Investing in the Grassroots

One of the things thathas always bothered me is the degree that we always talk about building the grassroots of our party, but our national party doesn'talways invest real resources into making it happen, relying too much on our volunteer support alone.

Right now, the Democrat National Committee pays for two full-time staffers in all fifty of their state party offices to focus on developing their grassroots operations. Sure, there are a lot of states that this would never help them carry in a presidential election, but what it does do is help them develop the support and infrastructure that can make a difference in down-ballot races.

I think it's safe to say that we should never let the Democrats get ahead of us interms of a commitment to developing grassroots support. They're investing in building their grassroots support everywhere, and we should too.

How?Dedicated paid staff is certainly one option. Another great idea is one that the national party has only done selectively over the years:paying state and local parties to register voters.

We're all capitalists here...and itprovides a great incentive to local parties to get out and expand our party, while serving as a great fundraising tool at the same time. This has been done successfully in targeted congressional districts in the past, but we need to expand on the idea. It not only helps us identify Republicanvoters,but potential volunteers as well.