“I’ll
never believe that Kerry didn’t take Ohio.”
That’s
Mary Ellen Blanchard speaking and tonight’s a Thursday, the night she and a
half dozen to a dozen local self-described liberals congregate at Monty’s
Korner to talk politics and down a few drinks while they’re at it.
Today
Democrat Wade Norwood has announced his candidacy for mayor, and fellow Dem Tim
Mains is hosting a housewarming party for his campaign’s new digs.
“They’re
all good candidates,” a few opined when asked, but these folks have topics
beside local politics on their minds. There’ll be time for that later. The
conversational fare du jour is war
stories from the recent presidential campaign. Several at the table
participated in get-out-the-vote drives in Ohio, and they’ve all got sobering
tales of Republican perfidy to tell.
That’s
not entirely inapt, since this informal group owes its existence to a quest for
catharsis in the wake of November’s election.
“The
first night was just my friend Ted and I,” says Jason Sherron, the weekly
event’s co-founder and Rochester city leader. Bummed about conservative ascendancy
in the last election, the two hit the bars determined to find a creative outlet
for their sorrows, rather than moping.
“I’m
not just gonna sit around and be mad about this,” Sherron remembers thinking.
Luckily
for the two, a national organization for liberal drinkers was already in place,
and what began as two friends drowning their sorrows quickly morphed into the
Rochester chapter of Drinking Liberally.
Sporting the
slogan “Promoting democracy one pint at a time,” the New York City-based national
network of liberal happy hours now boasts a presence in more than 50 cities.
Drinking Liberally’s national liaison (and Bloomfield native) Katrina Baker
says that like the one in Rochester, many groups formed after the election as a
more or less direct result of Bush’s victory. That and a desire on the part of
campaign volunteers to maintain ties forged while registering voters and
canvassing in the run-up to November. Unsurprisingly, that’s particularly true
of the political action committee that spun off from Howard Dean’s aborted
primary campaign.
“We
have a lot of Democracy for America people, and that’s because they’re so well
organized and [are] keeping in touch with each other,” Baker says. About half
the contingent at Monty’s Korner claimed a connection to DFA — including DFA
Rochester co-founder Thomas Janowski. But for now at least, plenty of
Democratic political activists with ties to other campaigns show up, too —
especially in conservative areas.
“They
sort of need it,” says Baker. “It’s become a progressive support group.”
The
use of the term “progressive” is intentional, says Baker, since it doesn’t box
the events into a Democratic Party-only pigeonhole. Sherron agrees. Asked if
everyone around the table was a Democrat he responds, “I don’t know; I haven’t
polled.”
“We’d
probably find some old-time Republicans,” adds Blanchard. “They’re pretty
similar to today’s liberals.” But no one steps forward to claim that mantle.
The talk
drifts back to politics. Software consultant Rich Eckel is contending that his hometown of
Pittsford is actually full of closet liberals registered as blanks. If that’s
true, another points out, it could bode well for a challenge by Ted Nixon for
the County Legislature seat now held by Republican Majority Leader Bill Smith.
Around the booth there are nods of agreement. This is the germ of the
“progressive sounding board” Sherron hopes the event will become.
“I
kind of think of it almost as a funnel,” he says. By the time next election
season rolls around, he hopes Rochester’s Drinking Liberally will fulfill a
twofold mission. His first goal is for it to serve as an informal forum for the
exchange of liberal ideas. The second is that the web of connections formed at
the weekly gatherings will turn it into a place where political neophytes can
meet up with causes and campaigns.
That
jibes with the vision of Drinking Liberally expressed by Baker: “I guess we see
this as creating social progressive networks.” The eventual goal is to have
groups in all 50 states. There are still nearly 20 states to go to reach that
target, but new cities are still coming on board at a brisk pace (especially
considering that the event moved beyond Manhattan only in August). In fact, the
concept’s popularity has outstripped the volunteer leadership’s ability to plan
Drinking Liberally’s future. Requests to start groups have started pouring in
from American expat communities around the globe. And Baker balked after
hearing from a group of Germans who want to start the Munich Chapter.
“I
don’t know,” she says, musing about the prospect of expanding into foreign
nations. “We haven’t really figured it out.” In the meantime, local chapters
have taken the initiative to explore their own ideas of what the groups should
be.
“Some
are action-oriented,” Baker says, citing the DC chapter, which invites a guest
speaker each week. “Some are happy hours, and some try to mix the two.”
Rochester’s
group lands decidedly on the side of the casual happy hour: “This is as
informal as you can possibly get,” says Sherron, before hinting that he
wouldn’t mind changing that, or at least shaking things up.
“We’ve
never had a Republican walk through the door and challenge us, but this group
is up to that.” After all, he quips, they’re prepared for anything: they’re
drinking liberally.
The
bartender at Monty’s Korner was a little foggy on who the group was, but
quizzed on whether the group actually drinks liberally she had an answer: “Some
of them make up for others.”
Rochester’s
Chapter of Drinking Liberally gathers at Monty’s Korner (355 East Avenue,
corner of Alexander Street) at around 7 p.m. every Thursday. (“We usually reach
critical mass around 7:30 p.m., but early and late stragglers are common too,”
Sherron wrote in an email.) Find more information on the web at
drinkingliberally.org.
This article appears in Mar 9-15, 2005.
