitment aroused by the 2004 campaign to build a permanent activist network. It went against the typical Democratic party game plan of focusing on the states where it had the biggest concentration of voters, while ignoring the so-called "red" states...

In response, the ODP has implemented a "88-county strategy" that reflects the DNC's 50-state strategy. "It recognizes that every county is important to the political environment," says ODP Communications Director Brian Rothenberg. "We're building organizations in each county using DNC-funded field staff."

The DNC funding allowed the ODP to launch its enhanced field program last year, paying for five field staffers and support functions, such as research, training and developing voter files. It focused especially on parts of the state where the party wasn't strong...

The party enjoyed some successes last year in local and county races. "In Lancaster County, we won seats we never won before," says Rothenberg. "We won trustee seats in Fayette County. Locally we got a lot of trustees elected, and city campaigns went well."

For the full article, click here.

Dean rallies Democrats on campaigning
By Patrick Jackson
The News Journal
08/02/2006

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean brought a message familiar to every Delaware candidate in a Tuesday visit to rally the local party forces he is helping finance. Person-to-person politics beats big media campaigns when it comes to winning over voters.

And that's why Dean has pressed through criticism to follow through on a "50-state" strategy for building stronger Democratic voting in all states, whether they are currently red or blue on the political map. Extra funding from the national party has allowed the state party to hire a full-time communications manager and two field directors.

University of Delaware political science professor Joe Pika says the 50-state approach is long overdue for Democrats. Besides saving the state party money, getting the direct aid from the national party also gives the DNC a bigger voice in areas such as candidate recruitment, Pika said. "The Democrats are playing catch-up," he said. "This is something Republicans have been doing since the Watergate debacle in the 1970s, when they realized they needed to rebuild the infrastructure of their party. ... It may not be paying for staff, but the Republicans have a number of ways they provide support to state and local parties.".

The state GOP has four full-time staffers and two part-time workers, [Delaware Republican Party Chairman Terry] Strine said, all of whom are paid out of locally raised money. "Would I like that kind of help? Of course I would," he said.

For the full article, click here:

After failing in a three-year effort to hand over Amtrak's Washington-to-Boston tracks, and their costs, to a new federal-state consortium, the Bush administration is seeking tens of millions of dollars in extra fees from states for use of the tracks by commuter railroads.

But the states are saying they already have contracts with Amtrak that specify what they should pay, and that Washington has not explained its demand for more money.

In a Feb. 9 letter, three governors — Edward G. Rendell of Pennsylvania, Ruth Ann Minner of Delaware, and Jon S. Corzine of New Jersey, all Democrats — told Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta, that he had not been "open and transparent" in explaining the added charges.

As a result of their concerns and other complaints, representatives of 10 agencies, including three from the New York area, will meet with federal transportation officials here next week to discuss the charges and how they should be calculated. "The states feel their pocket is being picked," said Peter A. Peyser Jr., an aide to Mr. Rendell.

Democratic Governors across the nation have stepped up to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Learn how Delaware Governor Ruth Ann Minner has responded below.

9/2: Governor Minner is encouraged Delawareans to take part in the relief effort by donating to the American Red Cross.

9/2: The Delaware National Guard had already deployed 185 troops and two C130s to assist in the hurricane relief efforts.

9/2: "Gov. Minner has also directed the state Motor Fuel Tax staff to conduct ongoing survey audits of gasoline retailers in response to consumer complaints, as well as random surveys to prevent price-gouging of consumers at the pumps." (Press Release)

9/2: Governor Minner encouraged Delawareans to conserve their fuel and to make carpool arrangements as fuel lines get repaired.

http://www.deldems.org/

Chair: John Daniello
Vice Chair: Harriet Smith-Windsor
Executive Director: Molly Jurusik

The Democratic Party is committed to winning elections at every level in every region of the country, and we're getting started right now with a massive effort to fund organizers on the ground in every state.

The ultimate goal? An active, effective group of Democrats organized in every single precinct in the country. Here's what we're doing to get there:

1. The Democratic Party is hiring organizers chosen by the state parties in every state -- experienced local activists who know their communities.
2. We bring those organizers together for summits where they can learn from each other the best practices for getting organized to win elections.
3. Armed with the knowledge they've shared with each other, Democratic organizers return to the states and recruit and train leaders at the local level.
4. Those local leaders recruit more leaders and volunteers until every single precinct in their area has a trained, effective organization of Democrats dedicated to winning votes for Democrats.

Success Stories

We're going to win by putting people on the ground to organize right now -- today. So the Democratic Party has identified the first few rounds of states to get this program started.

A 50 State Strategy Success Story: North Carolina

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A 50 State Strategy Success Story: West Virginia

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