Gordon, welcome to Firedoglake. Thanks for joining us today. Lately all the political leaders I speak to seem to be mentioning Facebook and Twitter. I know you’re far savvier about the uses of the Internet than most traditional politicians. I saw when you interviewed Heath Shuler in 2006 and you started off by asking about the blogosphere he looked like a cow in the headlights. But can you tell us how your campaign is making Twitter and the social networking sites meaningful in the real world?

Thanks, Howie! It’s great to be here.

As President Obama works to enact his sweeping agenda, we have an opportunity at the municipal level to enact policy in harmony.

You can see some of the Twitter coverage of last night’s campaign launch here.

My own Twitter page is here.

We’re going to utilize social networking to coordinate volunteers, market events, and disseminate information about important issues as they develop.

My campaign website, newly launched, is here —> http://www.gordonforasheville.com

Gordon, welcome to FDL this afternoon.

Were you surprised to find that your blog traffic increased when you increased your local coverage?

What does that tell you about the local Traditional Media? Do they understand that there is an apparent hunger for real news and not just regurgitating press releases?

Has anyone ever used Twitter successfully in politics– other than Jeffrey Frederick, who prevented a GOP takeover of the state Senate in Virginia? I mean on a grassroots level?

I was surprised, yes. There has been a real hunger for alternative perspectives and news you can’t find anywhere else.

Our local traditional media consists of a small-market TV station and a local Gannett affiliate that’s been making cut after cut to their staff.

This campaign isn’t going to differentiate between traditional and new media. It’s all being consumed, and it’s all important.

I’ve seen Twitter work to coordinate volunteers, motivate contributors, and raise awareness. It’ll be just one part of a multilayered effort – Canvassing, events, print media, FB, website.

We’re also creating progressive infrastructure by hosting what I’m calling Campaign College – training volunteer organizers who will learn how to build campaigns for future candidates and issues.

As a technical note, there is a “reply” button in the lower right of each comment that you can click that will identify the comment number and commenter to whom you are replying.

Cheers, dakine01.

When we spoke on the phone a couple days ago, we didn’t really get into the policy differences between you and Mumpower, the Republican incumbent on the city council you hope to replace. Are there glaring differences between your vision of Asheville and his?

Thanks!

Were you surprised at all by Shuler’s positions once he got to Congress?

Do you think you’ll be able to confront him and make him understand where his priorities should lie from the City Council? Or will he just continue to be a DINO?

Carl Mumpower attended the Glenn Beck We Surround Them gathering last night in Asheville… That ought to give you a hint as to where he stands. Mumpower believes that Heath Shuler is a socialist. He doesn’t believe in government solutions.

I believe that good government makes life better.

Calling for increased use of alternative energies and energy efficiency in cities like Asheville, NC creates a market for our growing alternative energy industries. It provides a concrete example of how to transition from a carbon to a renewable economy.

Responding to the national housing crisis and the Obama administration’s restoration of affordable housing policy and funding is at the center of my campaign. We can incentivize our builders to create affordable housing on existing transportation corridors. Doing so will strengthen our alternative transportation aspirations, reducing the traffic on our roads and our dependence on fossil fuels.

Creating strong, sustainable local economies makes our municipalities more able to weather recession. A strong local economy creates a buffer from national and international financial instability.

It seems that if you can reach enough voters with that stark set of basic differences between you and Mumpower, you’ll win the seat. I know Mumpower ran against Shuler and Shuler beat him handily. How did the vote between those two breakdown this past November in Asheville? And how does a fringe candidate like Mumpower wind up on the city council of a progressive city like Asheville anyway?

Re: Heath Shuler – we knew we were getting a conservative Dem, yes. After 16 years of the corrupt Charles Taylor, we saw Shuler as a way out of that muck.

He came with his own baggage, but progressives here saw him as the only way out of our Taylor problem. Now I believe he’s a transitional figure who can give way to a more progressive Congressman in the future. By pushing our progressive agenda and achieving successes, we can grow progressive support across this district.

Shuler’s been strong regarding labor, small business, and environmental votes. His social stances and willingness to oppose Barack Obama’s recovery packages are unnerving and unnecessary. As a City Councilman, I hope to work with Congressman Shuler in those areas we are in agreement while pushing him to more accurately represent his progressive constituents.

Mumpower lost 62-36 to Shuler. It was a bona fide drubbing.

Mumpower was elected four years ago in large part due to a problem that plagues Asheville municipal politics – We tend to have four progressives get through the primary, but voters get to vote for only three in the general election. Progressives split their votes among the progressive candidates, allowing conservatives to get Mumpower through.

You’ve got my vote!

Thanks so much for being here today, Gordon.

Can you tell us, is there any progressive infrastructure in the district?

Yes, Jane. We had a strong chapter of Democracy For America for some time. We’ve also got very active progressive community groups. Two of our current Council members are progressives, and our Mayor is center-left. Asheville sent a Dennis Kucinich delegate to the DNC in 2004 due to some great organizing on the part of DK supporters.

Our blogging community is very strong as well.

Asheville is a progressive oasis in a conservative area, and we continue to make gains as the population spreads out of our city center.

Looking at the proposals you’re making for a sustainable, liveable environment, it seems like you’re offering Asheville a very progressive agenda. Are the other candidates running for City Council on board with those kinds of ideas? That Housing Trust and your ideas for transportation seem pretty advanced.

We also managed to elect an excellent progressive, Holly Jones, to the County Commission in the last election. I served as her volunteer coordinator.

The two progressives on Council are already largely on board with those policy positions, Howie. This community is home to a nascent alternative energy and alternative transportation infrastructure. We have a biodiesel production and distribution facility, a very active non-profit called Mountain Housing Opportunities building lots of affordable housing, a green business incubator at our Asheville-Buncombe Technical College, and more.

One of those progressive City Council members, Brownie Newman, is holding a “friendraiser” for me at his home on Monday.

Thanks, Zombiebirdhouse!

Hi Gordon. Thanks so much for throwing your hat in to “represent” for both bloggers and progressives in your race. As a resident of North Carolina’s Triangle region, which is by and large a progressive hub in the state, I’m grateful that you are stepping up to the plate. I have a post up over at my pad pointing folks here.

And re: Shuler — he is clearly better than Taylor, but if you’re LGBT you’re SOL with Heath. Against hate crimes and any pro-gay legislation, Asheville, with its large LGBT community, had to hold its nose and vote for Shuler. That’s tragic.

Gordon, North Carolina seems to have gone blue-ish in the last couple years. Obama won. Larry Kissell won. Dole was defeated. Burr seems on the ropes. What’s going on there? And is it something that you can harness for your own race– even though it’s a non-partisan race?

Gordon,
With a state that has in the recent past sent Jesse Helms and Liddy Dole and Lauch Faircloth to the Senate and folks like Charles Taylor to Congress, is the recent blueness returning sustainable?

Dugg right here!

Jinx Howie!

Absolutely, Pam.

Asheville has one of the largest per capita lesbian populations in the nation. The LGBTQ community here is very visible and interwoven into the community.

Shuler’s anti-marriage stance and his stance against hate crimes stems from his fundamentalist Baptist upbringing and beliefs. His willingness to vote against the best interests of his LGBTQ constituents is reprehensible.

This campaign is harnessing the movement you point out, Howie, and that’s why I’m seeking support from across the nation. We can continue the movement here in NC if folks will devote some of their time and money to supporting progressive candidates here.

NC has been a majority-Democratic registration state for ages, though many of them voted Republican through the 80’s and 90’s. As the Republicans have increasingly failed the nation, more of those Democrats have returned to the fold.

gordonforasheville.com

We’re pulling for you down here in Athens!

We’d appreciate if all you bloggers, tweeple, and web-heads would point folks to the campaign website and encourage them to throw 10, 20, 50 dollars or more towards building progressive strength in our swing state.

Thanks, Raven!

By the way – if you’d like to help but you don’t live near Asheville or you can’t afford the scratch – we have roles available for folks from across the nation.

To get involved in our internet strategy, email the campaign Internet Director at brainshrub@gmail.com

Asheville is a beautiful city; you are lucky to live there. It’s great to hear that there is a progressive community bubbling with urban solutions. Thanks for joining us today to talk about them.

You mention that Heath Shuler has been strong regarding labor votes. Did he vote for EFCA in the last Congress? Will North Carolina’s new Senator support EFCA as well?

Thanks for all your hard work making Asheville a better place to live, and good luck on your campaign. Do you think there will ever be an opportunity to switch the election system? At-large elections always favor entrenched business interests and usually result in more Mumpowers and fewer Gordon Smiths serving the people.

Gordon, you’ve been pretty outspoken about Shuler’s shortcomings as a Democratic congressman. Is that something that could hurt you in your own race? Or help you?

I am so happy to see you take the plunge Gordon. Your ability to clearly articulate the progressive agenda and to stand on your principles has been inspirational to a lot of us in this community.

Shuler voted for EFCA in 2007 but before the final vote, the Republicans tried killing it with a motion to recommit. Shuler was one of a small handful of Chamber of Commerce shills who voted with the Republicans. (Barrow was another.) This year neither he nor Senator Hagen is a co-sponsor of the bill.

The Shuler district has a plus seven points gooper registration advantage. How did Shuler win it as a dem- and how likely is it that dems will hold the seat in the future?

I am asking because I live in a gooper plus 5 congressional district and we have struggled to get rid of Bilbray to no effect. Do we need a football player?

I knew he’d have to come up!

Hi Teddy,

I’m glad you’ve had a chance to visit our beautiful city.

NC is an anti-labor “Right To Work” state, and it was organized labor that was the first to get behind Shuler at the birth of his campaign.

Yes, he voted for EFCA and has been hammered about it by the US Chamber of Commerce in radio ads. He is not a current co-sponsor, but as Howie points out at Down With Tyranny: “Shuler is one of the only Democrats in Congress not co-sponsoring the Employee Free Choice Act.” I imagine he’ll vote for EFCA, but he’s not going out on a limb.

Re: at-large elections – We had a big election reform kerfuffle here two years ago, and I don’t think the electorate is down for changing anything about our at-large, non-partisan municipal races.

I think it will only help, Howie. Asheville is a largely progressive town that held its nose when pulling Shuler’s lever.

Shuler won it due to a number of factors:

1) Fatigue with the corrupt Charles Taylor
2) Good fundraising
3) His Baptist, conservative social views
4) Big turnouts among liberals and Dems in Buncombe and Henderson counties.

He held the seat last go ’round because his opponent was, in a word, lame.

I don’t know if you need a football player, but you definitely need someone that the conservatives won’t recoil from immediately.

Shuler took conservative social stands and progressive labor/environment stands in 2006 as part of his consummate fence walking.

Thanks

I guess we need to transfer that formula to southern california. The conservative baptis stuff is not necessargy- but fundraising is probably crucial- and name recognition- we can’t seem to run a candidate that anyone has heard of.

Bilbray’s time is running out. It’s one of the few California districts that Obama won (51-47) and still has a Republican in Congress. And Bilbray only managed 50% of the vote in November. He’s voted against every single item on Obama’s agenda to rebuild the middle class and stave off a full blown, protracted Depression. If 2010 isd anything like 1934– and I think it will be– Bilbray is toast.

I just donated $50. :-)

When it comes to donating money, City Council races aren’t as glamorous – but they are at least as important.

Our neighboring district in the desert is stuck with the widow of a dead washed up rock singer just because people knew her last name. That’s only a gooper plus 3 district as I recall. It seems that the name recognition thing is extremely important in prying out an incumbent- do you agree?

Thanks, Paul! We’re about 1/6th of the way to our campaign fundraising goal, and fifty bones goes a long way in a city race.

Thanks for the cheer- don’t mean to change the subject of the thread-but am very interested in getting rid of Bilbray. Unfortunately, we had two pretty weak candidates to run against him. If you can help- I’m perfectly willing to join in with time and money.

Barrow isn’t any football player. He’s a swarmy creep that goes around in biker (bicycle) tights making people think he’s environmentally friendly. He moved from here to Savannah just so he could run in that gerrymandered district. The only positive thing about him is that he isn’t here.

If the fundraising and campaign team are good enough, then you can build name recognition, but it’s certainly cheaper to have someone that folks already know.

One of the reasons I’m launching my campaign now is to build name recognition in the city. While the online community has been familiar with me for years, there are lots of folks who don’t know my name.

Sounds like a very sound approach. Good luck to you! Will you need to have Baptist credentials also as you move beyond the city?

Does that mean you’re going to be doing a lot of door knocking. How many people will vote in this election? And when is it?

During this pause, let me tell you a little about the volunteer campaign team I’ve assembled.

My campaign manager ran the field data operation for Barack Obama in New Mexico.

My communications director has been running local campaigns for ten years.

The volunteer coordination team is made up of former Obama volunteer coordinator, a Buncombe County Democratic Party field organizer, and a former City Council candidate.

Our canvassing maps and lists are incredibly precise.

The events director was a leader in Democracy For America.

I could go on and on about this incredible group of people.

At this very moment, the CM and VC team are conducting a volunteer organizing training. There are a dozen people going through a training designed to prepare them for this campaign and to give them the skills to keep our progressive movement strong for years to come.

Is there any good book available that summarizes succesful congressional battles against incumbents with some key winning strategies? If not, there SHOULD be.

Wow!–THAT’S an impressive team!

Yes Howie, we’ll be doing a LOT of door knocking beginning the first weekend in April. There are about 56,000 registered voters in the city limits, but turnout for these off-year elections is in the abysmal/embarrassing range of 12-14%. We’re looking to expand turnout through contact with targeted demographics, and we’ll be knocking on doors in neighborhoods across the city with our great volunteer team.

The primary is in October, and the general is in November.

I’m glad you guys defeated Charles Taylor, but the Chamber of Commerce Democrats pull the entire caucus to the right in the House. Shuler’s dance with Rahm on immigration was very discouraging, and almost took the Democratic party in a very bad direction.

Howie says you see Shuler as “transitional” and I wonder how that transition will happen, now that Shuler has decided not to challenge Burr. That would have opened his Congressional seat up nicely. But there aren’t many other opportunities like that on the horizon, are there?

Teddy,

The good news is that we’re in it for the long haul, and as the country moves back to the left I can foresee a day when Heath Shuler’s conservatism and palling around with House Republicans will be a real deficit in this district.

My campaign manager ran the field data operation for Barack Obama in New Mexico.

Name?

Hey, those folks who want to make fun of “community organizing” have something to learn, eh?

Wow!

His name is David Roat, and he’s a campaign machine unto himself.

Field data is the bomb.

I’m hoping that as Shuler continues to disgrace himself and migrate towards Republicans– he actually rooms with three of the worst neo-fascists in the whole Congress (Jim DeMint, Tom Coburn and Zach Wamp) a progressive with some accomplishments in local government eventually steps up to the plate and takes him out in a primary.

Glad to see that you went live last night Gordon. I think that your candidacy shows what it is going to take to get this country moving back in a progressive direction in the long term. The Conservatives learned long ago that you need people on the City Council, County Commission, and School Board. These serve as incubators for higher office.

Good luck, and I hope to get over from Winston to help this spring/summer.

Thanks, cm1165. I’ll look forward to seeing you again next time you’re in town.

Gordon, is their an overriding issue unique to Asheville that the race hinges on?

Making Asheville more affordable and more sustainable is paramount, but those concerns are universal.

Specific to Asheville – we have several issues going on:

1) An proposed interstate connector project that threatens to pave one of our oldest neighborhoods. See the Facebook Group here.

2) A constant battle over development goes on in this town. By making our Development Ordinances more clear and reflective of community values we can put a stop to these battles that divide by the community.

3) We have a nascent alternative energy infrastructure here that needs support of policy makers.

4) Our LGBTQ community needs a representative that values their contributions to our community.

Developers are always the big money behind politics– on every level. From what I’ve heard about your approach– incentivizing developers to do the right thing instead of bending over for them or demonizing them completely– it sounds like you could make some headway. Are the developers big Mumpower supporters?

There are different camps among the development community. The Green Builders are very supportive of raising the bar on energy efficiency and encouraging retrofit of older buildings. The traditional builders fight that sort of thing tooth and nail.

I think developers, no matter their stripe, dislike a system that doesn’t provide predictability. It’s only fair to reform our development ordinances to provide all developers with more certainty that, if they follow the rules, their developments will be approved.

How is the town faring with the economic downturn? Do they NEED the income from projects like the interstate connector?

Sounds like a promising message. If one knows that requests will be handled:

1) Fairly and honestly.

2) With speed and helpful courtesy

3) Without the need for bribery

It should help

The town is faring poorly. We’ve got foreclosures, job losses, and one of the highest standards of living in the state.

The I-26 Connector project is going to go forward. The debate is over which design to use. An alternative designed by the Asheville Design Center uses less land, less asphalt, takes fewer homes, fewer business, and creates a 22-acre development corridor on the west side of downtown. The other alternative, backed by the local Chamber of Commerce, is the one we’re worried about. It will separate west Asheville from downtown and will decimate the neighborhood I mentioned before.

If you’re on the city council is it something you will be in a position to stop? Or will it take an order from the governor?

Is the population largely native Carolinians or “carpet baggin yankees”?

Highest COSTS of living, that is.

There’s a lot of natives and a lot of transplants from all over the nation, rwcole.

Is one group more politically influential than the other?

I’m asking because sometimes people’s ideas of what city government can and should do are formed in a previous city

That’s a complicated question. I think it depends on the issue and whether the issue gets covered by the media. I’d say it’s split down the middle.

Looks like our time is about up here.

Thanks so much to Howie and Jane for hosting me here at firedoglake. This is one of the most exciting blog communities in the nation, and I’m honored that y’all have given me the floor for the last two hours.

If you want to get involved in this campaign, please visit the campaign website at gordonforasheville.com – we need donations of any size, volunteers of every capability, and support wherever we can get it.

Protecting and maintaining our progressives values is at the heart of my candidacy. Our national progressive community has inspired me to step into the arena and do right by my city.

Thanks again for stopping by, and I hope to speak with you again soon.

Gordon, thanks for coming by today– and please keep us abreast of developments in the race as they come up. Let’s meet back here in November for a celebration!

Meanwhile, anyone in L.A. looking for something to do tonight– Rickie Lee Jones is at Largo (8:30PM) telling a series of stories about her life. It’s a unique and fascinating show.

Thanks for spending the Saturday afternoon with us Gordon. Good luck and hard work for your efforts for the Council.

Jane upstairs

Just thinking out loud- but it would seem that the most valuable piece of information a candidate for city govt. can have is:

“What makes people the most pissed off about their current city govt.?”

A good candidate can take an issue like- say “Red light cameras” to the winner’s circle.