By Mark Brewer, Chair of the Michigan Democratic Party, President of the Association of State Democratic Chairs, and Vice Chair of the Democratic National Committee

The results of the 2004 elections taught me two important lessons.  First, Democrats nationwide and in my state needed to do more to reach out to and engage people of faith, especially evangelicals and moderate/conservative Catholics.  Second, there was incredible potential for Democrats if we decided to do so.

During the final six weeks of the 2004 campaign, Michigan Democrats launched a grassroots Catholic outreach effort that built bridges and delivered a faith-friendly message through targeted mailings, phone banks, and earned media.   Michigan was the only swing state where John Kerry received a majority of Catholic votes, and he received 15% more votes from regular church-attending Catholics in Michigan than he did in the other battleground states of Ohio and Florida. 

We were determined to build on that success and to ensure that people of faith understood that they were welcome within the Democratic Party.  And so back in the summer of 2005, I began attending a series of "listening meetings" with leaders from faith communities throughout the state.  The meetings were kept small, normally between 5-20 pastors and lay leaders.  And I made it very clear that the purpose of the meeting was for me to listen, not lobby.  When we finally wrapped up the meetings this past summer, I had met with and listened to close to 500 pastors and lay leaders in my state.

I met with a number of pastors from liberal/mainline traditions that tend to support Democratic policies, but most of my meetings were with pastors and leaders from more conservative traditions.  Often, I found myself in a meeting comprised primarily of registered Republicans.  I will admit that I entered some of the early meetings with great trepidation.  I was acutely aware of the political leanings of the pastors with whom I was about to find myself cloistered in a room for an hour.  And as someone who had not come from an evangelical tradition and was not completely comfortable talking openly about my own faith, I was a little nervous about whether I would be put on the spot and how much of the conversation I'd be required to carry.

To my surprise, rather than being confrontational, most of the meetings began with the pastors saying:  "welcome, where have you been?"  Many talked about how Republicans reached out to them and their congregations all the time but that this was the first time in their career that they had ever had a Democrat express interest in what they had to say.  Even in meetings with conservative pastors in heavily Republican parts of the state, it was clear that they appreciated my willingness to engage and listen to them.  I also quickly learned that my concerns about having to carry the conversation myself were unfounded.  When one gathers a bunch of pastors into a room, one seldom has to worry about a lack of conversation or willingness of folks to offer opinions!

By beginning each conversation with the question of what they felt the proper place for faith in the public square was, we were able to build some trust and find common ground before diving into some of the hot button issues.  To my surprise, many of my meetings with conservative pastors would end without them once raising the issues of abortion or gay marriage.  It was clear that other things were more important or equally important to them and that many preferred to focus on what we had in common.  In fact, the issue that came up the most was not abortion or gay marriage but the concern that people of faith did not feel like they knew what the Democrats stood for.

The meetings were an eye-opening experience.  I was struck both by how much common ground existed with "conservative" pastors and also with how similar the suggestions from "conservative" and "liberal" were when it came to the Democratic Party.   These leaders didn't want Democrats to suddenly "find God" as much as they wanted to be reassured that there was a place in our Party for those who already had.  The meetings also allowed the Michigan Democrat Party to create numerous ties in communities where we previously had no connections.

But perhaps the most tangible thing to come from the meetings was the result of a question by several of the pastors about how committed we truly were to listening and giving them a voice within the Party.  I told them that I would love it if they would participate in the drafting process for the 2006 platform, and they accepted.  The result was a beautiful preamble that captures the vision of what the Democratic Party stands for and for whom it stands.  And they also contributed a section on the role of faith in our Party, which included a positive affirmation of the role of faith in our society.

All of these accomplishments, all of these new relationships, and all of the potential inherent therein are the result of a very old and important technique of politics and governing:  listen to the people.  In Michigan, we will continue to hold listening meetings after this election, and I would encourage every state Party and elected official to do the same.  I leave you with the words from the Preamble to our Party Platform coined by some of my new evangelical friends:

There was a time when Americans were challenged to ask not what their country could do for them, but what they could do for their country. In recent years, however, we seem to have become less interested in looking first to the needs of others -- especially the needs of the most vulnerable -- and more interested in meeting only the needs of ourselves. America has always been at its best when Americans ask not "what's in it for me," but "what can I do to give back?"

The Michigan Democratic Party understands this basic principle. That is why Democrats in this state are seeking the Common Good - the best life for each person of this state. The orphan. The family. The sick. The healthy. The wealthy. The poor. The citizen. The stranger. The first. The last.

Seeking the Common Good is not difficult for Michigan's citizens to understand. Just ask the woman who watches her neighbor's son so mom can work to pay her heating bill. Ask the pastor, rabbi or imam who walks the street at night praying for the crime in his neighborhood to cease. Ask the dentist whose staff keeps telling her she's got to start charging families who don't have insurance. The people of Michigan deserve leadership with the moral courage that matches that of the people of Michigan.

By holding ourselves to this vision of the Common Good, Democrats have the integrity to deal with the challenges that face Michigan today. We address Michigan's economic situation while holding the "least of these" - our most impoverished, our least advantaged -- at the forefront of our minds. We address security concerns while holding the "stranger" -- immigrants and our brothers and sisters who live abroad -- in the highest respect. We address our health care needs remembering the ill, the elderly, and the unemployed. In short, we do what is difficult, and we do what is right.

Michigan is showered with blessings -- from the beach grass covering our sand dunes to the oil covering the hands of our assembly line workers. The people of Michigan who make it such a treasure deserve leadership who treasure them in return. In the Michigan Democratic Party and its candidates, Michigan's citizens will find just such leadership -- leadership devoted to the Common Good.