Street Fight. by SunshineUnderground

I was pouring over the County Commission campaign finance reports today, trying to understand Miami-Dade politics, when it struck me how important but ultimately futile the exercise was. The disparity in funds raised between incumbents and challengers pointed out below by Geniusofdespair is really the best summary of the entire game. As long as the commissioners can rely on developers and other fat cats to provide them with an insurmountable advantage over challengers, well, then we'll know who's really running the city.

But we all knew that. So, what do you do? I'm reminded of the documentary Street Fight Film which showed how Cory Booker, a young community activist and lawyer, took on the political machine and an incumbent mayor in Newwark, NJ, and was barely defeated in the 2002 election. Booker went on to win with 70% of the vote in 2006, after the incumbent stepped down. So who are the Cory Bookers of South Florida? And, to get beyond individuals (because people like that only come once or twice a generation), how do you build alternative sources of power in urban politics? These questions are old Saul Alinsky's community organizations were created to address that issue, and locally that brings to mind ACORN. They do good work but aren't about to get anyone elected.

Obama cut his political teeth in Chicago's community organizations, and that is reflected in the grass roots nature of his campaign. Is there an urban version of Obama's army of small donors? Can the online model of fund raising that has proven so important in national politics translate to local politics?

I have no answers. I'll just go back to looking over those campaign contributions, and trying to understand the structure that makes them the way they are.