Grassroots politics

I've been spending a fair amount of time in Wisconsin lately, albeit all in the northern part of the state, and I've noticed an intriguing phenomenon in the lead up to this week's recall election of the governor: the hand-made yard signs for the Democratic candidate, Tom Barrett, far outnumbered the commercially printed signs for the Republican governor, Scott Walker.  I have no idea what this might signify in terms of which guy is actually going to win the election, but it does tell me two things: the people who dislike Scott Walker are a lot more passionate in their distaste for him than his supporters are about backing him (which could be a good thing for Barrett; his supporters might be more likely to vote than Walker's) and that the national Democratic Party is led by idiots.

Why do I say that? Because the national party, the inside-the-Beltway professionals running the Democratic National Committee, has been ignoring Wisconsin. Instead of seeing the vibrant grassroots movement as a way to re-energize voters in general, the DNC's been looking the other way. While Republican backers, like the infamous Koch brothers, pour money into Wisconsin to try to keep Walker in office, the DNC can't be bothered. A recall of Walker would scare the bejesus out of every other Republican politician in the country, but Debbie Wasserman-Schultz  (current DNC chair) is too dense to see that. If the DNC isn't willing to fight now for Wisconsin's Democrats, why on earth should anyone in Wisconsin bother to support the national ticket (i.e., Obama) in the fall?