I've knocked on thousands of doors over the years. Thousands for myself as a candidate, and thousands for candidates at every level - from Obama in 2007 to state and local candidates - as well as issue campaigns. As a candidate, I kept each interaction under a minute. When I was an Obama Organizing Fellow in 2007, I spent several minutes with everyone I made contact with. Voter contact comes in many forms, each with its own purpose, approach, and time commitment. But whether you're doing persuasion, deep canvassing, or 15-second GOTV rapid contacts, it's always going to require a greater investment of time and energy - and deliver infinitely more value - than sitting on your bitter, lazy ass firing off a snarky tweet just because you don't like the people actually putting in the work. Thank you to @DigitalGroundG and every one of their volunteers for putting in the work.

This is a pretty frightening story. The mayor of the most left-wing city in the state of Wisconsin, and the country, has decided not to run for re-election because of extreme harrassment. And she made it clear it wasn't just from the far-right. What do you think happens to a democracy when good people are made to feel it is too dangerous to serve the public because of how the public treats them? It's been more than a decade since I have held elected office, but there's no way I would run again. Not only is it extremley risky to the candidate and anyone around them, but it's quite literally not even *worth* it when you see how shamefully little elected officials tend to get paid for important work. "Oh, you shouldn't be in it for the money!" Gotcha. Should doctors be "in it for the money"? Police officers? Teachers? I agree, no one should "be in it for the money" but work should be fairly compensated and what do you think happens when most elected officials get paid next to nothing (far below minimum wage like I was)? Do you think it's a coincidence that local elected officials in particular are RETIRED or RICH OR BOTH? Who has time to work for nothing? Who can afford to work for nothing? Not young people. Not anyone with a family. Not working class people. Add on top of that the worsening threats that come with just RUNNING for office, let alone winning and serving. As the mayor said, this is indeed a threat to democracy.