Democrats try to rebuild the state party from the ground up

[frazzled]

9. Talking about the DMI (Democratic Party of Illinois)

of which he is head, not his role in the IL House. And I have to say, having lived in a number of blue states previously, I agree with the criticism of the state party here: when we first moved here I contacted them and made a donation; 13 years later I have yet to receive the first contact from them about anything. That was not the case in MN or MA, both of which were much more open party structures, and less top-down, than they are here.

I'm talking party structure and electoral issues, not State Legislature actions. If the party is not funding all the counties, there will be no blue wave here (or nationally), and that kind of focus on building party structure in red counties has not been the case previously. Just as Howard Dean initiated the 50 state strategy in 2004, we need an all-county strategy in 2018. Whether or not Madigan has talked to House about this is immaterial: the point is, someone had to step in and lead/fund this initiative. It's never happened before in all these years, so I don't see why you want to suddenly credit Madigan for it happening now.