Randy Parraz: It’s not, Can we win? It’s, How do we win?

by David Safier

I've heard Randy Parraz speak before, but never as well as he spoke at Democrats of Greater Tucson today. The man was on fire: eloquent and funny, connecting on an emotional level, pumping up the audience. He talked about the successful Russell Pearce recall and his redoubled commitment to vote Joe Arpaio out of office next election. He's a man on a mission.

Someone in the audience asked Randy if he thinks a Democrat can beat Arpaio. Randy's answer was, that's the wrong question. That's the kind of attitude that defeats us. The question isn't, Can a Democrat beat Arpaio, or can a Democrat win in Arizona? The question is, How do we win? What's the strategy we need? What's the organization we need?

He's right all the way down the line. If we don't think we can challenge someone like Arpaio with negatives as long as the long arm of his racist, autocratic policies, we're defeated before we start.

Randy put me in a "Yes we can!" state of mind, to harken back to 2008. ("You're kidding! You're going to nominate a black man to run for President? How stupid can you be? The election's over already!") Got me kind of "Fired up, ready to go."

Let's go out there and win us some elections!