Doorstep Democracy

Read, James H.  Doorstep Democracy.  Face-to-face politics in the Heartland.  Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.  224 pages.  $17.95.  [ISBN: 978-0-8166-5679-0]

James H. Read uses his personal experience of running for the Minnesota House of Representatives in order to advocate doorstep campaigning.  Read ran for the District 14 A seat in 1992 and primarily made his a door-knocking intensive campaign.  With no practical experience in politics, Read had to learn how to navigate both a broken local Democratic party and a conservative community who viewed outsiders with suspicion.  As a recent transplant to the rural area with a Harvard education, Read had to compete aggressively with a home-grown candidate who was more representative of the general population.  Because of his beliefs and his position as a Catholic college Professor, he encounters problems with the well-organized and well-funded MCCL, a powerful pro-life political machine in Minnesota. 

Over the length of the campaign, Read personally visited 7,500 households in the 14A district. His notes are filled with interesting stories about his interactions with voters, many which better educate him about the issues facing the community.  Due to his experience, he champions the idea of a return to door-to-door campaigns as a way to dissolve cynicism about politics.  He notes that the Internet is primarily used to connect like-minded individuals, while direct access to voters provides a way for the candidate a reciprocal transaction - the candidate learns more about the issues and needs of the community.  The voters on the other hand, get a chance to learn personally about the views of the candidate on any issues that affects them.

At the final stages of the campaign, Read had to deal with two surprising negative attacks.  One comes from his opponent using a local popular priest just days before the election, even though both candidates had agreed against negative campaigning.   Read also views the dirty side of politics, as the leaders of the local Democratic political machine fall prey to scandals, requiring Read to testify against one of them.  Ultimately, Read loses the election by less than 100 votes in an election that included a little over 15,000.  The author devotes the final pages of the book to making his argument on why doorstep campaigning is important in keeping communications open between the candidate and the voter, based on his experience.

Overall, this book provides an interesting inside view of personalized politics and on-the-ground campaigning.   Read kept an impressively complete record of the 7,500 households that he personally encountered and that makes up a major component of the book.  The depiction of the interactions between voter, opponent and political machines provides an eye-opening experience for readers.  This book is recommended for those who are interested in learning more about the inner-workings of local campaigns.

Senovia Guevara
University of Michigan Library
Senovia_guevara@hotmail.com