Video: DPVA Executive Director Lauren Harmon Speaks to the Brigades

Last night at the monthly Brigades meeting (at Neighbors Restaurant in Vienna), new Democratic Party of Virginia Executive Director spoke to the group, and also answered questions, for about 1/2 hour. After introducing herself, including a joke about how her holidays with her Tea Party parents are "super fun," and her background working for Gabby Giffords and the Ohio Democratic Party, she laid out her thoughts for DPVA in 2013 and beyond. Among other things, Harmon said the Democratic campaigns this year will truly be coordinated. According to Harmon, there will be 170 field organizers this year, "in every corner of the Commonwealth," at a cost of $2.5 million. There will also be a focus on analytics (Harmon added that the analytics team will be headed up by person who worked on President Obama's analytics) and motivating "drop-off voters" - ones who tend to vote in presidential elections but not in state elections - to come out this year. My favorite quote of the evening: "our communications team, we're going to have one person focused on just beating the snot out of Ken Cuccinelli all day long - Brian Coy." Finally, Harmon talked about building up/investing in the party, to come out of 2013 "not just with a Democrat in the governor's mansion" and more Democratic seats in the House of Delegates, but with DPVA "in a strong and sustainable financial position so that we can start capitalizing on our year-to-year gains." According to Harmon, "we can't just plan to come out of this not able to plug a coffee pot in at the Democratic Party headquarters, that's not how you run an organization...we've got to look to 2020, we've got to look to redistricting, because that's the only way that we're going to be able to build a long-term majority for the Commonwealth...because they are gerrymandering the hell out of those districts, and we all know it." Good stuff, now let's make it happen!