Token, halfhearted campaigns are self-defeating. Very few union locals and regional labor councils will commit precious resources to a party on the basis of some possible campaign for office somewhere on some indefinite, far-off day. Only real live candidates win news coverage, exposure at public forums, COPE money, union endorsements and publicity for their platform and their party banner. The first-time candidacies of Yolanda Alaniz and Heidi Durham for Seattle City Council in 1991 are concrete examples of this. Not only did their explicitly radical programs force their Democratic opponents to debate ideas such as calling for a civilian review board to monitor police, but Alaniz scored a healthy 18 percent of the vote.
Campaigns build recognition for a party's stands and draw recruits.
This translates into the grassroots growth to win in the future. The Labor Party needs to get out there and just do it. The local and state chapters have proven to be the LP's lifeblood in its formative years. Instead of suffocating them with rules and regulations, the National Committee should be cheering them on, helping them in every way possible, and planning national campaigns. For a program with drawing power.