Just look at the fight to save the Public Option that was waged by the grass roots Democratic base this Fall after virtually everyone wrote it off as dead by Summer. There was no massive national media coverage pumping us up 24/7; what coverage there was was meant to demoralize us. There was no "pull out all the stops" campaign being coordinated by the National Democratic Party promoting the benefits of a strong government role in health care for Americans. Nope, none of that, just a true bottom up movement advocating for and defending traditional Democratic values. A deeply committed one.

That is the type of passion, the type of self starter organizing capacity, that the Democratic Party needs to have to win important close elections. If the Democratic Party tries to placate that type of activism with an arms length attitude instead of harnessing it whenever possible behind causes that most Democrats deeply care about, it will be lucky if it manages to rally a base once every four years for Presidential Elections.

The national media won't make this connection. They would rather blather endlessly about whatever Alice through the looking glass Tea Party FOX News is currently pushing, even though after the conclusion of the so-called hot summer the American public STILL strongly favors a public option for health care insurance. The Democratic base did come out in force this year, to fight for real health care reform; with just minimal encouragement. Perhaps that is an inconvenient truth.