All politics is local. But what happens when you are a Democrat and live in Orange County?

Yes, it's true, there are some Democrats in Orange County. We actually go out and vote occasionally, and you wouldn't know it but we actually do vote for Democrats. The problem is that there are so few worth voting for. Sometimes the only reason we pull the lever for the (D) is because we are (D)s, not because the person with that designation represents us, or what we believe.

If clearly explained, most people would actually vote for Democrats principles. When the only Democrat that we have elected from the OC to the House is a Blue Dog DLC Member (unlike her sister) who moved into the area taking out a local boy named Prince in a primary that she shouldn't have won, we have a real problem.

So, we behind the Orange curtain have to look to the grassroots to develop the 50-State strategy locally. That begins when you have a party organization in the county that doesn't have its head stuck up their collective asses.

Four years ago there was a Democrat who was a local city activist who decided to run for City Council. The activist put together a wonderful speech to give at a party meeting when she was going to seek the parties support. She showed up at the meeting and since she was the only Democrat running for the council seat, she was told that she didn't have to speak, and that she had their support.

What was amazing was the support that she got. She was promised walking lists for the community. She was promised support in phone banking from the party offices. She was promised… and that was all. As the election grew closer she called and asked where the support was, and it was always "coming soon" and then, on Election Day, when she had absolutely nothing of what she was promised, she won without the party.

And the party apparatus lost. They lost the support of an elected Democrat who now has no interest in working with them in any way, shape or form. They lost the opportunity to develop people with assets by having them intern for her on the City Council, developing experience in local politics and matters that effect and move people. They lost the opportunity to start developing a party network of young involved and trained people that could go out and take other local city council seats.

Why is that important? Because the next generation of Democrats should be those that got trained and were given hands up by us old farts. There should be a program in place where College students who have an interest in being part of the solution get their training in what it takes to lead at the local level. Not just in those aspects of political campaigning that we seem to want to push down their collective throats, but in terms of developing those leadership qualities that will allow them to lead better.

There is a place in the party for the party to work with sitting elected Democrats to develop a bench from which the next leaders will come forth. But it doesn't happen in this small corner of the world because we don't really have a party apparatus that functions. So we end up with Ed Royce sandwiched between the Sanchez sisters. A totally ineffectual GOP member who is unmovable from his position even though people in the district are begging for leadership that counts. We end up with city councils that are not promoting Democrats interested in the needs of the people, but business interest Republicans. We and up with a strategy of losing, not winning.

On a number of occasions the City Council member and I have talked about creating a stealth party machine that operates outside the OC Democratic Party. That provides a training ground for developing the leaders of tomorrow. That puts in place an intern program that teaches young interested Democrats about leadership, not just about elections. Lately this group has started to grow a bit as others have heard the rumblings of disenchantment and the desire to make a change.

All politics is local. There are a number of places where, if we Democrats work together, we can start to get young involved people elected to their first offices, trained in making change happen in a progressive way and on the right track to support Dr. Dean's 50-State strategy. There is a way to start taking back the OC, from the north county to the south county, one city at a time. It's too bad that the county party has failed in such a massive way that the only way that people think that they can do it and make a difference is by ignoring the party apparatus altogether.