I think one of the things we've come to learn over the course of the past several years is that we have a disproportionate amount of influence in primary elections.
You know the races as well as I do: Ned Lamont, Donna Edwards, Jon Tester, Jim Webb ... Barack Obama, even.
That's why the votes happening this week in Puerto Rico at SEIU's Convention just might be even more important than the one that went down here yesterday. As you read, SEIU members from around the world have come together in San Juan under the theme "Justice for All." A HUGE part of the platform is something called "The Accountability Project."
But first: SEIU President Andy Stern is set to address the convention live at around 1 P.M. and you can watch it here:
The goal is not simply to run primaries and win, but to elect representatives who will work and vote for universal health care, freedom to form a union without employer interference, economic fairness, an end to the war, and more.
Here's a quick video of SEIU Political Director Jon Youngdahl talking about the project and what SEIU dubs as an example of what it will look like: Donna Edwards victory over Al Wynn.
* $10 million fund to take on elected officials who fail to live up to their promises.
* Calls for SEIU members to make at least 10 million phone calls to members of Congress after the election to hold them accountable.
* At least 50 percent of the union's organizing budget and 50 percent of its non-organizing staff at the national and local levels will be devoted to the effort
* A commitment to jump start a much broader, permanent grassroots movement of working people by actively involving at least one million SEIU members in the "justice for all" effort by 2012, and creating leadership roles for at least 200,000 (or about 10 percent of the union's membership).
Another important piece, maybe the more important piece, of this program is the recruitment mechanism. SEIU is going to recruit and train challengers where one's don't exist, and parter with many different organizations and communities (like the netroots) to make that happen. So, we don't have to wait for a Ned Lamont to show up on the scene -- we can create one.
There's much more about the convention, and Justice for All platform over at www.seiu2008.org
Tim
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