Spending turns red areas blue

Margaret Johnson was worried on election night that the walls would literally come tumbling down at the Democratic headquarters in the small North Carolina foothills town of Columbus.

Two hundred and fifty rain-soaked people jammed into the 1940s-era building -- a converted church -- to celebrate Democrats' near-sweep in what has been a strong Republican county.

"It's a sight I will never forget," said Johnson, a 54-year-old retired nurse from Tryon who is Polk County's Democratic chairwoman.

Democrats captured two seats on the county board of commissioners, helped elect Heath Shuler to Congress, re-elected the clerk of court and elected a sheriff -- despite a 20-year-old statutory rape charge being brought against the candidate.

Such were the dreams of Howard Dean and Jerry Meek when they became chairmen, respectively, of the national and state Democratic parties last year.

Both pushed for spending more money and effort on organizing in Republican-leaning areas such as the North Carolina mountains. Call it their "Leave No Democrat Behind" program.

The election was so good for the Democrats that they hung a banner from the porch of their headquarters in downtown Raleigh that read: "NC Democrats Kicked [and there is a drawing of a donkey]."

But Democrats, not content with their best showing in years, quickly began their recriminations.

Democratic strategist James Carville complained that Dean's 50-state strategy squandered money and that Democrats lost the chance to pick up an additional 11 congressional seats.

Carville spoke for a lot of Democratic pros, who argue that to win a political party must focus its resources on key swing districts.

Meek came to the defense of Dean last week, politely telling Carville to shut his yap.

"It's about as productive as Rod Brind'Amour criticizing Coach Peter Laviolette because the Hurricanes lost three games before winning the Stanley Cup," Meek wrote to Carville.

Success in the west

Because of the Dean effort, the national party hired three regional field coordinators who spent 20 months in North Carolina helping counties get organized for the elections.

One of the Dean-financed pros worked Western North Carolina, where Democrats picked up a congressional seat, won two sheriff's offices and 16 county commissioners' seats.

Meek says North Carolina Democrats had a two-tier strategy -- using political operatives to build the party in all 100 counties while concentrating their money at the end on key swing areas.

It is hard to judge whether Dean's 50-state strategy or Meek's 100-county strategy worked because there was such a strong national Democratic tide because of the Iraq war.

But Meek is convinced that it worked.

"It indicates to me that there is hope for even the reddest of counties," Meek said. "With thorough organization and thorough grass-roots activity, we can turn the tide. That is what I think our mission needs to continue to be."