Stay hydrated, get good sleep As we approach the winter solstice, things are not as dark as they seem. More sunlight is on the way. As I noted the other day: I’m assembling mailing lists for the 5th Ed of For The Win right now. Two years ago 40% of Idaho’s counties either had no functioning Democratic committees (or no sign of them on the Net). Today all do. Two years ago an even higher percentage of Iowa’s counties were MIA. Today only 5 [of 99] are. Sure, it’s red Idaho and Iowa, but it’s dramatic progress in two short years. Nobody knows about that. Now you do. Candidate filing closed at noon on Friday in North Carolina and I was thrilled: Chided for absences across more than 25% the General Assembly races in 2022, Friday’s final half-day of election filing for the 2024 cycle brought a resounding end to the fortnight. All 50 Senate districts have a Democratic candidate, and 118 of 120 House of Representatives districts have one. That’s a far cry from nobody in 15 Senate and 29 House races. But let former Ohio Democratic Party chair David Pepper tell it: Do Not Underestimate Gen Z The lead organizer from RuralOrganizing.org e-introduced me to Anderson Clayton in August 2021. Like David Pepper, I knew with our first phone call Clayton was going places. By October, she was electing Democrats in a red county. When she ran for state chair last February, I may have been the only one on…