"We realized that basically not a single well-rounded campaign had been run."
Some bracing honesty in a detailed and well-rounded picture of the state of the Libertarian Party post-2006 elections, via this Third Party Watch interview with the Party's Executive Director Shane Cory. A sample:
There is no putting lipstick on our election results this year. We ran too few candidates and of those candidates, not many received even a moderate level of support (man hours and money).
This led to incomplete campaigns. Some candidates did well with media but didn't have the volunteer resources/time for fundraising efforts. Others did well with fundraising but generated no media. In talking to our Candidate Tracker coordinator, Sean Haugh, we realized that basically not a single well-rounded campaign had been run.
Let me be clear in saying that this is not a failure of our candidates, but of our organization. Being a candidate alone is a Herculean task. Being a candidate who books the media, stuffs the envelopes and handles the accounting is impossible. From the national level to the local level, we have to do a better job of offering support to our most valuable assets, our candidates.
It's long, but interesting throughout. The similarly long and detailed comments thread is also worth reading through for an even more well-rounded picture of the LP's present and prospects in the view of many past and future candidates and party watchers.
