Gina Ortiz Jones - A Big Field Problem

More than anyone on a Texas ballot, Gina Ortiz Jones needs strong Democratic turnout in her bid to become congresswoman of the 23rd District of Texas. Its one of the few swing districts in Texas and she's taking on someone that is actually pretty popular in the valley, Congressman Will Hurd.

In order to get it done, she needs about 3300 votes to come from the El Paso County portion of her district. Its a tall order, but doable.

If you're working the ground hard. And wait until you hear where her field guy was while she knocked on doors for 15 minutes...

You'd think that knowing all along you need that pocket of voters stretching from east of Zaragoza, Socorro, Clint, San Elizario and other communities to come through for you big time, that you'd be dropping a major effort in that area.

So GOJ makes a swing through El Paso during Labor Day weekend. You'd think she'd be squeezing everything she possibly could get anything out of her time here in El Paso. You'd think she would have an experienced team of campaigning knocking on doors like a Jehovah's Witness and a Mormon Missionary were genetically spliced to create some sort of super door knocker.

But inexplicably she chose Josh Carter to run her field work. I have no clue why people who have never won a campaign end up getting consulting work but hey, congressional races have a lot of money and people line up to get their piece of the pie.

The stakes are high for GOJ. She needs a huge turnout and a filed operative should be the most committed slave-driving person on your campaign team. The number of doors needed to be knocked and the amount of days left to do it should be keeping that person up at night. After all, early voting is less than 50 days away.

Tick-Tock, Tick-Tock...

Anyone who has spent any amount of time knows that the valley is my turf. If something happens in the valley, I usually hear about it pretty quickly. Well you know what I haven't heard?

A voter that has heard from GOJ's campaign.

Seriously, I don't know one person who's door has been knocked on in Socorro, San Eli, east El Paso, any of the colonias, Clint, Fabens, or Tornillo.

Zip.

Zilch.

Nada.

You don't win campaigns by having events, you win it by knocking on doors. Ask people like Dora Oaxaca, Chente Quintanilla, or Norma Chavez (who has become El Paso's version of Roseanne Barr following her disgraceful ouster from the legislature and subsequent beat down in the 16th congressional race) if having events actually leads to votes in the valley. None of them are in office because they all lost to people that knew that knocking on doors was the key to victory in the valley.

Anywhere really, but especially in the valley.

During her last swing through El Paso GOJ knocked on a handful of doors. Literally just a handful of doors. I don't really fault her for it, a candidate for congress in a swing district is really busy. But the doors she knocked on weren't set up by her field person.

Doors haven't been getting knocked in the valley portion of her district. I mentioned it to her on Labor Day and she said that her field effort was just getting under way.

YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME.

At best, her team will hit a few hundred doors. And trust me, I'm freaking being generous by saying that. By know, her walkers should be on their third, fourth, or fifth knock on the doors of her targets.

But while GOJ was actually walking in the valley and knocking on doors - an event not set-up by her field guy - where the hell was her Josh Carter, the guy in charge of making sure the valley is delivered for GOJ?

He was at a Chihuahuas game.

I bullshit you not.

Instead of working up a sweat on the campaign trail, he's knocking down a piña loca with extra chamoy downtown at a ballgame.

Maybe he was there because it was tangentially related to his day job as a staffer for State Rep Mary Gonzalez. But why is he even doing office work at this point? Its crunch time, Gonzalez doesn't have an opponent. Gonzalez is a serious block walker herself, she knows what it takes to win. So it makes no sense why Carter was at a ballgame instead of knocking on doors with the candidate.

GOJ is targeting non-traditional voters. You aren't going to get those voters sitting at a Chihuahuas game.

This is why hiring people who have never won a race before is a huge mistake. It would be a different story if he'd never won a race but doors were being knocked on, but they haven't been. That is a major tactical error - and completely avoidable.

But this mistake is on the candidate. She's the boss. If her field guy is out chewing on peanuts at a ballgame instead of knocking on doors its because someone doesn't think campaigning is a priority. That is either the candidate or the field guy.

But there's only one boss. If Gina Ortiz Jones wants to win, she's got to do more than expect the Beto campaign or the El Paso Democratic Party to carry the load for her campaign. And trust me, if doors get knocked in that area, its not because Carter is putting together turf and getting teams out there.

It'll be because of Beto's campaign or the Democratic Party who have been having weekly block walks.

GOJ has to get it in gear while she still can. A lot of us are depending on her.