Senator Arlen Spector made the move to the Democratic party this week, is this a sign of things to come not just nationally but locally? For his own reasons the Senator from Pennsylvania jumped the aisle in Washington, perhaps to survive a primary he thought he could not win, or a realization of the changing demographics in his state or is the digging in of his former party the real cause for such a move? If there is no room in the GOP for anyone who finds Rush and Miss California not their best face forward then it may be time locally to get the doors and minds open and swell the ranks. Are we willing to let them in?

The rural districts in Champaign are changing, the move out of the twin cities was fast and furious until the recent slowdown and our local demographics have changed out in the open land. There is a bigger number of closet Democrats outside of town and the time to focus their attention is ripe. In town there is a contingent of Greens and Independents who could be in our fold with little trouble. The upcoming primary looks to be a time for the Democrats to get names on the ballot in any race available, and give the people on the fence a reason to get out and pull a Democratic ticket, it would be an opportunity to get a head count and see where inroads are being made.

Are there potential party jumpers around you, if we give the undecided a nice place to land then the decision may be easier, if the ground looks to hard maybe not and that can in part explain the growth of third party support. Are we willing to soften up the ground? We will never get folks like Mark Thompson, and we should not try, but can we reach for Joe Average and better our own party at the same time. Will we open the door?

[Editor's Note: This post is unedited. As this site becomes more active (thanks, Ben!) , I will edit less and rely more on our home page disclaimer: Blog posts and comments are solely the opinions of their authors].