Even ardent supporters were amazed at the winning margin Tuesday for Minneapolis Public Schools’ “Strong Schools Strong City” operating levy referendum, which garnered 70 percent approval in a heavy voter turnout.

“It surprised me,” says School Board Member Pam Costain. “I was guardedly optimistic that we could win, but watching the economy in free fall, I didn’t expect a margin like this.”
 
The new school tax will raise $60 million a year for eight years beginning with the 2009-2010 school year. The increase works out to about $17 more a month in property taxes for the average Minneapolis homeowner.
 
Costain says the money is necessary for the district to execute its strategic plan, which has at its heart a promise to make every Minneapolis student ready for college.
 
“On the one hand, it’s about really turning achievement around,” says Costain. “And two, it’s about holding ourselves very transparent and accountable. The public has a right to expect us to do it. No excuses.”
 
The district touted accountability in its campaign leading up to the election. Costain says that’s not just rhetoric. She says the district will report to an independent referendum oversight committee, which will monitor how the levy funds are used and report regularly to the public.
 
“I, personally, as a board member, am also expecting results in the coming year,” says Costain.

Gail Chang Bohr, who campaigned hard to win an open districtcourt judgeship in Ramsey County, won't have to worry about re-election.

She'll turn 65 in March, and thus will reach the state's mandatory retirement age for judges of 70 with a little more than eight months left in her six-year term. So whoever is governor in 2014 will get to make a special appointment to fill her seat.

Bohr was a social worker for 19 years before going to law school and is executive director of the Children's Law Center of Minnesota, which represents youth in foster care with a small staff and more than 250 volunteer lawyers trained by the center.

She had some high-powered endorsements -- including former Vice President Walter Mondale and six retired state Supreme Court justices -- in her race against former state legislator Howard Orenstein. The political veteran had the support of  Rep. Betty McCollum, Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner and Sheriff Bob Fletcher, St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and four former St. Paul mayors. She won 51.87 percent to 47.49 percent.

In the flush of victory, officials of the Democratic National Committee sent out this memo today, outlining how they did it.

A little self-congratulatory, maybe, but political junkies might like it:

To:     Interested Parties
From:   DNC Communications
Date:    11/5/08
RE:       A 50 State Strategy: Rebuild, Show Up, and Ask for People’s Votes.

When Governor Dean became Chairman in February 2005, our Party had come through a dismal election cycle.  We had just lost a national election to an incumbent president whose approval rating hovered at or below 50 percent. Republicans had gained 3 seats in the House and 4 in the Senate, leading to speculation about the possibility of a “permanent Republican majority.”

Governor Dean’s first step was to assess our Party’s strengths and weaknesses and put in place a strategy to address those issues.  Dean developed a business plan to rebuild the Democratic Party, modernize our operations and expand the electoral map.  The emphasis was on lessons learned and best practices, and it included the following key components:

    * Rebuild the Infrastructure of the Party – After assessing the needs on the ground, we hired full-time permanent staff in all 50 states, trained staff and activists, introduced new measures of accountability, and developed a unified technology platform. Over the past four years we’ve held 140 trainings for candidates, campaign staff, organizers, Party leaders and activists in all 50 states.
    * Upgrade and Improve the Party’s Technology/Modernize the Way We Do Grassroots Organizing -  Over the past four years the DNC has made significant investments in technology, creating a truly national voter file, improved micro-targeting models and developed 21st century campaign tools that merged traditional organizing with new technology.
    * Diversify the Donor Base – Shifting the emphasis of Party fundraising to include both small donors and large donors, the DNC brought in more than 1.1 million new donors and raised more than $330 million from ’05 – ’08. The average contribution over the last three years was $63.88.
    * Amplify Democratic Message and Improved Outreach – Created a national communications infrastructure to amplify the Democratic message and reach out to groups we haven’t always talked to and expand the map to regions where Democrats have not traditionally been competitive – including the South and the West.
    * Professionalize Voter Protection Efforts – Created a year-round national, state and local effort to ensure that every eligible voter has the opportunity to vote.

When Obama Became the Nominee:

As a result of those efforts, when Barack Obama became our Party’s nominee, we had unprecedented resources in place, including:

    * Trained, Professional Staff on the Ground in All 50 States
    * A State of the Art Voter File and Micro-targeting Tools
    * The Neighbor-to-Neighbor Organizing Tool
    * Initial Polling on McCain
    * A political roadmap for 24 states

BUILDING INFRASTRUCTURE

Staffing and Training:

Through the 50 State Strategy the DNC put paid staff on the ground (2-4 per state) in every state from Alaska to Mississippi, New Mexico to Indiana. When Obama became the nominee there were 183 people on the ground who have been there, been trained, and were working for the nominee.  Through the course of this campaign, those staff worked to organize at least 892 field events around McCain-Palin events.

Beginning in 2005, the DNC conducted 140 workshops in all 50 states to train our candidates, campaign staff, organizers, Party leaders and activists.  More than 15,000 people have participated in these trainings. All State Party Partnership staff:

    * Were trained and tested on VoteBuilder.
    * Learned how to track volunteers and voter contact.
    * Were evaluated continually.

Unlike in previous campaign cycles, where presidential state directors and field staff weren’t deployed to battleground states until late in the cycle, the DNC funded field, voter file and communications staff in all states year round. As a result each state had a full-time profession campaign in place before our Party even had a nominee.  

With those resources came strict accountability.  All staff were evaluated on a number of quantitative barometers, including VoteBuilder proficiency and staff who failed to measure up were either retrained or replaced.

VoteBuilder: the DNC Voter File:

Previously each state Democratic Party used different and often incompatible voter file systems and the quality of data varied widely (e.g. poor phone matches, etc.). The old systems were difficult to use, made it difficult to track metrics and compare voter contact performance, and not well-designed for campaign use.

The DNC created VoteBuilder, a unified voter database designed to meet the needs of modern political campaigns with improved data capacity and functionality. The DNC also brokered swap agreements with 49 states and the District of Columbia, creating a single national and standardized voter file that is available for use by any democrat running for office, from city council to president. The improved data quality made possible by VoteBuilder improved our micro-targeting efforts.

VoteBuilder is game changing.  It allows campaigns to:

1.      Know who voters are: collect history of data on voters – how they vote, how they volunteer, etc.

2.      Target voters: with new and better data, we can perform better micro-targeting.

3.      Coordinate efforts: the voter file can be quickly synched with other data sources and shared with multiple campaigns.

Creating A Political Plan for 2008:

In the past, plan-writing in the battleground states was often completed late in the cycle—a pattern that would have been disastrous given the extended Democratic primary.  The DNC worked to draft strategic roadmaps for 24 states.  Those roadmaps included targeting, programmatic, and strategic recommendations.  Additionally we used historical research to make sure we didn't repeat past mistakes and to develop better plans with smarter ways to use resources.


The Goal for our 2008 political program was to build a political program that sustains personal contact, occurs at the neighborhood level and provides activists and volunteers with targeted lists and relevant content:

1.  Organize Everywhere

Build a structure to communicate with voters everywhere

2. Count Everything

All programs must be measurable, everyone must be accountable

3. Question Assumptions

Just because something has always been done one way doesn’t make it the right way.

MODERNIZING GRASSROOTS ORGANIZING

The Neighbor-to-Neighbor Program

From the Voterfile we built a tool that is taking grassroots organizing to the next level – utilizing new technology with effective grassroots organizing.  The Neighbor-to- Neighbor tool (now being used by the campaign) gives grassroots activists online access to small sections of the voter file so they can talk to their neighbors in their own neighborhoods.

This new activist tool, piloted in the 2007 Virginia state Senate races and launched in Spring 2008, provides walk packets, scripts, and materials for the activist to print out from home (or in a campaign office should they choose). Volunteers are then able to return data from their conversations back into the systems, getting credit for their contact and providing critical enhancements to our voter file. It was tested successfully in 2007 Virginia State Senate races and also in the 2007 Ohio Congressional District 5 special election.

In the past, similar efforts of this size have failed due to a problem of scale. For example, in 2004, when nearly a million people signed up to volunteer online during the Democratic National Convention, the field operation was in no position to provide training, walk packets, and materials to the mass of volunteers.

EXPANDING THE MAP -- THE WEST

Governor Dean also believed that the future of our party and the road to the White House runs through the West. That is part of why the DNC made the strategic decisions to add a pre-window nominating contest in the West - Nevada - which brought in tens of thousands of new voters into the Nevada where .  Additionally Dean made the strategic decision to hold the convention in Denverand the Convention team worked hard to make it a Western convention.

DIVERSIFYING DONOR BASE/FUNDRAISING

Despite not having a nominee in February, not being able to raise hard money and not accepting money from federal lobbyists or PACs after Barack Obama secured our Party’s nomination, the DNC raised $330 million between 2005 and Sept. 2008, (compared to $339 million during the same period last cycle).  If all money raised through DNC-OFA joint fundraising agreements is included, that total increases to $385.7 million.

Since 2005, the DNC also added 1,129,021 new donors. The average contribution to our Party was $63.33, showing the power of our grassroots fundraising efforts and the diversity of our donor base.


VOTER PROTECTION

For more than a decade, Republicans have conducted aggressive voter suppression efforts in minority neighborhoods. In the aftermath of 2004 it became clear that the Democratic Party needed to make voter protection and education a full-time, year-round priority.

To that end the DNC established National Lawyers Councils in every state and strengthened the Voting Rights Institute.  In 2006, for the first time ever, the DNC implemented a 50-State election protection program that built voter protection teams in nearly all states.  The program included:

Paid and volunteer Voter Protection Coordinators recruited and trained by over 8,000 lawyers and law students nationwide.  Their goal: expose and shut down Republican voter suppression schemes, resolve Election Day problems as they occurred, and ensure that all the votes were counted accurately.

A new National Voter Protection Hotline, 1-888-DEM-VOTE, promoted through radio and newspaper ads.  The hotline handled over 30,000 calls, with 25,000 coming on Election Day itself.  Trained operators answered voters’ questions, identified irregularities, and mobilized Voter Protection teams to solve them.

We also distributed over 1.25 million voter education pieces, including 250,000 that were bi-lingual in English and Spanish, as part of our "Every Voter Counts" program.

In 2007, because we already had field staff on the ground in all 50 states, we launched an unprecedented, comprehensive survey of election administration practices in local jurisdictions across the country to ferret out and deal with voting rights and election administration problems long before Election Day. The survey included an 80-question, state-specific survey and the results were entered into an online database and compiled to identify potential problems.  For example, at least 261 jurisdictions had no written policy for purging voters; at least 194 had no policy for machine allocation; at least 120 had no policy for machine chain of custody; and at least 273 had no daily list of absentee ballot requests provided. The DNC’s National Lawyers Council identified those problems and coordinated with local staff and activist to implement national plan to address them prior to the election.

Karen Finney
Director of Communications
DNC
202-863-7149
finneyk@dnc.org

Greg Copeland -- the embattled Maplewood city manager who was ousted from the job in January when the City Council decided he wasn't qualified, even though he'd been doing the job for a year and a half -- tried for a political comeback of sorts Tuesday, seeking a seat as a supervisor on the low-profile Ramsey County Soil and Water Conservation District.

He told the Strib's Voter's Guide:

"Ramsey County Lakes Are In Trouble! My campaign for Ramsey County Conservation District Supervisor launches the SAVE OUR LAKES CAMPAIGN to focus public attention on the degradation of our Lakes. Twenty five of Ramsey County's 49 Lakes are so choked with slime and excessive algae and plant growth that they are not suitable for swimming and recreation! Fish in all 12 Ramsey County Lakes tested for Mercury contamination contained unacceptable levels of this toxic heavy metal. Citizens must demand action now! I need your vote to build a strategic plan driven by citizen action to improve the water quality of our Lakes."

No mention of the Maplewood unpleasantness.

Final result show: Copeland finishing last in a four-person race won by Mara Humphrey, who had the DFL endorsement and a bankable political last name.

Even with his slim statewide, recountable lead, Sen. Norm Coleman was soundly beaten in his home county, the heavily DFL-leaning Ramsey County: He got about 34 percent of the vote to nearly 52 percent for Al Franken and 13 percent for Dean Barkley.

Ramsey County went 66-32 for Obama over McCain, so Coleman did a little better than the national GOP ticket.

Coleman also lost Ramsey County in his first Senate victory in 2002, getting 42 percent to Walter Mondale's 55 percent, even though Coleman had been a popular mayor of St. Paul. He still lives there.

The Associated Press says it prematurely called the U.S. Senate contest between Norm Coleman and Al Franken. To read more, go here.

The Associated Press reports that Republican Norm Coleman has defeated Al Franken in Minnesota's U.S. Senate contest, but an automatic recount is expected. To read more, go here.

The Associated Press reports that Barack Obama has won Minnesota, defeating John McCain to become the ninth straight Democratic presidential hopeful to take the state. To read more, go here.

EAST GRAND FORKS, MINN. -- Ronald Anderson marched into his polling place at City Hall wearing his Veterans of Foreign Wars service cap.

“I always wear it on special occasions, and this is a special occasion,” he said. "With the situation the country is in, this election is tops" in importance.

Anderson, a veteran of wars in Korea and Vietnam, also brought his neighbor, Juan Carrizales, to the polls.

Carrizales, 37, a naturalized U.S. citizen who has lived in East Grand Forks for more than 10 years, had come -- at neighbor Anderson’s urging -- to vote for the first time.

“I got a good man here to register,” Anderson said, throwing an arm around Carrizales. “I told him he’s a good citizen and he should vote. We're a melting pot now.”

Both men said they voted for Barack Obama.

Carrizales, who works for a Red River Valley potato company, said that his wife would register and vote later in the day. It would be her first ballot, too.

How was the experience?

“It was like ‘Wow - I did something for the world today!’ ” he said, beaming. “I was a good citizen today!”

Gerald Amiot, Polk County auditor, said the election “appears to be flowing well” and he had heard of no major problems in the northwestern Minnesota county.

“Turnout is really heavy,” he said, with vote numbers in many precincts topping primary election totals by noon.

The county had ordered “in most cases a third more ballots over the registered voter count” to allow for growth and heightened interest in the election, Amiot said.

“We had a little over 82 percent turnout in the last presidential election, and I would guess we’re looking at the 85 percent range this time,” he said at midday. “Absentee ballots are up from about 1,050 last time to about 1,300 as of late yesterday (Monday), and today we’ll probably get another 40 to 50.”

Election Protection spokesman Mike Dean just issued a news release saying that student voters in Minneapolis had been turned away at the polls because rent statements from their student housing co-op were addressed to election officials rather than to the students.

The release says that Election Protection asked for, and received, a ruling from the secretary of state’s office clarifying that the co-op could issue corrected rent statements addressed to the students to use proof of residency.

“Minneapolis officials immediately implemented the ruling,” the statement reads. “The co-op immediately began issuing revised rent statements that will allow these students to vote.”

Election Protection is a national legal project sponsored locally by nonprofits, including Common Cause, the Council of Nonprofits and TakeAction Minnesota.