With KSL’s Left of the Dial on hiatus again this week, due to BYU Football, here is the first in a weekly essay series by which I will vent my spleen without the help of 50,000 watts of vitriol.

When I was running, however badly (I mean, I work 3 jobs – do the math) for State Party Chair earlier this year – I built the majority of my platform on new media and how the antiquated messaging of the Utah Democratic Party was, and still is, hurting candidates in Utah and giving the GOP a free ride to victory year after year. Granted, technology bit me in the ass, but, the overall message was important.

Now, from the day I dropped my letter of intent into the hands of the Party, a couple of positive changes have been made. The Party started using their Facebook page and opened up a Twitter account. Both measures – ably and intelligently managed by Todd Taylor and Craig Axford, are interesting and informative.

They’re still suffering, for the most part, by allowing the popular, yet silly treacle distraction of the Utah Amicus play the front line of their online messaging, but, they are pushing and publishing better researched, better written and far more poignant information on the utdemocrtats.org site. The UTDEMS blog is still a painful mess.

So – Why am I bringing this up? It’s not like my failed run had any reasonable chance of success, especially when you consider how certain team members of Holland’s campaign behaved throughout (look, if I was really nothing more than a “far left wing” distraction, then why all the shenanigans?).

It’s because I ran to get some important information to delegates, and, hopefully – since Holland is really good at brushing off party members who would like the party to do things he has no understanding of (not in a rude way, just basic self imposed ignorance of how the world is changing) – to Party leadership, as well.

Still pretty sure I failed at that, too.

So, what was the information? Well, look what I got –

The world is changing and Democrats around the country are changing with it. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party in Utah, in no fault to the staffers who inhabit the party headquarters – is falling farther and farther behind. When you factor these important statistics  – along with Utah’s leading the field in internet saturation – you can clearly see how the party is making itself more and more irrelevant as candidates start thinking about next year’s election.

What do I mean by that? Here’s some good examples of where the party is falling short:

HERE* – HERE* – and HERE

Now – Before you haters jump in here and start telling me what an asshole I am (I don’t know why you bother, I already know) why don’t you call the Party and ask them a few questions like:

  1. Plan for the future?
  2. How much money do you have on hand?
  3. Why do Craig and Todd look so tired all the time?
  4. Where’s all this New Media you said was coming?
  5. Why does Broomfield County have more canjones than you do?

You know, like that. Take an active role in your Party, people. THEN come back here and call me an asshole. Trust me, I can take it.

J.M. Bell

* Sam deserves so much better than what he’s getting. With the foresight to see that he needs an early run to gain momentum, he should be far better supported – instead he’s getting less than Ashdown did.