Nation-Building

Jonathon Cohn, in a pair of somwhat-schizophrenic posts on TNR Primary, praises and slams Dean. The slam deals with the attacks Dean made toward Kerry in New York, but the praise, well, the praise is great:

First, Dean endorses a number of important, but highly underappreciated, policy ideas here, including so-called "card check" registration for unions.

[...]

The second, more important thing to note about the interview is the broader message about domestic policy that Dean sends. In These Times is a magazine of The Left. But in the interview, Dean actually passes on a few opportunities to pander. He reiterates his commitment to balanced budgets and opposition to single-payer health care reform--two stances that are highly unpopular with liberal Democrats. And when pressed about corporate greed, he offers this: "I think it's less productive to worry about how much rich people have than to worry about how much middle-class and working people have ... Rather than attacking executive salaries, which I do agree are a real problem, I want to build a middle-class safety net, so that people in the middle class in this country can be sure they'll have health insurance, can be sure they'll have opportunities for their kids to go to college." This is exactly the kind of uplifting, middle class populism that Bill Clinton deployed successfully in 1992--the kind that just might work in 2004. Dean has always had the policy pieces to wage this kind of campaign; now it looks like he may have the vision, too.

Dean is currently in second over at TNR's Primary, only 0.3 behind Lieberman (2.7 to 3.0). Gephart and Edwards haven't done anything gradeworthy this month, yet, apparently. Bob Graham is floating a D average and John Kerry's one grade is an F.

Continue reading/discuss TNR Primary ...

"The same people who are claiming Dean is too far left to be elected also claimed JOHN McCAIN was too liberal to be President."

If someone comes at you with a "McGovern" line, come back with the rubbish the far right threw at McCain in the 2000 Republican Primaries. Make it clear the people making these charges against Dean will claim ANYONE who is not a card-carrying member of the neo-conservative right will be called a left-wing extremist. Completely turn the discussion into an indictment of those making the false claim.

Continue reading/discuss THE one-liner to end all "Dean electability" discussions in Dean's favor. ...

A UPI article with an overview of the Democratic field makes the Dean-McGovern comparison:

The first medical doctor to make a serious run for the presidency, Dean is firing up grassroots liberals with red-meat speeches attacking President Bush's Iraq policy and promising universal health care. A good comparison can be made to George McGovern in 1972 who capitalized on liberal opposition to Vietnam to win the 1972 Democratic nod. Dean should do well in the early New England contests, but will have to win big states to prove his electabilty. After all, McGovern lost by the greatest popular vote margin ever.

I've been thinking about why Dean is not McGovern. First, McGovern was a soft-spoken old guard Democrat, a good guy, but not one to inspire, about a 3 in charisma on the 1-to-10 scale, according to my father. I would rate Dean an 8 or 9.

Second, McGovern's campaign was focused largely on his opposition to the war. This is understandable because Nixon, despite being a paranoid guy who surrounded himself with reptiles like Kissinger and didn't have the courage to end the war in 1969, wasn't such a bad president overall. The opening to China and the arms controls overtures to the Soviets are achievements he deserves credit for, and on the domestic front he didn't get in the way of a lot of good things, like the creation of the EPA. In contrast, on every front Bush is easily the worst president since Harding, and Dean's campaign reflects a vision which encompasses much more than just the war.

Third, part of the reason McGovern lost is that American progressives were demoralized and fragmented after the events of 1968: the asassinations of RFK and MLK, Jr., and the tumultuous Democratic Convention in Chicago. This time, we're energized, confident, and determined to end the reign of the Bush cabal and take back America. And we will.

Continue reading/discuss Dean is not McGovern ...

Meetup is looking sure to break 30,000 today. Absolutely phenomenal numbers. I'm not completely sure I agree with Aziz's projections of 100,000 by July, but 50,000 is looking very, very realistic.

If you haven't signed up to meet up yet, get on up and do it.

If you have signed up, well then, go tomorrow night and get some money for Howard. This is the last meetup before the end of this fundraising quarter and Dean will need the money. Try to get an average of even 5 bucks committed from everyone at the Meetup. Or, even better, you'll have donor cards and can take the money tomorrow night.

Keep the folks excited. No matter what the Times, the DLC, or anyone else in the Beltway says, we're growing faster than anyone can imagine. Let's keep gettin' it done.

Continue reading/discuss Meetup ...

I've been very remiss in not posting this link earlier. Richard of the SF4Dean Meetup group has been in contact with the people at HowardDean.TV andteh campaign and are planning a coordinated Media Network to consolidate all the various Dean media resources that people are developing, and organizing a coordinated response and archive of future appearances. Below is Richard's email explaining the concept in more detail:

Establishing the Dean National Media Network of Creative Talent

I had a long conversation with Nicco (webmaster, video) at DeanForAmerica about 10 ten days ago. One of the things they still need, among many things, from the Dean supporters are PHOTOS from venues where Dean appears, preferably mixing with people vs just on a stage.

There is also a need for coordination of video assets that are avail all over the web -- so more people (and city-sites) know about them, and to push more media out showing Dean in action. Moving broadcast quality video, DVD quality and even quicktime media fluidly from city to city is important and requires coordination. There are asset management issues, there are general questions like "I shot this video and I don't know where to send it"...

Third, there is a need to identify pro video photographers in Meetup cities who can cover Dean at local appearances -- wherever he might be -- then get that video fed back to the Campaign and to State/Regional/City sites.

Fourth, a number of creative folks in LA, SF, NY and elsewhere have been developing targeted ads to introduce Dean to their city's various communities of people. We also need more people, and want to identify who these people are in each Meetup city.

Such as: Video Photographers & Editors, Ad Producers, Still Photographers, Designers, Illustrators, Flash Animators, Writers, Copywriters, Creative Directors, Music Composers, Production Artists/HTML Builders, and any other creative personnel.

For all these reasons, I discussed with Nicco that having a single place for compilation of these resources would make coordination of these creative efforts much easier -- and speed up the whole process of message creation and distribution thru web, DVD, print, broadcast media.

Nicco stated the Dean Campaign itself is not that coordinating place, largely due to the boundaries that need to be maintained between "Campaign" and grassroots volunteers.

Therefore, SanFranciscoForDean took on the task to coordinate Media talent in forming a National Media Network. Meetup is right upon us. What we're asking Dean Supporters in all Meetup cities across the country to do is: At your Meetup meeting, specifically ask and solicit within your Meetup group: Who are the professional crreative media personnel who would volunteer their services for Dean in these areas: Video Photographers & Editors, Ad Producers, Still Photographers, Designers, Illustrators, Flash Animators, Writers, Copywriters, Creative Directors, Music Composers, Production Artists/HTML Builders, and any other creative personnel.

The intention is not that all of these people come together on a national project. The intent is to be able to share media assets -- and ideas that work -- so that appeals to take a look at Howard Dean are targeted for different voting segments.

PLEASE HELP AND SUPPORT THIS COORDINATION EFFORT by having your Meetup Group coordinator gather this information and post it
to the SF website here: http://www.sf4dean.com/forums/index.php?act=ST&f=8&t=32

Thanks very much!
Richard Hoefer, SF4dean.com Media Committee

(note to Richard: get a dedicated blog to this effort set up and send me an icon, and I'll link to it from the Dean Blog directly)

Continue reading/discuss the Dean National Media Network ...

Lots of familiar material in this long article. Points I hadn't seen before:

Dean describes himself as an anti-ideological pragmatist. “I’m not an ideologue,” he said in an interview with In These Times. “I think the great problem with this president is that his is an ideological administration. Facts don’t matter to them. I’m a complete pragmatist. I really believe that people who have ideologies that can’t be bent and are insensitive to the facts can’t govern.”
....
More significantly, Dean—along with Kucinich and Dick Gephardt—strongly advocates making it easier for workers to organize unions, both at home and abroad. “I’ve recently concluded that we ought to allow card check in this country,” Dean says, referring to employer recognition of a union simply when a majority of workers sign membership cards. “It’s the only way to unionize places that pay substandard wages that you can’t support a family on.”

Dean embraces unions as vehicles for bringing poor workers into the middle class. “My attitude toward unions is, at a time when the gap between rich and poor is getting bigger and bigger, at a time when the unions in my view have been much more responsible than they were in the ’70s and ’80s when they were mostly interested in protecting high-wage industrial jobs, they’ve really gone out of their way to recruit the people who need the help the most,” he says.

Dean rejects privatizing social security, and he argues that the federal government should give refundable tax credits to low-income workers to invest for their retirement. He also proposes drastically revamping the existing pension system. “Pensions shouldn’t be controlled by corporations,” he says. “They should be independent, controlled by trustees. Corporations would appoint half of them, and labor would appoint half of them.” This would keep corporations from looting pensions, and workers could remain in the same independent pension fund as they change jobs.
....
Despite his criticism of corporate behavior, Dean rejects the rhetoric of “class warfare.” “I think it’s less productive to worry about how much rich people have than to worry about how much middle-class and working people have,” he says. “I believe that as long as rich people are around, they’ll find ways to get around the rules other people have to follow. That’s one of the costs of living in a capitalist system. The thing to do is concentrate on the 90 percent of people who don’t have what they need and make sure they have it, and not worry about the people who make $500,000 a year. Of course, it’s obscene, but so what?”

“Rather than attacking executive salaries, which I do agree are a real problem, I want to build a middle-class safety net, so that people in the middle class in this country can be sure they’ll have health insurance, can be sure they’ll have opportunities for their kids to go to college,” he says. Beyond raising the minimum wage, he’d expand fringe benefits subsidized by government, much as he did to some degree in Vermont, including expanded child care, affordable housing, and health insurance.

Continue reading/discuss The In These Times Profile ...

This Q&A session is meant as a companion to the LA Times profile. All the candidates will get their turn. Not much new here, but very valuable as promotional material for supporter recruitment. Some of the highlights:

Q: What will be America's greatest foreign policy challenge in the next 20 years?

A: Undoing the damage to international relations caused by the Bush administration's recklessness.
...
Q: Would you explicitly require that anyone you nominate to the Supreme Court commit to uphold the Roe vs. Wade decision that guaranteed a legal right to abortion?

A: I would appoint federal judges based on experience and merit. I would not employ litmus tests, and I would not ask prospective nominees how they would vote in any particular case. However, I would review a nominee's writings and professional record to ensure that they share my basic view of the Constitution. I believe that the Constitution guarantees Americans certain fundamental rights, including the right to privacy. The men and women I appoint to the bench would share that outlook.

Continue reading/discuss LA Times Q&A ...

Carl with a K does a typically fantastic job of bringing video coverage of Dean to Dean Nation - this time at the California Teachers Association:

Governor Howard Dean, MD knocked the socks off of nearly 1000 members of the California Teachers Association on Sunday. He was very impressive, displaying a great deal of knowledge on a variety of education related issues.

:: Governor Dean Addressing CTA Convention (6/1)
Dial-Up | High Speed

Karl also has a lot of photos and additional video of Dean addressing supporters outside the convention that are highly recomended. Kudos to Karl also for being recognized as a celebrity :)

Continue reading/discuss video: California Teachers Association (6/1/03) ...

This is the profile that we wanted the NYT to run! A really fantastic analysis of Dean by the LA Times, it does a very solid job of introducing Dean to an audience that may be unfamiliar. There is a lot of information that I hadn't ever heard before, such as how Dean got involved in politics:

BURLINGTON, Vt. — The Lake Champlain waterfront had all the charm of a junkyard when a young physician named Howard Dean moved here from New York in 1978. But Dean and others wanted a place to go bicycling, so they formed a group to buy up land and clean up the abandoned barges and boxcars littering the lakefront.

The effort, built on private donations, grants and volunteer labor, produced a nine-mile-long recreation area with splendid views of New York's Adirondack Mountains. It also launched the political career of a now-54-year-old Democrat who hopes to be the first president elected from this remote state.

Dean vaulted from the Citizens' Waterfront Committee to state representative to lieutenant governor — to a 5 1/2-term governor who extended health coverage to all Vermont children and signed the nation's only state law legalizing same-sex partnerships. He became known equally for his incisive mind and his occasionally sharp elbows.

"The more I did, the more I realized that I could effect change," he said on a stop home between trips to Iowa, California, South Carolina and other key primary states. "I realized that you could change the world by more than one life at a time, which is what you do in medicine."
...
Dean, a wrestler as a youth, has hiked the 270-mile Long Trail in Vermont's Green Mountains and canoed the state's Connecticut River. He has a listed phone number and neither smokes nor drinks — not even coffee. His wife, Dr. Judith Steinberg, dislikes politics, maintains a medical practice and vows to continue working as a doctor if her husband is elected president.

There are many other personal details in the article, from reflective (such as his response to the question of whether his brother's death influenced his choice of profession) to outright bizarre (his mastery of the rap sequence from the movie Bulworth. shudder). There is also a concise yet informative section of his political achievements and goals, which cover the spectrum in enough detail to give someone new to Dean a solid understanding of the breadth of Dean's positions. This isn't a "Dean the hyper liberal" meme-loving piece.

The article isn't a puff piece either - it does tackle Dean's fabled stubborness (and gives him a fair chance to respond). But overall it's the perfect introduction to the candidate and the personality. It's also a valuable tool for our grassroots recruitment efforts - I highly suggest taking copies of the article to the meetups to hand out.

Continue reading/discuss LA Times profile ...

Fellow Deanizens - I'd like to solicit some site feedback. The DeanBlog has been slow to load for some readers and the culprit seems to be the ZonkBoard. Do you like that feature? Should we dump it and replace it with periodic (ie, regular) open threads? Is there a better Zonkboard-type accessory that anyone knows of that has faster loading times or features that we should switch to^[1]?

Feel free to use the comments as an open thread about the DeanBlog in general - suggestions, comments, what you hate, etc. I will ask my fellow bloggers (The Dean Team) to help me find solutions to any issues.


^[1] including non-free services - I intend to reserve the sole right to fund this website's expenses myself :)

Continue reading/discuss ADMIN: zonkboard ...

Tom Tomorrow Weighs in on the Recent DLC Flap.

Let's just say that This Modern World does not think much of the Democratic Leadership Council.

Of course, they refer to Dean as Goofus, so, who knows.

Continue reading/discuss Tom Tomorrow Weighs In ...

Gov. Dean spoke to California public school teachers on Sunday. From the AP story on the event:

"I can personally say that I am the only person running for the presidency of the United States that knows what it's like to stand up without being able to go to the bathroom for five hours," Dean said to hearty applause.

Dean, 54, longtime Vermont governor and medical doctor who signed the country's only state law legalizing same-sex partnerships, said he taught eighth-grade social studies for three months while contemplating a post-politics career change.

But that was before Dean reinvented himself as a presidential candidate.

"I disagree strongly with President Bush on virtually every policy," Dean told some 800 delegates of the 330,000-member California Teachers Association, which will endorse a candidate.

Continue reading/discuss Howard Dean talks to 330,000-strong California teachers union ...

This article in the New York Times begins by painting Dean in a fairly positive light. He is the little known candidate who stormed upon the campaign trail.

Howard Dean is the guy who has dictated the theme of this early campaign season. Once written off as a little man from a little state, Dean has expertly framed the 2004 nomination fight as a choice between white-hot liberal rage on one side and the room-temperature promise of ''electability'' on the other. ''Democrats are furious at their own party,'' Dean says. ''They feel like the party's leaders have taken a pass.''

It does, however, seem to cast a shadow of unelectability on Gov. Dean:

The bad news for Dean's rivals, however, is that Democratic protest candidates have proved very effective at indelibly soiling whatever image the party is trying to convey at the moment. And you have to wonder if the other candidates, ensconced in Washington, have any real grasp of the grass-roots revolt that is fueling Dean's momentum. It's not surprising that the party's leaders feel like shoving Dean's stethoscope down his throat when he says they only care about sounding electable. What's harder to understand is why they seem so determined to prove him right.

I've heard this arguement and the past, and my response has generally been that Gov. Dean is not the far left liberal he is often painted as (just as the left wingers in VT who often felt frustrated). The author picks up on this theme:

If Dean ever belonged to the ''Democratic wing of the Democratic Party'' before this year, he must have kept his membership secret. During his five two-year terms as governor, Dean was proud to be known as a pragmatic New Democrat, in the Clinton mold, boasting that neither the far right nor the far left had much use for him. He signed into law a measure that legalized civil unions for gay couples, a decision that was essentially mandated by the state's Supreme Court. But he also faced opposition from the left-leaning Progressive Party in two re-election campaigns. And he forcefully upheld the rights of Vermonters to carry concealed guns wherever they went, which helped him earn an A rating from the National Rifle Association.

It writes a bit as well about the amazing take off that the governor's speach to the DNC winter meeting resulted in:

In November, Dean's campaign was getting about 50 e-mail messages a day from supporters; after Dean gave a fiery speech to the Democratic National Committee in February, which began with an indictment of the war, as many as 2,000 e-mail messages arrived in a single day. Polling data showed Dean's support shifting from white men and independents to women and younger voters. Dean raised a surprising $2.6 million in the first quarter of the year, outdoing his opponents in two of the most liberal enclaves in America: Cambridge, Mass., and Beverly Hills, Calif.

Turmoil at his Burlington headquarters reflected the leftward lurch of Dean's campaign. In April, Rick Ridder, his pragmatic campaign manager, left and was replaced by Joe Trippi, the insurgent strategist who had run Jerry Brown's 1992 campaign against Clinton.

Dean's campaign, meanwhile, has become an online juggernaut. On the Web site Meetup.com, some 24,000 Dean supporters, at last count, had scheduled monthly meetings in more than 250 American cities. ''You've heard of the silent majority?'' says Frank Luntz, the Republican pollster. ''Well, Dean represents the screaming minority.''

Overall, it's an interesting read. There's a lot more I'd post here, but I trust that many of you will read it all anyhow!

Continue reading/discuss Dr. No and the Yes Men ...

Got this in an E-Mail today from Cris Alvarado. He's absolutely right, the campaign should pick it up and run with it. Bush's willingness to eliminate the only bit of his tax cut that aided the poor, the child tax credit, is shameful. We need to show that the needy who Bush is attacking here aren't jobless degenrates, as Rove would have us believe, but quite a few of our enlisted men and women whom Bush is so happy to use as props for photo-ops.

"Did some research after a comment on the NewsHour intrigued me, specifically:

How many servicemen, just returning from Iraq, are shut out from the tax cuts because they fall below the approx. $27,000 cutoff?

I think this would be a devastating number to calculate precisely, and then circulate in the press.  "Mr. President, not only are 11.7 million children affected but (number) service men and women as well.  Is that how little you value our enlisted men and women?", or something like that.

As with all thing military, this is not straightforward.  Please find attached a pdf of the basic pay scale (Here's the HTML version of the pay scale - Ezra).  I was somewhat shocked to see just how low it is -- for example, a newly commissioned O-1, say out of West Point or Annapolis makes something like $2200/month (below the cutoff), as does every enlisted man regardless of experience at E-5 or below (some type of sergeant).

What is not straightforward is how basic subsistence and housing allowances factor into your tax liability -- I am not an accountant, just a physician! 

But someone in the campaign might take this ball and run with it. "

Y'hear that Campaign?

Continue reading/discuss Support Our Troops! ...

From the AP account of the Lake Placid rural issues forum:

"I appreciate Sen. Kerry saying we don't need Bush Lite, and we don't," Dean told about 1,000 people attending a forum on rural issues in Lake Placid. "But, Sen. Kerry, we don't want Dean Lite, either."
....
Before his speech, Dean told reporters that he had heard about fellow Democratic hopeful Kerry's speech to the forum and the warning by the senator from Massachusetts that Democrats had to stop acting like Republicans. "I heard he did a great job giving my speech," Dean said.
While Dean directed most of his criticism at Kerry, the former Vermont governor also said his other rivals from Congress too often have supported President Bush on the war with Iraq, tax cuts and other issues.

"They can talk the talk, but they aren't going to be able to walk the walk," Dean told reporters.

To the forum audience, he was as blunt: "What we need in this party is not just people who talk about backbone, but people who have it."
....
Dean, who grew up on Long Island and went to medical school in New York City, stressed his work as governor of a rural state in his speech to the forum.
"People know who I am," Dean said before his speech. "I have a little advantage in the North Country (of New York), comparable to what Senator Kerry has in New Hampshire" where residents often watch Massachusetts television stations.

Dean's speech was interrupted repeatedly by applause and cheers, as was Kerry's to a somewhat lesser extent.

The Reuters story on the forum skips the attack and says only,

"[Hillary Clinton] showed the Republicans they can't take upstate New York for granted," said Dean, a doctor and former governor of neighboring Vermont.

Dean took straight aim at Bush, denouncing the administration's support for tax cuts as a panacea for all ills. Whether the economy is booming or struggling, whether there is war or peace, he said, the Bush response is the same: "Take two tax cuts and call me in the morning.".

Continue reading/discuss AP: Dean attacks Kerry as a copycat ...

Are Doomed To Repeat It.

The more we in Dean Nation read - and ask our friends to read - much of the political commentary that followed the 2002 elections, the better off we'll be. Rick Perlstein had a gem in Mother Jones. John Nichols had another in The Nation. (I'd provide links to similar commentaries in major newspapers were those pieces not today in costly web-based archives).

The New York Times' Matt Bai quotes members of the Democratic Leadership Council because he and many members of the national media [wrongly, see below] credit the organization with Bill Clinton's electoral victory in November of 1992. Strangely, however, Bai and others fail to fault the DLC with the Democrats' numerous losses in November of 2002 -- "the worst midterm performance by a party outside the White House since the Republicans in Franklin Delano Roosevelt's 1934."

Democrats can justly criticize the DLC for lack of a backbone. Or we can go after the DLC where it hurts - and where the media will take notice: for lack of electability.

[Note: James Carville, Clinton's top campaign strategist and a liberal Democrat, steered the then-Arkansas Governor towards a focus on the economy and health care, the two issues that later won him the presidency. Historians also remind us that during Clinton's first year in office, he distanced himself from the DLC, prompting a backlash from none other than Joe Lieberman.]

Continue reading/discuss Electability: Those Who Forget History... ...

I do recommend that everyone read it, but I want to stress that the Times is an enemy we don't need. They're probably already feeling kicked with the whole Jayson Blair thing.

Keep feedback positive - constructive criticism.

Work with them.

And, remember, the article isn't officially being published for two more days. Sit on your letters a bit.

Continue reading/discuss NY Times Magazine Profile ...

Read it. Study it. And prepare those letters to the editor.

Continue reading/discuss The NY Times Magazine Profile ...

We've got our own blog.

DeanDefense.org

We're up and running, come check it out. And if you've wanted to join, but have been unable to bring yourself to give your address to Yahoo, join now by following the instructions over at the new site.

Thanks for everything. And, please, come join us.

Continue reading/discuss Dean Defense Forces ...

One Father for Dean has a post up (no permalinks, perhaps he's worried about being bloggered) on Neil Cavuto's dumb ass rant about sending back tax cut checks if you disagreed with the tax cut.

Here it is:

"So I'm imagining myself at my big Reunion shindig this coming weekend with largely conservative alumni -- (yes, there are a few. Quite a few, actually, despite what the college conservatives would have you believe) -- who decide to gang up on me for my support of Howard Dean’s pledge to repeal President Bush’s tax cuts when elected President in 2004.

'A blatant sop to the unions, special interests and you bleeding-heart liberals,' one said.

'Our economy (and my business) will suffer,' another railed.

When it was my turn to speak, I said simply, 'You guys look like you're doing okay. If you don't want the government, don’t take what the government gives you.'

My point would and will be this:

If you don’t want that interstate highway coming your way, don’t drive on it.

You don't want workers to have any government-funded education in their backgrounds, start hiring some others now.

You don't want more international business development dollars, or more research and development grants, or more defense contracts, give them back. Divest yourself of all stocks, bonds and mutual funds for whom government sources of revenue, tax breaks and/or incentives total more than 0.5% of gross receipts. Don’t do business with or (gasp) own small companies of a similar non-individualist character.

And certainly don’t own any healthcare company that takes Medicare or Medicaid. Or own stock in investment banks utilizing privitized Social Security funds. Or manufacture voting machines.

You think the top earners’ bank accounts and personal assets are a better place for our money, give them your own money directly and leave our federal, state and local governments out of it. Think of it as a venture capital fund – about the same returns, these days, anyway.

You think our families’ already limited government services are better used on your projects, give back the government services that secure, protect and defend those projects.

You think you have all the answers, then eschew yourself, your family and your assets of all of government subsidies, every last one: the oil, timber and minerals from public lands; the military that protects your foreign subsidiaries. And including the airwaves over which major corporations broadcast – we can share the spectrum and do just fine, thanks.

It's too late for you to lecture other people what we should do with 'our' government. Practice what you preach and return 'our' government and its littered commons.

Quite a few of you are very well off and still you say you need government. Prove it, then... or give it – all of it – back to those who do.

As for the rest of us who think we know more what to do with our government than what you want to destroy of it, may I suggest this:

Instead of a speech, write out your 2004 presidential absentee ballot or your voting intentions:

I'll even give you the address:

Dean for America
P.O. Box 1228
Burlington, Vermont 05402
www.deanforamerica.com

You think you have all the answers? Don’t expect anything from the rest of us who want to work on solutions for this great nation.

Stop using and abusing our country and its government, and then for goodness sake – be quiet."

Continue reading/discuss Funny if it wasn't true ...

ABC's Marc J. Ambinder put together this article comparing Gov. Howard Dean with former FL governor Sen. Bob Graham.

The article compares how they are alike as well as how they are different. Most noteworthy was the talk that pehaps Gov. Dean is thinking of Sen. Graham as a running mate...

Political observers currently put Dean in the first tier of Democratic candidates while Graham is seen at this early stage in the campaign as a second-tier candidate.

Could Dean be looking far enough into the future and thinking that Graham might make an attractive running mate? One idea, endorsed by some who have spoken with Dean, is that the candidate is angling for Graham to join his ticket.

Being governor is an important qualification for Dean. The last two Democrats elected president — Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton — were state executives. They were from the South, not the North.

So Graham could certainly help Dean's electoral calculus. Democratic candidates planning for the general election aspire to hold the states that Al Gore took in 2000. And then they need to win in at least one more big state. Graham's popularity could add Florida's 27 electoral votes and give the Democratic ticket a boost elsewhere.

Top Dean aides insist there's been no internal discussion about general election strategy.

"We're still trying to figure out how put our organization together in Iowa," said Joe Trippi, Dean's campaign manager. "We haven't given a thought to it."

Based upon many of your votes on the grassrootsfordean.com Dean's VP selection poll, it looks like the pundits aren't the only ones with such thoughts. Gen. Clark is winning, but Sen. Graham is in a strong second place.

Continue reading/discuss The Governors Are In. ...

I came across this little tid bit and thought it was interesting...

One of the current contenders for next year's Democratic nomination for president said Friday he would like to see New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton someday run for the White House herself.

"I think she would be a great candidate," former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean said in a telephone interview. "I think she would be a great president."

Dean's comments came as New York's Democratic Rural Conference launched a two-day forum in Lake Placid on rural issues, planning to hear from some of the announced presidential candidates and from others, including the former first lady.

Okay, Hillary... Gov. Dean said nice things about you - now it's your turn!

Continue reading/discuss Hillary for President ...

We're gonna be on this like Atrios on Blitzer.

There's a Presidential straw poll in the lower right-hand corner of the site. Dean is up. Let's knock it out of the ballpark.

Continue reading/discuss WMUR Wants Your Opinion ...

In an AP article today, Dean expands on a new theme that he started to develop at the Iowa forum. Thoughts on this?

Dean, a doctor and former governor of Vermont, has proposed an $88 billion plan to provide health insurance coverage for all Americans under age 25 and expand coverage for uninsured adults.

In exchange, he wants Americans to take more responsibility for their health care.

Pharmaceutical companies, insurers and lawyers deserve some of the blame for rising health care costs, he said, but so do individuals who don't take care of themselves or don't make realistic decisions about their medical care.

''Most politicians treat voters as children: 'Elect me, and I'll solve all your problems,''' he said during a forum at which he explained his plan and answered questions from voters. ''When are we going to talk about our own responsibilities?''

''If we're going to have health insurance for everyone, you don't get health insurance unless you sign a living will or directive,'' he said.

Dean, an internist who left his medical practice in 1991, described how he used to sit down with relatives of seriously ill patients to discuss treatment options. But he said that connection between families and physicians has been lost due to the ''corporatization'' of medicine.

Continue reading/discuss ''... you don't get health insurance unless you sign a living will or directive.'' ...

The question I’ve found myself answering over and over again is “I think Dean is great, but do you really believe he can win?” I'm sure many of you have heard the same question. I suspect that most people reading this blog think the short answer is "YES!" but we could all benefit from a discussion of good longer answers to the question. My attempt at a long answer is too long to post, so I've put it here. Let's brainstorm!

UPDATE (by Aziz) : Don't miss Joe Trippi's comment !

Continue reading/discuss Can Dean Win? ...

Arianna Huffington in an article on salon.com writes that the Democratic Party could rally behind the motto "Vote for us -- we kinda, sorta disagree." She writes, "The party leaders are so timid, spineless and lacking in confidence that to compare them to jellyfish would be an insult to invertebrates." Most noteworthy, I thought, in her column was when she observed:

It is precisely this kind of craven vacillation that has made possible the triumph of the fanatics in the White House. Democrats are wringing their hands over the "tactical genius" of Karl Rove, and the "brilliant political stagecraft" of his TV experts who always present the president in the best light. Such is the Democrats' fragility that the mere smoke and mirrors of posing the president in profile at Mount Rushmore, or asking the people standing behind him during a recent speech on the economy to take off their ties so they would look more like average Joes, leave them quaking in their boots.

But the Democratic National Committee's Terry McAuliffe needs to stop worrying about the GOP using footage of Bush's Top Gun landing on the Abraham Lincoln in campaign ads and start worrying about finding a presidential candidate who isn't afraid to take audacious and decisive stands on the party's core issues. If they can't compete on style, they should at least give it a shot on substance.

I think this is the argument that many of us have been making in our support for Gov. Dean all along. As the doctor himself said in response to President Bush's reckless tax cut, "What America needs now is a Democratic Party with the backbone to stand up for fiscal responsibility and against this President's recklessness with the facts, and our future." We know that Gov. Dean is the candidate most prepared to do this.

But Huffington doesn't claim that Democrats need the courage to just say anything, she calls on the party to put forward a strong, Democratic agenda:

After all, the problem isn't that Democrats are on the wrong side of the issues. It's that they are afraid to make an issue of being on the right side -- not to mention smack dab in the middle of the American mainstream.

For example, only one out of four Americans believe the latest round of tax cuts will significantly reduce their taxes, and just 29 percent think the cuts are the best way to help stimulate the economy. Yet Democrats seem congenitally incapable of challenging a president whose entire domestic agenda consists of more and more tax cuts for the wealthy.

The numbers also favor the Democrats on the foreign policy front. According to the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, 57 percent of Americans are opposed to investing the time and money needed to rebuild Iraq. But the Democrats sit idly by, their thumbs otherwise engaged, while the administration's Iraqi tar baby grows stickier by the day.

And on and on it goes: On the environment, Social Security, greater access to affordable healthcare, gun control and abortion, the majority of the American people are with the Democrats.

Again, it seems as if she is unknowingly a Dean supporter! Dean supporters firmly believe "The only way that we're going to beat George Bush is to say what we mean, to stand up for who we are, to lift up a Democratic agenda against the Republican agenda because if you do that, the Democratic agenda wins every time. " (Dean, California Democratic Convention)

Huffington says, "It's time for the Democrats to give up their broken play-it-safe politics and risk offending a few vocal members of a radical minority." We say, "It's time for Howard Dean."

Continue reading/discuss Democrats: Profiles in spinelessness ...

MoveOn.org has built a massive online grassroots community. In a letter to their members today, founder Wes Boyd wrote to the 1.4 million members of MoveOn: "With our agenda in hand, we can play an unprecedented role in the presidential campaign. But first we need to develop a common agenda. Today's straw poll is the first step."

If you are a MoveOn member, or if you know someone who is, please check your email from MoveOn and follow the link to vote for Howard Dean. (You must already be a member of MoveOn to vote. Not all MoveOn members have yet received their email today-- be patient!)

We are building the largest grassroots campaign in history, a campaign to take back the Democratic Party and to take back the White House in 2004. In order to achieve this, we must all come together for Howard Dean. It is important that supporters show their commitment to Dean by voting in the MoveOn poll. Only by reaching out to the communities that already exist-- communities like MoveOn-- will we demonstrate to the world that Howard Dean, as the Democratic nominee, will defeat George W. Bush in the general election.

Now's your chance. If you're a MoveOn member, vote for Howard Dean in the MoveOn online poll today!

Continue reading/discuss More Info on the Move On Poll ...

Moveon.org, one of the largest grassroots organizations in the country, is holding a Democratic presidential poll today. If you are a member of moveon, check your email and vote in the poll, and make sure your moveon friends know about the poll. To learn about moveon.org--or join--visit http://www.moveon.org. Lets show Moveon the strength of our own netroots and grassroots!

Continue reading/discuss Vote in the Moveon Poll ...

Springboarding off of Governor Dean's statements below, I think there is a very powerful meme against the tax cuts, one that expresses what we want in a simple, practical fashion.

Any responsible adult knows that when you get a pay cut, you simply cannot spend as much. You need to conserve money for the basics, your children, health care, upkeep in your home, college funds for your kids...you simply cannot spend frivolously at their expense. That is what our President is doing. Tax Cuts are a bonus, something for good times. We cannot have them, however, when schools are closing, when health care is becoming unaffordable, when jobs are being lost and roads are deteriorating and law enforcement agencies don't have the money to protect. The President will tell you not to worry, that even in these lean times you can have both a tax cut and a perfect society. But I'm not going to lie to you. When times are tough, it doesn't matter if you're a country or an individual, you have to tighten your belt and take care of what is truly important. Politicians will tell you that we can have everything, I will tell you that until we get this economy back on its feet, we have to be fiscally responsible. The President is not doing that, I will. I'm Howard Dean, etc.

I think the responsibility versus recklessness meme is one we want to play up. Bush has a frat boy storyline waiting in the wings for him, we want to play the responsible adult thus forcing him back to frat boy-ness. Americans know (and polling data backs this up) that tax cuts don't stimulate the economy and aren't the right course of action right now. I don't think we have to make this about the "soul" of the party, I think we have to make this about balancing the checkbook and bringing the same prudent practices to the Government as we employ in our own homes. Plus, if Dean wants to come across as "more" than a politician, telling hard truths and articulating a clear, positive, but REALISTIC vision for dealing with them is the best way to do that.

Continue reading/discuss R is for Reckless ...

The main official campaign site has a new statement up from Howard Dean that is definitely worth reading and spreading around:

With the President's proposed budget and the $350 billion tax cut package he is signing today, it has become clear what this President is attempting to do, and why we must repeal the entire package of cuts both those signed today and those passed in 2001.

It is time to level with the American people. The economic plans put forth by President Bush and the Republican party are a fundamental assault on the basic American ideals that we all share -- an assault on our schools, our health care, our environment and our social security.

I will not go along with it.

The sooner we recognize that this isn't a fight over tax cuts, but a battle for our country's heart, soul and future - the sooner the American people will join our cause.

Let me be clear. The President's tax cuts are part of a radical agenda to dismantle Social Security, Medicare, and our public schools through financial starvation.

In Oregon last week, the state had to close schools three weeks early because there was no money. In New Hampshire this week, the sheriffs made it clear that, because there was no money, they couldn't provide the basic law enforcement protection communities expect in this time of heightened alerts about terrorism. All across the country, hospitals and health care systems are cutting back and cities are cutting services because there is no money.

What America needs now is a Democratic Party with the backbone to stand up for fiscal responsibility and against this President's recklessness with the facts, and our future.

No Republican president has balanced the budget in 34 years and if this president succeeds, no future American president from either party will be able to do so without massive tax increases that will break the backs of the American people or without destroying Medicare, social security, our schools and even our nation's security.

My central commitment upon taking office will be to repeal these tax cuts to put our fiscal house in order, and save the very fabric that holds our American community together.

We will not be able to meet our fundamental obligations to teach our children, care for our parents, and defend our nation if we bankrupt our country.

If we fail to defeat this President and end his radical agenda, we will have lost the central ideal proclaimed from one American generation to the next throughout our history: "We are one nation, and we are all in this together."

Continue reading/discuss "We are one nation, and we are all in this together." ...

Some talk has occured recently of finding ways to assure the DNC that Dean supporters stand with them and that we are a united party. So far, it's been a lot of talk, with few of us figuring out concrete steps. Well, Sam Flaxman emailed me today with an idea worth trying: signing the DNC's petition opposing extremist judicial nominees.

But don't just sign it. In the comments section, tell the DNC that you are another "Dean Democrat" who stands opposed to Bush's extremist judicial nominations.

Read the Petition:

The United States Supreme Court is the backbone that upholds American values.

These cherished American values are at risk if one or more Supreme Court Justices retire this summer. Civil rights, a woman's right to choose, environmental protections, public education, workers' rights, and much more are threatened by a right-wing court.

President Bush has already built a record of nominating extremist, ultra-conservative judges to the federal bench.

I stand with and support Democratic leaders in the fight to oppose ultra-conservative nominees to the nation's highest court.

And sign it.

Continue reading/discuss Block Extreme Judges ...

At the risk of veering into cult-like hero worship, note the following revelation from the Creative Loafing profile

Somehow, it's not surprising that Dean cites Ken Kesey's Sometimes a Great Notion as his favorite novel.

For anyone who has ever read the book, four words probably come to mind: "Never give an inch." The patriarch in Kesey's 1964 epic scrawls this admonishment on a painting and hangs it near his newborn son's bed. It's a commandment of intransigence, a screw you, to nature, convention and history.

It's the perfect Dean book. Not that Dean would ever think this way, but it also has resonance with groups of voters large and small: Oregonians, loggers, union members, and middle-aged men who worry they've compromised their values too many times. Also, Paul Newman and Henry Fonda fans who couldn't get through the book but saw the 1971 movie.

Continue reading/discuss The Favorite Book ...

Alert reader Richard Hoefer of San Francisco for Dean has asked us to pass along some resources. Right now, SF4Dean is overhauling their site and adding lots of organising tools. They also have a really good discussion forum that you should check out.

Richard explains that over the coming weeks, SF4Dean will be adding lots of tools which people in various states can use to organise locally. Since Dean for America is doing a major push towards local organisation, we think this will become an invaluable resource. And remember that we need to hook up with our local Democratic Party in order to take it back. =)

If anyone else has organisational links, please leave them in the comments section. I know there are many supporters out there who are still at a loss when it comes to organising locally. Leave contact information for those folks as well, and thanks for the help!

Continue reading/discuss Resources for the people, courtesy of San Francisco for Dean ...

You'd think with a title like that I'd be linking to another article about Howard Dean, wouldn't ya?

But I'm not. Cause it's a line from Kerry campaign e-mail.

...to beat [the Bush campaign] and take back our democracy, we need your help in building the largest grassroots campaign in American history.

Don't worry, John. We're already there.

Continue reading/discuss ...the largest grassroots campaign in American history. ...

As many of you know, the de-regulation of newspaper and television ownership across the country has been an issue of major concern as of late. Below is a copy of the letter that Gov. Dean sent to Chairman Powell of the FCC.

May 27, 2003

Chairman Michael Powell
Federal Communications Commission
445 12th Street SW
Washington, DC 20554

Dear Chairman Powell,

Americans cherish the freedom of the press -- and the diversity of the press that ensures they can get access to the truth and to the information they need. The Bush Administration may not appreciate that freedom and diversity, but they should not tamper with it.

On June 2nd, the Federal Communications Commission should decide against allowing a single company to own multiple television stations, radio stations, and newspapers in a single town. The Bush Administration has urged the FCC to remove regulations that protect every Americans’ right to a free press. This latest attempt by the Bush Administration to undermine the American ideals enshrined in our Constitution is wrong.

This deregulation, like so many actions pushed for by the Bush administration, would benefit a few at the expense of the rest of us. Modifying the ban in most cities on cross-ownership of television and radio stations and newspapers will have serious repercussions for every American. A similar deregulation of radio, through the 1996 Telecommunications Act, has resulted in a 30% decline of independently-owned radio stations in the United States. This decline has reduced Americans’ access to local news via radio. According to a May 27 Bloomberg story, in at least one instance local authorities were delayed in broadcasting important emergency information to the local populace because the “local” radio station was broadcast from out-of-state. Accelerating the disappearance of independent local media by further deregulating television and newspaper ownership is the wrong direction for this country.

In my travels around the country, I have discovered that this proposed deregulation is one of the foremost issues on peoples’ minds. I am asked about it everywhere—in small towns in New Hampshire, and in major cities across the nation. The American people are concerned about the future of their media, and the affect this decision will have on them. Thousands of Americans have written the FCC to oppose this rule, and members of Congress from both parties have voiced their protest and requested that you testify before them on the matter. Yet the FCC appears poised to ignore the interests of regular Americans by allowing a few massive conglomerates to gobble up our local news sources.

This proposed deregulation threatens the ideals of America—the ideals of openness, free speech, free expression and free discussion, which are the backbone of our Constitution and our democracy.

Therefore, I urge you to take the following actions:

1) Delay the June 2nd vote by the FCC.

2) Testify before Congress so that the Representatives of the American people can have the opportunity to question the representatives of the Bush Administration.

3) Allow for, and consider, additional public input. The FCC must provide sufficient opportunity for public input on a decision that affects every American.

I appreciate your consideration.


Sincerely,

Governor Howard Dean, M.D.

Continue reading/discuss Dean Writes to FCC Chairman Michael Powell ...

Joe Trippi does have posting priveleges to the blog, but he seems to save his best stuff for the comments threads :)

Gov. Dean defies labels. But there is a string that runs through most everything he does, his positions and his record. He really did make sure that nearly 100% of those under 18 in his state received health care -- there are very few (liberals or conservatives) that have produced those kind of results -- including a 43% reduction in child abuse in his state and a 71% reduction in sexual abuse against children over the 10 years he was Governor. During that same period many progressives faulted Gov. Dean for his fiscal restraint -- they believed that he was not committed to spending enough on social programs when times were good economically. Gov. Dean stated then, as he states today -- that the best guarantee of social policy is to balance the budget in a strong economy -- because fewer people need help -- and it is this fiscal restraint on his part that makes it possible for Vermont to continue to help those who need these programs now -- in a down economy when people most need it.

He is for a strong defense -- and a stronger homeland security -- what he is against is a doctrine of preemptive war that turns 40 years of bi-partisan consensus on the use of US military power in the world on its head. Yes it turns out that if you agree with Ike, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Carter, Reagan, and Bush 1 -- you characterized as a left wing-nut.

The sorry fact is that too many in the Democratic Party bought this line of thinking and never really challenged the doctrine let alone debated it. There is something very different about Gov. Dean from the rest of the field -- he has demonstrated that he is willing to put his political career on the line by standing up for what he believes regardless of the polls and the conventional wisdom. 65% of the people of Vermont opposed civil unions 6 months before the election. Howard Dean signed the bill -- and he won. 75% of Americans supported the war in Iraq -- Howard Dean opposed it -- and opposese the doctrine of preemption to this day. He says every day on the campaign trail that the great lie is "elect me, and I will solve all your problems" and that the unspoken truth is that the future of our country rests in your hands. As someone who has worked with him for nearly a dozen years -- he is who he is. Around here what we say is let Howard Dean be Howard Dean -- I gave up trying to define him long ago. One of the things that is disconcerting is to see how hard it is for some to "believe in" someone again. The difference in Howard Dean is he doesn't want us to believe in him -- he wants us to believe in ourselves and our power to change our country.

Joe Trippi | Homepage | 05.23.03 - 8:58 pm | #

Continue reading/discuss let Howard Dean be Howard Dean ...

President Clinton recently made a guest appearance at a seminar at the University of Arkansas, focusing on the Clinton Presidency. While watching it, I found that Clinton's initial remarks were like a neon sign pointing to Dean. I urge everyone to watch it as I think Clinton raises some critical points that both we Dean supporters and the Dean campaign need to keep firmly in mind. Let's use the comments to this post as an open thread.

 President Clinton at the University of Arkansas

I will blog my own thoughts and impressions to this video later as an update (after I organize my extensive notes).

Continue reading/discuss video: Clinton at the University of Arkansas ...

The latest from the Associated Press has Dean as a top-tier candidate -- and nearly the favorite.

Ron Fournier, the article's author, is a well-respected reporter who has covered the White House and politics for the AP since 1993. In "With No Frontrunner, Democrats Plot Strategy For Race To Nomination," Fournier takes a look at each candidate's primary campaign. Dean's place in Fournier's candidate survey? Second, after Long Jawn Kerry. But I believe that because Dean's victory in New Hampshire will (effectively) end Kerry's campaign, we're sitting pretty. Onward-ho!

Of Note: One could argue that Fournier's hierarchy is determined not by the likelihood a given candidate will secure the nomation but by the candidates' strategies and the primary schedule. But why then are Dean and Kerry discussed before Gephardt when Iowa's primary comes sooner than New Hampshire's? No, no, my friends. Fournier has shown us his hand...

Continue reading/discuss Location, Location, Location ...

The number of unique page views on the Dean Blog has passed 150,000 - averaging about 1500 visitors a day, of which 75% arrive via Google and Yahoo searches. Reflect on that for a moment - this is significant because it suggests that we are still in the early growth phase of Dean's netroots support. And the netroots support drives the grassroots support - which also shows the same trends, as seen by the history of Meetup numbers recorded on the DeanBlog over the past few months:

Date	Supporters
February 2nd	501
February 20th	1590
February 25th	2327
March 5th	4297
March 30th	10010
March 31st	10434
April 8th	13808

Today, May 25th, we have 26055 members signed up. These are just the exact reported totals - after combing through the blog archives I found these estimated reports. These numbers are less accurate, because the numbers were quoted as "almost above" or "nearly at", and the dates are just the timestamp of the post which may not reflect the date that the estimate was made.

Date	Supporters
1/15	432[1]
9-Feb	900
28-Feb	2600
10-Mar	4200
11-Mar	5000
25-Mar	8000
28-Mar	9000
30-Mar	10000
2-Apr	12000
8-Apr	13000
13-Apr	15000
4-May	20000
7-May	22000

These numbers are plotted below - there are two curves, representing the precise and rough estimates. It's clear from the plot that the growth has been very healthy, but it's also also clear that it's the "foot" of an exponential, ie the initial near-linear regime. A linear fit to the data gives a slope of 240 supporters a day, with a R² of .9723. So it's clear that we still have most of our growth ahead.



The DLC and others may well argue that the growth will stay linear. I think that's a pessimistic (and agenda-driven) opinion - after all, politics is subject to the "network effect" and here we have the marriage of politics and the Internet, where the network effect was practically invented. It's impossible to try and fit a meaningful exponential to the curve at this point, but I think that we may well break 100,000 Meetup supporters within two months. Stay tuned :)

Of course, it's just rubbing salt to mention Edwards and Kerry meetup numbers. I can't resist, see the chart at below (data is much sketchier). Astonishingly, it seems that Kerry and Edwards actually lost supporters in late March/early April^[2]. Also, Joe had a hysterical post on 4/7 that pokes fun at the Favorite Sons running against Dean - by comparing meetup numbers in their home towns. And note that on the Edwards Meetup page, one of items for discussion is, "Why Edwards and not Dean in 2004?" - note Kerry is conspicuously absent from Edwards supporters' agenda.



But wait! This is all just Internet foolery! the critics argue. Why do Meetup numbers really matter? Four words: The Million-Dollar Meetup Challenge. Add a penny for the Internet!

^[1]Note that the january estimate is arbutrary, based on a comment by Joe Trippi that "we had 432 supporters in January". I just took the midpoint of the month.
^[2]The numbers come from reports published here on the DeanBlog. There may have been an error in reporting, but it's also possible that both candidates sufferred from defections to Dean.

Continue reading/discuss Meetup prediction: 100,000 by July ...

pure speculation, but the Scripps News Service is making the claim that Edwards may drop out of the running:

So who among the nine candidates seeking the Democratic presidential nomination will be the first to drop out? Don't be surprised if it's Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina.

Edwards is telegenic, a smooth talker, and he's raised a bunch of dough. But he's been lost amid better-known candidates like Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, as well as those who have created a buzz, like former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean.

Edwards' Senate seat is up in 2004, so he could opt to return to the upper chamber and make a White House play later.

If he drops out, will he endorse Dean or Kerry? Discuss...

Continue reading/discuss Edwards to drop out? ...

Full Transcript of Dr. Dean's health care policy interview on the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. A gem, including the first comparison (I've seen) between Dean and Kerry's plans (below). But what I like best about Dean in this interview is that he begins where he's strongest -- by touting his record, not his promises. With nine candidates and numerous health plans, what will distinguish Dean from the pack is what he has accomplished. The more times he reminds the American public that Rep. Gephardt and Sen. Kerry couldn't get their proposals through Congress, the better off he'll be.

RAY SUAREZ: What would you say the biggest difference is between your plan and those offered, for instance, by Senator Kerry, which emphasizes cost containment a little more, by Congressman Gephardt that emphasizes using employee based programs more?

HOWARD DEAN: Well, I like Dick and Senator Kerry and I'm pleased they've joined me in offering a health care plan. The criticism I'd have of Dick's plan is it won't pass because it costs more than the Bush tax cuts, and there's no real way to pay for that. And I don't think we can get the votes to do it. Senator Kerry's plan concerns me because although it's based on a lot of the same things that we based ours on, the insurance rates stops at 100 percent of poverty.

So there are a lot of working families that don't get covered without significant expense to themselves. We're not talking about wealthy people or even middle class people. We're talking about people who are barely above the poverty level, having to go out and get their own insurance, so I think our plan is a little bit more generous to the low income working people and moderate income working people; families that make $33,000 a year I think need that extra help, and that's present in our plan but not Senator Kerry's plan.

Continue reading/discuss A Prescription for Change! ...

Yea, Dean surpassed the $1M mark in fundraising over the internet quicker than any other candidate, including Bush. Quotes in here from Trippi and notes on the meetup phenomenon as well:

Though many of the 2004 hopefuls have the potential to raise millions over the Internet in coming months, none has highlighted their Internet campaigning to the extent Dean has. The one-time governor, like other relatively unknown candidates before him, had little choice, said Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia political scientist. In 2000, Republican John McCain raised $1 million over the Internet in 48 hours.

"They can't afford high-priced consultants. They can't afford direct mail, which eats up sometimes 80 percent of what it raises," Sabato said. "So they have to depend on person-to-person fund raising, and that's the Internet. There's almost no overhead with Internet fund raising."

That's pretty phenomenal, and accounts for the high burnrate that you see in some of the other campaigns in their fundraising totals.

Continue reading/discuss Howard Dean Raises $1M Via Internet ...

Another great article by Peter Freyne in Seven Days VT, which is unabshedly pro-Dean and has a nice long piece that covers a lot of ground. Mentions some absolutely fantastic soundbites:

“The enormous tax cuts are not only undercutting Medicaid and Social Security, Mr. President. The enormous tax cuts that you have passed are actually undercutting our ability to defend ourselves.”

“Prisons are the most expensive and least effective social-service intervention.”

“This president’s foreign policy is not consistent with our values.”

If you make me the Democratic nominee, I’ll make you proud to be Democrats again!”

well, I'm not a Democrat, but he'll make me proud to vote Democratic :)

But the best part is near the end, addressing the "Dean is mean" meme. The Kerry-kingmaking Boston Globe on Sunday took a page from the DLC playbook and printed a story by Yvonne Abraham (“Dean Not Very Civil — Some in Vt. Say.”) that supposedly proved that Dean was a meanie even back in VT. But take a good look at the Globe's sources:

Deanbasher #1 was none other than our favorite UVM political science professor Garrison Nelson. “Gary, Gary, Gary” and yours truly go way back. And anybody who knows Garrison knows he despises Howard Dean. Always has and always will.

Back in the early 1980s, when Dean was a nobody and Garrison was a somebody, Dean made the mistake of not kissing Garrison’s, uh, ring. Seeking his advice. Treating him like a political guru.

“Governor Dean has been one of the least civil people around,” said Nelson to the Globe. “Howard Dean is not a Vermonter. He’s from New York. He does not have a Vermont style, and he prides himself on that. He’s less civil than previous Vermont politicans.’’

Garrison must have Ho-Ho confused with Bernie Sanders, eh?

The next Vermonter to whack Dr. Dean was Skip Vallee, millionaire gasoline merchant and Vermont’s Republican national committeeman. Gaso-line Vallee told the Globe the 2000 governor’s race between Dean and his belle of the ball Ruth Dwyer was “the nastiest election cycle we ever saw.”

Yeah, it was, Skip, but the nastiness was all coming from your side, remember? Why do you think your gal is known as Ruthless Ruth?

Deanbasher 3 was none other than Ruthless Ruth herself.

“In the Vermont tradition, it used to be people would stand for election. People knew who you were,’’ Dwyer told the Globe. “Howard was from somewhere else; he came in and had a very professional organization.’’

Ruth, by the way, came in from Ohio and New York. The Globe failed to mention that the sweet lady’s harsh, right-wing views might have played a role in her two thumping defeats.

Perhaps the honchos at the Boston Globe think nobody in Vermont reads their fiction?

They probably think that the vast "elites" who form the backbone of Dean's grassroots support don't read it either. They're wrong.

Continue reading/discuss Defeating the Dean is mean meme ...

Months ahead of the early primaries, we shouldn't trust polls to accurately reflect on-the-ground voter preferences -- folks are likely to change their opinion several times before Election Day. But I did notice that the latest numbers from New Hampshire (AP) suggest Dean's backers are more solid than Kerry's. If Gore were to enter the race tomorrow, the ARG poll finds Kerry would lose a full third of his support (9%) whereas Dean would lose only a few ballots (3%).

Continue reading/discuss Dedicated to Dean ...

First we had the netroots-powered DeanTV.org - now we have HowardDean.TV, the official video site for the campaign. Wired has a decent summary article about this new resource. Check it out!

Continue reading/discuss HowardDean.tv ...

William Saletan has some feedback for Dean based on his performance at the Heartland forum in Iowa. He has some positive and some negative feedback, the most interesting of which I found to be this:

4. Responding to a question about governing a much smaller state than Texas: "Well, Texas has the 48th best education system in the country; we have the sixth. Texas has the highest percentage of children with no health insurance in America; we're No. 1. We have a balanced budget; Texas just tried to cut every single kid off health insurance … to balance their budget. I think the people of this country are going to have a great opportunity to choose between whether they want the Vermont model or the Texas model."

Dean rattled off these lines as though he's been practicing them for the general election. The Vermont half sounds pretty good, but the Texas half is a bit odd. People don't think of Bush as the governor of Texas anymore. If his election didn't give him presidential luster, Sept. 11 did. As for fiscal and financial woes, why pick on Texas—and possibly alienate parts of the Southeast and Southwest—when the whole country is in the toilet? It's the national economy, stupid.

Continue reading/discuss Slate on Dean's "Heartland" performance ...

Ryan Lizza in TNR has an extensive article about the use of the Internet by Dean's campaign. It rightly identifies Joe Trippi as the visionary but goes out of its way to give the grassroots self-organizing phenomenon its due as well. Congrats to fellow DeanBloggers Ezra Klein and Matthew Singer, for their mention in the piece! (I'm now officially jealous ;)

The article is comprehensive and it's clear that Mr. Lizza is actively reading this blog for his research. The article lauds the DDF and the obsessive nature of the Dean Blog - calling us Dean fedayeen for our zeal (it's a compliment. I think) An especially interesting passage is the campaign-eye view of how Meetup became significant to the campaign:

For the Dean campaign, it all started with the Meetup phenomenon. Back in January, the campaign stumbled upon the Meetup website and noticed that 432 people were signed up for a Howard Dean Meetup group. "We didn't really know what it was," says Trippi. He watched from afar as Dean's Meetup numbers grew to more than 2,600 in February. In March, Dean showed up at a Meetup event in New York City. It was so crowded that hundreds of young supporters were pouring out onto the sidewalk waiting to get in. Soon the campaign began receiving mysterious donations with an extra cent added. They learned that the Meetup community intended to raise $1 million for Dean, and the extra cent was being used to identify the donations. It became known as the Meetup Million Dollar Challenge and has raised at least $300,000 for Dean so far (close to 10 percent of what Dean had raised overall, as of April). Almost overnight, Meetup had become the Dean campaign's most important organizing tool.

In fact, Deanlandia is directly responsible for the rapid rise of Meetup as an organiztional asset to the campaign - Dean Meetup was first mentioned on the Dean Blog on January 12th, after a tip from William Finkel. We should all reflect for a moment at how far we have come, and just how much influence we really wield. This is the real reason Dean has built such a following - becauise we all sense that by our actions, however minor, we can really have a significant impact. It isn't just about Dean's personality or even his issues. It's the fact that we all feel like we have a real voice.

Continue reading/discuss TNR on the netroots phenom ...

right now! use this as an open thread about his performance. transcripts, please?

(hat tip - Richard Hoefer, Media Committee of San Francisco for Dean)

Continue reading/discuss Dean on PBS's News Hour ...

Howard Dean has raised $1 Million from the Internet -- making him the first contender in the 2004 cycle to do so. But we need to double that.

Why?

Because the critics are already pooh-poohing. Larry Sabato, master academic of the old-style campaign, is already dismissing the accomplishment:

The one-time governor, like other relatively unknown candidates before him, had little choice, said Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia political scientist. In 2000, Republican John McCain raised $1 million over the Internet in 48 hours.

"They can't afford high-priced consultants. They can't afford direct mail, which eats up sometimes 80 percent of what it raises," Sabato said. "So they have to depend on person-to-person fund raising, and that's the Internet. There's almost no overhead with Internet fund raising."

On the other hand, the Kerry campaign was smart enough to not attack this time around:

Kerry campaign manager Jim Jordan said he had no reason to doubt the Dean campaign's statements about its Internet grass-roots activity.

"We'll all see in the long run what if any difference it makes in terms of votes," Jordan said. "We're using our Web site fully for fund raising, for message dissemination, for organizing."

Regardless, if you've got a little extra money sitting in your checking account, get it into the campaign.

It doesn't matter how much we volunteer if Dean can't afford to go up on the air.

Continue reading/discuss $1 Million from the Net ...

The Dean Campaign keeps growing and growing and growing...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 22, 2003

DEAN FOR AMERICA ANNOUNCES NEW STAFF AND ADVISORS

BURLINGTON, VT -- The Dean for America campaign today announced the addition of several key staff members and advisors.

"I am delighted that talented people of this caliber have agreed to join our campaign," said Governor Howard Dean.

"These men and women add extraordinary talent and depth to our operation and begin to round out our senior staff," said campaign manager Joe Trippi. "We will be making additional staff announcements in the near future."

The campaign’s Policy Director will be Jeremy Ben-Ami, Deputy Domestic Policy Advisor to President Bill Clinton from 1994-1996, as well as Chief of Staff to the Domestic Policy Council from 1993 to 1996. Ben-Ami served recently as Deputy Campaign Manager for Mark Green in his race for Mayor of New York and as Green’s Policy Director in the Public Advocate’s office. He has worked for two Mayors of New York on housing and homeless policy. He also founded and ran a strategic communications consulting firm in Israel.

Also joining the campaign’s staff as Senior Policy Advisor is Ronald Weich, formerly Chief Counsel to Senator Edward M. Kennedy on the Labor and Human Resources Committee, and later on the Senate Judiciary Committee. A former New York City prosecutor, Weich now practices law in Washington DC at the firm of Zuckerman Spaeder LLP.

Ben-Ami and Weich will be setting up a policy council to advise Governor Dean on policy issues that will help shape new initiatives and policy direction for the growing campaign. Helping to assemble this policy council and serving as senior advisors to the campaign will be Maria Echaveste and Christopher Edley, Jr., both senior White House officials in the Clinton administration.

Maria Echaveste was Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff in the second Clinton White House. The highest ranking Latino ever to serve in the White House, she provided both political and policy advice to the President on a wide range of economic and social issues, as well as several foreign policy and national security matters. Prior to the White House, she was Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division of the Labor Department. Echaveste is currently an attorney and consultant in Washington DC.

Chris Edley Jr. is a Professor at Harvard Law School and founding co-Director of the Civil Rights Project at Harvard. Edley served as Senior Counsel to President Clinton and Senior Advisor for the Race Initiative. Prior to that, as Associate Director of the Office of Management and Budget, his portfolio included five cabinet departments and over 40 independent agencies. Edley was national issues director in the 1987-88 Dukakis presidential campaign, and Assistant Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council under President Carter.

Tricia Enright, who most recently served as Press Secretary for Iowa Senator Tom Harkin and worked as Deputy Communications Director on Gore/Lieberman 2000, will become the Dean campaign’s Communications Director. She has also previously served as the Senior Advisor and Assistant Secretary of Public Affairs at the Department of Housing and Urban Development during the Clinton Administration.

Two Deputy Campaign Managers, Bob Rogan and Tom McMahon, have also joined the staff. Rogan most recently served as Vice President of Public Affairs for Central Vermont Public Service. From 1994-1998, he worked as Deputy Chief of Staff for Governor Dean, and prior to that, he served in various positions for U.S. Senator and Florida Governor Lawton Chiles. Rogan also previously worked as a legislative assistant to U.S. Senator Bob Graham.

Tom McMahon worked in the Clinton Administration between 1993-1999. He served as the Deputy Director of Advance in the White House, and as a public affairs specialist at the Department of Defense. A regional field director in Missouri for Clinton/Gore 1992, McMahon was also involved with the Clinton and Gore campaigns of 1996 and 2000.

The campaign’s Finance Director is Stephanie Schriock, the former Director of Campaign Assistance at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. She has also served as the Southern regional finance director at the DSCC, and as the finance director of the South Carolina Democratic Party.



--30--

Continue reading/discuss DEAN FOR AMERICA ANNOUNCES NEW STAFF AND ADVISORS ...

Everybody knows somebody who calls himself a libertarian. They run rampant in the blogosphere and one, at least -- Johnny Bardine -- is voting for Howard Dean.

Johnny, a friend of mine and constant opponent on many issues, makes a very good case from the libertarian perspective for a Dean presidency in a guest post on my blog (his own blog is presently Bloggered down).

We "fringe activists" would do well to read a bit about the issues and arguments that gain Dean support outside "liberal elite" circles.

Continue reading/discuss Libertarians for Dean ...

Bring HaloScan to it's knees.

Continue reading/discuss open thread ...

William Pitt has a cool interview with Dean on truthout.org that's well worth a read. It looks like we in Dean Nation were scooped, in a sense - the interview questions were compiled in part with suggestions from readers at Democratic Underground. I found Dean's comments on media consolidation and corporate influence to be very relevant:

PITT: For a great many people across the political spectrum, the number one issue of concern is the vast and growing power of corporations within government, and even more so within the media. It can be argued that one of the main reasons why the Bush administration continues to enjoy the approval ratings it does is because the news media has been demonstrably derelict in its duties. Where do you stand on the power of corporations in America, particularly within the media? Do you have any thoughts or ideas on how that might be dealt with?

DEAN: I do. I think, first of all, it is true that the media has a conservative bias, and is being well-funded by conservative people like Rupert Murdoch. There is no question about that. But I also believe that part of the fault belongs to the Democrats, because the Democrats don't stand up and therefore there is no other side to cover. We've got to do that. Now, some of them are doing it during election time, but it's a little late. Here's what we need to do. In politics, sometimes one single event can crystallize what the problem is. For me, when the Cumulus Corporation, which owns a lot of radio stations, kicked the Dixie Chicks off their networks – a couple hundred radio stations – I realized that media corporations have too much power. What they were doing was using a public resource, i.e. the airwaves, and removing the ability to view and represent both sides of an issue.

When you have that kind of power, you have too much power. I believe we need to re-regulate the media, go back to limiting the number of stations that can be controlled in one particular area, so we can be sure that the American people get moderate, conservative and liberal points of view.

PITT: You're talking about reinstating the Fairness Doctrine.

DEAN: Yes, reinstating controls over how many outlets you can own in any particular media market. The media has clearly abused their privilege, and it is hurting our democracy. Deregulation in many areas has simply proved to be bad for America, bad for the American economy, bad for the average working person, and bad for democracy. We need to take a different view. Some deregulation is a good thing. We went too far, and now we need to cut back.

PITT: Given the fact that the Republicans control Congress, if you were to win the election in November, how will you go about getting these kinds of policies through a Republican-controlled Congress?

DEAN: I won't have to. I'll simply appoint different kinds of people to the FCC, and they'll be more pro-consumer and pro-average American than they will be pro-corporation.

Dean also addresses the Patriot Act, the Israeli-Palestine conflict, national security, 9-11, and more. He lays the blame for most of these things squarely on President Bush, though he does have a few critiques of the Democrat elites. Still, the bulk of the topics on the DeanBlog interview remain open so we still have something to look forward to :)

Continue reading/discuss truthout.org interview ...

From the Dean Campaign...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 21, 2003

DEAN STATEMENT ON CHRISTIE WHITMAN'S DEPARTURE FROM EPA; LAST VOICE OF MODERATION GONE FROM ADMINISTRATION

Salt Lake City, UT - Democratic presidential candidate Governor Howard Dean today commented on the resignation of Christie Whitman from the Environmental Protection Agency and spoke out against the Bush Administration's disastrous environmental record.
"Administrator Whitman was one of the few voices of moderation in the Bush Administration. Unfortunately, her voice was muted by the Bush-Cheney obsession with rewarding their friends in the oil industry by rolling back decades of bipartisan progress on protecting our environment."

Upon taking office, President Bush swiftly broke his promise to regulate emissions of carbon dioxide - a major contributor to global warming. The Bush Administration has repeatedly worked to weaken clean air, clean water, and other environmental laws; slashed environmental enforcement efforts; and pushed for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and other environmentally sensitive areas.

Dean stated that, "The burden is on the President to show the nation that he cares about the environment more than he cares about helping his political friends in the oil and gas industries."

UPDATE: This related interview in Grist magazine is devoted to environmental, energy, and genetics policy. Well-worth a read. Dean defends ethanol as an alternative fuel, which is a reasonable argument (though I personally am still opposed). However, I was surprised to see he endorsed CAFE standards, given that they have caused an increase in highway deaths as cars get lighter (and more unsafe).

Continue reading/discuss DEAN STATEMENT ON CHRISTIE WHITMAN’S DEPARTURE FROM EPA ...

Looks like we have a landslide winner in the "choose a B&J flavor" poll! Here's the text of the suggestion email I sent to Ben and Jerry's:

Idea Type: Flavor
Idea Name: Maple Powered Howard
Description: In honor of former Vermont Governor Howard Dean, Maple-Powered Howard would have world-famous Vermont maple syrup as the prime ingredient. This flavor was chosen with 204 votes out of 606 Howard Dean grassroots supporters, voting online at the Dean Blog (dean2004.blogspot.com). The second and third place choices were Cookies and Dean (111) & The Doctor is Mint (72). We also gave "I want my Cointreau back" an honorable mention. We urge Ben and Jerry to join us in supporting Howard Dean's bid for the Presidency in 2004 and serve up a healthy dish of Vermont Pride. .

Continue reading/discuss winner: Maple-Powered Howard ...

Some of Howard Dean's critics have said that his responses to the now-infamous DLC memo have been ineffective at best. Today's speech to the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers should effectively mute any and all criticism on this front.

"A couple of days ago, I was in Iowa," Dean said. The DLC put out a statement that "all my supporters are elitists and I'm catering to elitist special interest groups. Last time I looked, 15 AFSCME members died at the World Trade Center, I didn't see any of the staff of the DLC at the World Trade Center."

"Who do you think makes the Democratic Party, makes this country work, we're not elitists, we are the people this party ought to be standing up for and that's what I intend to do," Dean told the International Association of Machinists and Aeronautic Workers.

Some may register discomfort with Dean's political mention of 9/11, but it was done tastefully and his point is a valid one. It's one thing for the DLC to scoff at candidates pandering to what they consider 'fringe' interests, but it's another thing altogether for the DLC to suggest that the grassroots of the Democratic Party are no longer valid or important.

Continue reading/discuss Dean hits back hard against DLC ...

TAPPED has done a wonderful job of improving the connotations surrounding their name (e.g. "The keg is tapped."). And they're keeping up the good work, with posts like this:

...the DLC is changing the subject. It wasn't attacking Dean for his tone or style on the campaign trail. It was attacking him on substance, on policy. And as such, the attacks were both hypocritical and off-base.

and this:

If Bradley was modifying Chafee, and Chafee was working off Butler, and Vermont Gov. Howard Dean is now building on Bradley, doesn't that mean that Howard Dean is relying on an idea originally developed by the Heritage Foundation?

And, more importantly, how does that make him, as the Democratic Leadership Council has alleged, part of "the McGovern-Mondale wing" of the Democratic Party?
[...]
It's a pretty impressive sign of how desperate the DLC is to derail Dean that it's now accusing him of being too liberal for the party at the same moment that he's smartly co-opting and building on a plan that was developed at the Heritage Foundation, introduced as legislation on numerous occasions by moderate Republicans and conservative Democrats, and that's backed by the current president.
[...]
Al From may disagree. But it sounds pretty New Democratish to us.

and this:

ABC's The Note, er, notes that back before Howard Dean began stealing the thunder from Al From's preferred candidate (presumably the tepid Joe Lieberman), the Democratic Leadership Council was full of praise for the former Vermont governor. And indeed, the magic of Google makes you realize just how dishonest the DLC's recent hamfisted attack on Dean was.

That's good, All-American fun. Now, the only question is, when does the DLC go after the Prospect for being divisive? It's not like they've ever liked eachother much from what I can tell.

Continue reading/discuss Why We Love TAPPED ...

A lot of people are thinking that Kerry is the only candidate who can trump Bush on issues of national security, both in terms of actual and perceived ability to do so.

In my mind, this is truly flawed. I truly still do not understand Kerry's stance on Iraq. From what I can tell, invasion in October was OK, but invasion in March (when America's image was on the line) wasn't. That's a bad actual national security policy.

Now, as for Dean being unelectable because of perceived weakness on national security, the argument that Matthews, the DLC, Wolfman Blitzer, and others keep making is that people in 2004 will think Dean made the wrong call on Iraq, a fundamental national security issue. They think this will be people's opinion since polls showed people supported the war in Iraq.

But they're missing some fundamental truths behind those polls. First, poll numbers for wars always go up, as it is largely a way of showing support for troops. Second, a stance on the first Iraq war never really became a large 1992 issue. Third, there is no evidence that Americans equated the War on Iraq and national security and good evidence exists to the contrary. Fourth, polls only measure beliefs, not strength of beliefs, or importance of them.

The only two points that really need to be explicated, I think are numbers three and four. Early polls on the war showed a very divided nation on the question of war with Iraq. As the war continued and people learned of the atrocities of Saddam Hussein, support went up, as always does when the government exploits human rights abuses to justify a decision to go to war (as will always be done, since virtually all countries that threaten us have horrible human rights abuses, but rarely are said abuses our justification for war). Remember, this is a war that the President had to tour the country defending, despite the fact that there were only two Senators really speaking out against it - Byrd and Wellstone. So, now, post-war very little evidence exists that Saddam was a security threat. So, most Americans may still believe that the war was a good idea, but they probably do not connect it to national security. This may be difficult for Washington pundits to understand. Ya know, the world isn't always black and white. Psychology matters in politics.

As for point number four, I think many people in Washington might be amazed at how little the War in Iraq will matter to most voters, precisely because they do not associate it with defense. Ezra is correct that national security will matter and you won't catch me saying otherwise. But the war won't. Why? Well, as anyone who has read me for a while knows, I think the war was not necessary, but not necessarily a bad idea. By the end, I was in favor, as we had gotten ourselves into a position where we couldn't back out. But I don't think Dean's stance is ridiculous. I know other who were also pro-war who support Dean. And I know other people who nominally support the war, but say to me they never really understood why we went in. That's the prevailing mood. "We did it. We kicked ass. And we had a good result. But I never really cared."

Now, 25% of the country cared. 10% were liberals who fought it tooth and nail. 15% were conservatives who would have been happy to see Baghdad (and Paris) nuked. But I don't think most Americans will see it as a defining issue.

Now, I could be wrong. I've been wrong before. But so has Chris Matthews. So has the DLC.

Regardless, I think it's clear that this nation will elect, twice, a man who is disliked by Chris Matthews, who amazes other members of the media, and is capable at building center-left coalitions. I think it's clear that this nation will elect a man who has a falling out with the same DLC that used to support him and even advise him.

Why?

Because we elected Clinton twice. And we're gonna elect Dean.

Continue reading/discuss What Chris Matthews and the DLC Misunderstand ...

Gabriel has posted the full transcript of the AFSCME debate.

Continue reading/discuss transcript: AFSCME debate ...

We have a new video Dean resource, called Dean TV. Here's an introduction by Heath Eiden:

DeanTV.org is an independent site for independent thinking people. It's a resource for those who are sitting on the fence waiting for a leader to emerge from a list of candidates; a leader who is not afraid to take the road less travelled and show up to the debate Bush is having with himself.

Vermont has a special place in history when it comes to independent thinkers, including Democrats, Republicans and Independents. As DeanTV.org offers evidence and research about Vermont's independent tradition, the site asks the community to consider whether or not Dr. Dean is leading in the same spirit as those before him.

Please be patient as the site is still in its early stages and may be harder for some to access than others as we go through a trial and error process. But for independent thinking people wondering who Dr. Dean is and whether or not he's for real: tune in to DeanTV.org.

Thanks
Heath Eiden, Publisher
DeanTV.org

This is a great site to point potential Dean supporters towards to seal the deal. Check it out!

Continue reading/discuss Dean TV ...

I watched Gov. Dean Sunday at Sen. Harkin's candidate forum. I saw a moment that defined why Gov. Dean's background as a physician is the most critical item on any candidate's resume in the 2004 election. More about that in a minute. Then, Sen. Kerry released his health care package Monday. Sen. Kerry showed why sailors should not manage health care. Kerry’s proposals endorse creation of a two-tier medical system, one for the insured, and system of community clinics that has proven highly inadequate in the past for the nation’s needy. Many of Sen. Kerry’s proposals seem to revolve as much around Kerry’s military years as the rest of his rhetoric. “More PT, LT., more PT, we like it, we love it, we want more of it…” Lots of talk about making Americans more healthy, which is not a bad idea, but still will not prevent Americans from dying eventually. I haven't seen even O’Really try to spin that Dubya can end death in America (well... not lately, anyway). Americans run up a vast portion of their medical bills at the end of their lives. Nothing in Kerry’s plan even takes a sideways glance at that issue.

In Sunday’s forum, Gov. Dean had a frank discussion with a questioner about making the hard decisions on how we will have to decide how to spend limited health care dollars. In it, he discussed how important family/doctor discussions about plans people should make about quality of life at the end of their lives are and the need for encouraging those discussions as a part of the national discussion on health care. Most people run away from listening to these “morbid” discussions. I started paying attention to the issue of death with dignity after having briefly been knocked into a coma after an act of random violence that ended up putting me on Social Security disability for the past decade. The idea of being hooked up to a rack of machines and tubes to lengthen lives isn’t just distasteful for most Americans. It’s horrifying. It’s that image that started the “death with dignity” movement in the first place.

So we have two issues here. Health care money is limited and a huge chunk of it is spent at the end of a patient’s life using extraordinary means to only marginally extend a patient’s life when that life has no possibility of being saved and the quality of life during that period is nightmarish and repulsive to the vast majority of Americans in study after study. Howard Dean is the first public figure I ever heard link these two concepts into the possibility of some public policy that makes real sense, costs almost nothing in it’s implementation, and saves a whole ton of money. Why shouldn’t the President use the bully pulpit of the White House to encourage Americans to make living wills? Here we have perfect public policy in action. Americans can make their own choices on quality of life issues at the ends of their life and choose to leave this Earth in the manner of their choosing, and because Americans have been encouraged to make these choices, health care costs in this country will drop dramatically.

Wow. That makes almost too much sense for the American political system to handle.

By the way, one last point on the Kerry proposal. Kerry goes through the entire 10-page policy paper pdf file without managing to mention disabled Americans even once. Excuse me?

Adam F. Smith

Continue reading/discuss Dean's Sunday discussion knocks Kerry's Health Plan back to boot camp ...

The DLC memo's have been dirty and divisive politics. Worthy neither of their organization nor the time we have spent responding. Nonetheless, this is politics, respond we must and respond we did. Now, however, we should work to glean the best from this encounter, to take their criticism in a constructive fashion, at least that of it which is based in reality. The primary critique the DLC levied at Howard Dean was that he was weak (which they use as a synonym for liberal) on national security. When the DLC says that "On every social and economic issue, registered Democrats' views were closer to those of all registered voters than to those of Democratic delegates " and use it to tar Dean as a liberal, the only place they have to attack is foreign policy. And on that they are correct, Dean's views on Iraq were different than the majority of the country's, this makes neither he nor them wrong, it is simply a statement of fact.

Anybody who thinks national defense is not going to be a key issue in 2004 is fooling only themselves. It will not be the sole issue, the economy, tax cuts, health care, possibly civil unions, etc will also be on the table. But let us not pretend we can get through this election by ignoring the very real fear of terrorism which defines the post 9/11 era. We cannot and we should not.

The conventional wisdom says that we must appear strong on national defense. I think that is semantically incorrect. We must appear highly competent on national defense. We do not have to be war mongers, but we must be able to deflect the war monger's attacks. The best way to look at it is we do not want to be the bully, but if we're not going to be the bully than we damn well have to be the karate master.

It is to our benefit to keep national defense in mind and ensure it stays there. To win this election Howard Dean will have to put forth a very clear, very comprehensive, and very convincing plan as to how to strengthen our national security in ways Bush hasn't. Bush is very open to critiques on that issue; our ports remain unfortified, our "homeland security" is hopelessly ineffective, the money for homeland security is being diverted or misspent, and so forth. In addition, I think that the opportunity exists for an anti-terrorism doctrine to be articulated that will make Bush sound hopelessly simplistic. Don't let poll numbers fool you, people do not quite comprehend why we're attacking Iraq and not North Korea, people don't understand why Saudi Arabia remains unmolested as we threaten Iran and Syria. They don't comprehend because you can't comprehend self-contradictory actions. Now, what is understood is that Bush operates only on the level of force, he is willing to bring American force to bear to protect our people. That is important and worthwhile, our military is there for a reason. However, the critique must be made that in order to actualize the war against terrorism in any significant way, we are going to have to attack the poverty and hopelessness that breeds terrorists, we're going to have to improve our image around the world so we're not such a target for hatred, we're going to have to take a complex and multi-faceted approach because this war is unlike any there has ever been. Force will be part of it but not all of it. We are weaker because we have not been diplomatic, we are not as safe because we attacked Iraq before we'd truly finished with Al-Quaeda. Force isn't always wrong, but it is wrong to see it as the sole tool in our toolbox, such an attitude is self-defeating and will only result in more attacks.

We can be strong on national defense and foreign policy and we can do it in a way that is congruent with our morals and ideals. However, that is something we must articulate in order to silence the critics and allay the fears in the general election. Brute strength is the poor man's substitute for true competence, Bush is the former and we must be the latter. The DLC was wrong in their vituperative and divisive attacks, but they were not wrong in bringing forth that critique. It must be addressed and it must be respected, and it will be our own downfall if we refuse to do so.

Continue reading/discuss Constructive Criticism ...

Governor Dean spoke at a "Hear it from the Heartland" forum hosted by Sen. Tom Harkin this weekend. The video is great -- and it closed the deal with a libertarian friend of mine whose previous position was that Howard Dean was the only Democratic candidate for president who "doesn't make me want to gouge my own eyes out and light myself on fire when he talks" but who is now fully on board. With any luck a donation will be forthcoming.

I haven't seen any transcript yet, but here are two good excerpts (via me, actually; here and here) from the first part of the his remarks:

A lot of people say, "Well how's this guy from Vermont gonna win? He wants to get rid of the president's tax cuts! How's he gonna win in the South?" Here's what you do: we're not gonna say, "Oh, let's get rid of the president's tax cut -- all the money went to the wealthy." I don't think class warfare works.

What we're gonna say is: You have a choice, Americans. You can have the president's tax cut or you can have health care that can never be taken away. You can have the president's tax cut or you can fully fund special education so class size can go down and your property taxes can go down. You can have the president's tax cut or you can have the 20% of the federal highway grants that the president cut to every state this year because he couldn't manage the money.

Now, if you put it that way, most people are gonna say, "Well, I want to have the roads, the education, and the health care," -- because they didn't get the president's tax cut.

And a short while later:

When I go to the South -- you know how I plan to win in the South? It's a hard place for Democrats to win. I'm going to say to our African-American base, "We support you, we need you, and we're going to talk to your issues."

But then I'm going to say to Souther whites, "You've been voting Republican for 30 years. What do you have to show for it? There are 103,000 uninsured kids in South Carolina; most of those kids are white. Has your job gone to Indonesia? Have you had a raise in the last five years? Are you satisfied with the quality of your public schools? Because if you don't like the answer to that question, you ought to think about voting Democratic again. Because when white people and black people vote together in this country, this country moves forward."

Mathew (not Matthew) Gross over at that other Dean blog has two wire stories with some other bits that emerged in Reuters and AP reports on the event. Be sure and watch the whole event -- it's vintage Dean.

Continue reading/discuss Excerpts From Iowa ...

Bush Spokesman Quits for Private Sector

By RON FOURNIER, AP Political Writer

WASHINGTON - White House press secretary Ari Fleischer (news - web sites), the public face of the Bush administration through two wars and a terrorist attack, said Monday he will resign in July to enter the private sector.


"I love this job," Fleischer told reporters at his informal Monday morning briefing. "I believe deeply about President Bush (news - web sites) as a man and I believe deeply in his policies, but it's my time to go."


He would not speculate on who would take his place, but presidential aides said deputy press secretary Scott McClellan was the likely successor, although there are other possibilities.


Fleischer said he wanted to leave the hard-driving job before Bush's re-election campaign geared up.


"I want to do something more relaxing — like dismantle live nuclear weapons," he quipped...."

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=3&u=/ap/20030519/ap_on_go_pr_wh/fleischer_resigns_18

Continue reading/discuss Ari "Can't spell 'liar' without 'A-R-I'" Fleischer resigns ...

From the Dean campaign...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

May 19, 2003

DEAN URGES BUSH ADMINISTRATION TO ENSURE RATIFICATION OF TOBACCO TREATY

BURLINGTON, VT- Governor Howard Dean applauded the Bush Administration's reversal resulting in the decision to vote in favor of the current version of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) at the World Health Assembly meeting and urged the Administration to shepherd the treaty through Congress to ensure its speedy ratification.

"We have taken great strides to protect the children of this country from the predatory marketing practices of Big Tobacco. Now that the tobacco industry has apparently shifted its sights overseas to developing economies in Central and Eastern Europe and elsewhere, it is clear that a strong international approach is warranted. The FCTC reflects the most concrete action the world has ever seen to reduce tobacco consumption, especially among children."

"I just hope that this is not another instance where the Bush Administration's actions fail to match its rhetoric. Once the treaty is approved by the World Health Organization delegates, I urge President Bush and Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson to guide the agreement through Congress to ensure its speedy ratification. We cannot permit this treaty to languish."

Governor Dean was referring to instances where the Bush Administration’s actions have failed to match its rhetoric, such as its failure to adequately fund the "No Child Left Behind Act," its failure to allocate sufficient Homeland Security funds to first responders, and its failure to date to demonstrate the necessary commitment to stabilizing and rebuilding Iraq and Afghanistan.

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Continue reading/discuss DEAN URGES BUSH ADMINISTRATION TO ENSURE RATIFICATION OF TOBACCO TREATY ...

From the Dean campaign...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
May 19, 2003

DEAN APPLAUDS SUPREME COURT DECISION
ON PRESCRIPTION DRUG COST CONTAINMENT

BURLINGTON, VT - Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean today applauded the Supreme Court's decision allowing Maine to begin implementing a program to force manufacturers to lower prices on prescription drugs.

"This is a good day for Americans who are struggling to pay for their needed prescriptions. Having worked very hard in support of Maine's effort, I am very pleased with the Supreme Court's ruling," Dean said. During Dean's tenure as Governor, his office worked closely with the Massachusetts Attorney General's office in encouraging other states to sign an Amicus brief supporting Maine.

Dean has long been a leader in controlling pharmaceutical costs. At a time when Congress has failed to deliver any meaningful cost containment legislation, it has fallen to Governors to look for solutions to the problem of skyrocketing pharmaceutical costs. Vermont, under Dean's leadership, received the first federal waiver for a program designed to secure manufacturer rebates to fund a discounted drug program for residents who do not normally qualify for Medicaid. Subsequently, Vermont and Maine worked closely together to develop programs to reduce pharmaceutical costs that could withstand court challenges.

Dean's efforts have included other strategies to reduce drug costs, including the development of a Preferred Drug List (PDL) and Supplemental Rebates. The results have been remarkable: by including a less expensive brand instead of highly-advertised heartburn medicines, Vermont's Medicaid expenditure on that category of drugs has been slashed by 43%.

Dean has also pushed through a number of other cost-containment strategies. For instance, Vermont negotiated an agreement with a Pharmacy Benefits Manager (PBM) to have a transparent contract; he signed a first-in-the-nation bill requiring pharmaceutical manufacturers to disclose gifts to physicians and other health care providers; and he has strongly advocated for allowing the re-importation of prescription drugs from Canada for personal use. In addition, as founder of Business for Affordable Medicine, a coalition of governors, business and organized labor, Dean has been a leader in advocating the closing of loopholes used by brand name drug manufacturers to prevent or delay lower-priced generic drugs from reaching the market place when patents expired.

"As a doctor, I witnessed first-hand the difficult choice patients often made between food and prescription drugs. As Governor, I knew could not afford to wait for Congress to act on the issue, so I implemented a variety of meaningful cost containment strategies. As President, I will build upon that work as an integral part of my health care agenda for the nation."

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Continue reading/discuss DEAN APPLAUDS SUPREME COURT DECISION ...

This is my first post at the DeanBlog. I want to thank Aziz for clearing me to come over from the National Dean Network mailing list groups and allowing me to add my two cents worth here.

For those of you who haven’t checked out your local Dean group, please come by and give us a yell. There are local mailing list groups now up for every state and major city in the country as well as many special interest groups such as students, seniors, disabled individuals and more. Think of them as a next stop for people after going to their local meet-ups. People are doing a ton of local grassroots work all across the country and we’d love to have you join us. A good first stop for checking in is the Howard Dean Coffeehouse. It’s a general hangout for Dean supporters with lots of link to your local Dean supporters. There is also a public networking group attached to the coffeehouse group that’s perfect for discussions about organizing techniques with other Dean grassroots activists.

I have a request for those of you who are experienced campaign organizers. Gov. Dean’s campaign has brought an incredible amount new people to the political process already. I would like to see these people get a chance to learn some good organizing skills before the things really get busy. I wrote an article on the basics of running tables at local events that ended up being named as inspiration for it’s own blog. The grassroots people could use more of these type of articles on subjects like manning and running phone banks, working with local party and elected officials, fundraising, and organizing local canvassing. We want more than simple raw manpower in this campaign. We want skilled organizers on the street for Gov. Dean, and you pros can make that happen. I request you guys start sitting down and writing some lengthy tutorials on the basic skills that volunteers need to be effective organizers for the Campaigning 101 series I started. You can post them at the coffeehouse site and I will make sure they get to all the volunteers in their local groups. Getting all the grassroots volunteers up to speed on their campaigning skills could be the most important thing we do in the next few months.

Adam F. Smith

Continue reading/discuss A few notes from the trenches ...

From the campaign...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
May 19, 2003


STATEMENT BY GOVERNOR DEAN IN RESPONSE TO DLC'S CHARGE THAT PUBLIC SERVANTS ARE "FRINGE ACTIVISTS"

“Once again, the DLC has chosen to put their own political agenda ahead of the progress needed to unite the Democratic Party. This election has barely begun, and the DLC has repeatedly dismissed people who attend caucuses, who get out the vote, and now the 1.3 million members of AFSCME as ‘fringe activists’ who do not reflect ‘the mainstream values, national pride and the economic aspirations of middle-class and working people.’

“The DLC staff can say what they want about me, but they owe an apology to the 1.3 million members of AFSCME. Our teachers, our health care workers, and our state and local public servants don't need a lesson from Washington insiders about the needs and concerns of middle- and working-class families. What they need is a Democratic Party that will stand up for them.”

Read what the DLC had to say about AFSCME:

http://www.ndol.org/ndol_ci.cfm?kaid=131&subid=192&contentid=251701

Read a sample of what thousands of Democrats and independents have written to the DLC in response to the DLC’s charge last week that grassroots activists were “elitist”: http://www.deanforamerica.com/site/PageServer?pagename=dlcresponse
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Continue reading/discuss STATEMENT BY GOVERNOR DEAN IN RESPONSE TO DLC'S CHARGE THAT PUBLIC SERVANTS ARE "FRINGE ACTIVISTS" ...

The DLC has a new memo out attacking Dean. This one, if anything, is harsher than its predecessor. Read it, and then go tell them how you feel. Remember to be respectful and intelligence, we want them to look like asses, not us.

And I cannot overstate the importance of keeping this thought in the forefront of your mind. The DLC's plan here is to goad Dean into engaging in a long running and bitter war of words. Thus, the storyline on Dean will be that he's a divisive attack dog, with the Kerry squabble, the Edwards apology, and the endless DLC fight being the primary pieces of evidence. We cannot allow that to happen. The DLC isn't running for anything, so they can attack forever, they are trying to down Dean's campaign to make life for their members (Kerry, Lieberman, etc) easier. Do not fall into their trap, do not respond with an attack. We need to build bridges, not burn them, and that goes for every level of the response effort.

Continue reading/discuss New DLC Memo ...

Here's the CSPAN link to the Heartland forum with Tom Harkin in Iowa:

Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean participates in a presidential forum hosted by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) at the River Center in Davenport, Iowa. This is the second in a series of forums with the leading Democratic presidential candidates to be held across Iowa.

Presidential Forum with Howard Dean (D-VT)

Continue reading/discuss video: Iowa Presidential Forum ...

Dean tackles Bush on the Big Issue - foreign policy:

``This president talks tough about homeland security but in fact we're a lot less safe,'' he said, questioning why Bush turned his attention away from al Qaeda in Afghanistan and failed to provide funding for police and emergency units that would deal with an attack at home.
...
Dean said his foreign policy team would operate on the belief that ``the United States has a moral obligation to be a world leader and not simply the most fearful power on the planet Earth.''

Bush is actually very vulnerable on the national security issue. The revelation that nuclear materials were looted from the Tuwaitha facility in iraq - because guarding it with troops was not a priority - has been a monumental SNAFU that means that America is less safe, not more, by removing Saddam's regime. The fact that Bush essentially lied about WMD to the American people is also critical - note that the White House is now frantically trying to distance themselves from the WMD as casus belli argument. Of course, Bush has been cutting funding for homeland security efforts (such as at the nation's shipping ports) to pursue his economically-disastrous tax cuts, putting his loyalty to his big money donors and his party ahead of teh safety of the nation. If Dean can push on these fronts, the media will follow.

Continue reading/discuss Dean Blasts Bush in Iowa ...

Here's the CSPAN link to the AFSCME forum. Don't forget to read Ezra's detailed summary!

AFSCME Democratic Presidential Candidates Forum

sorry to everyone who's sent me email regarding content for DeanBlog - my daughter has been ill and it's been a hectic week for other reasons. The best interim way to suggest content for the main page is the ZonkBoard.

Continue reading/discuss video: AFSCME Forum ...

Kudos to Liberal Oasis for a fantastic interview with Dean! Below are the questions, follow the link for the answers...

What do you think were the motivations for the Bush Administration to go to war with Iraq?

Are the recent contracts awarded to Halliburton and Bechtel examples of a conflict of interest in the Bush Administration? Or were they hired simply because there are only a few companies qualified to do the kind of work needed in Iraq?

You've taken some flak for saying, following the downfall of Saddam Hussein, "I suppose that's a good thing.” USA Today's Walter Shapiro said it was an "off-key note" and "even Democrats who doubt the strategic wisdom of the war have to agree that Saddam's ouster was unquestionably a good thing." Senator Evan Bayh said in response, "equivocating about whether Saddam's departure is a good thing or not doesn't help the Democratic Party." What's your response?

Congress is currently reviewing President Clinton's welfare reform law, and revisions to the law are expected. How well do you feel welfare reform has worked, and what changes, if any, would you like to see?

LO: In Vermont, you opposed a bill that would have given terminally ill patients access to medicinal marijuana. What was your rationale? As President, would you direct the FDA to objectively address this issue?

Republicans seem eager to run against you in part because of your rejection of tax cuts. Other than stressing your credentials as a deficit hawk, how will you counter their attacks?

You have said, "what people liked about John McCain they will like about me." And you have described yourself as a social liberal and fiscal conservative. But John McCain lost in the primary to a well-funded and well-handled candidate. Paul Tsongas in 1992, a social liberal-fiscal conservative, also lost to a well-funded, well-handled candidate. What have you learned from their campaigns? What do you plan to do differently to avoid the same fate?

These questions nicely complement the DeanBlog Interview. We will of course print the answers in full when we receive them from the campaign. Stay tuned :)

Continue reading/discuss Liberal Oasis interviews Dean ...

You can still see Dean's performance at Harkin's "Hear it From the Heartland" on C-Span at 6:30 PM Eastern Standard Time (Today, Sunday). It's be replayed again at 9:30 PM Eastern.

Lots of Dean TV this weekend. He did a good job at the AFCSME forum, not his best performance ever, but much better than at the South Carolina debate. He actually smiled this time. Please excuse the shameless plug and know that I have only the most selfless of reasons for pointing you here, but I've got a very long (way too long to post here) blow-by-blow of the Forum on my blog, if you'd wanted to see it and are inconsolable that you missed it, this is the next best thing.

Continue reading/discuss The webcast may be down but ...

We experienced technical difficulties with our live webcast of the "Hear it from the Heartland" town hall meeting in Iowa, featuring Howard Dean and hosted by Senator Tom Harkin. We apologize, and thanks to those of you who tried to watch. The Governor's address to supporters will be rescheduled on another day. We'll keep you posted.

Continue reading/discuss TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES ...

Today, Sunday, May 18th at 3:00PM EDT, Governor Dean will be the guest of Senator Tom Harkin for the second of Harkin's "Hear it from the Heartland" forums featuring Democratic Presidential candidates. Following the forum, Governor Dean will address supporters directly through a live Web-cast, starting at approximately 4:30PM EDT.

The Governor wants to personally thank the hundreds of activists who have voiced support for his campaign. This Sunday he will speak directly to activists and supporters, carrying the message of "taking our country back" to thousands more on the Web.

Please join us at 3:00 pm for the for the web-cast of the forum and for the special address from the Governor.

Continue reading/discuss LIVE DEAN WEBCAST 3 PM EDT TODAY ...

Environmental issues are essential to a Democratic campaign - and the Everglades have an advantage over ANWR in that they are located in a battleground state. This brief report in the Naples News discusses the new legislation that passed the Florida Legislature and now awaits Jeb's signature.

Bush, the president's brother, has said he supports the bill. It puts into law strict technical standards for how clean the water in the massive ecosystem must be while spelling out what happens if those standards can't be scientifically met by a 2006 deadline.

Environmentalists have said the bill moves back by 13 years the deadline for when the system must be considered clean. They have called into question the state's commitment to the massive environmental project.

Continue reading/discuss Dean urges Gov. Bush to veto Everglades legislation ...

This MSNBC article is a nice piece that contrasts the response to Dean by the political establishment with the "inspiration primary" effect that

Dean noted the irony of his liberal audience’s applauding the idea of a balanced budget. “It warms my heart to have 1,200 people in Seattle who are progressives yelling and cheering and screaming for a balanced budget. Whoever thought we would do that?”
...
Democratic strategist Pat Caddell told MSNBC’s Chris Matthews the centrist DLC is spooked by the Dean phenomenon. “They’re panicked by it because the Democratic grass roots is in revolt right now because they’re tired of a party that doesn’t stand for anything,” Caddell said. But outside the Beltway, Dean appears to be playing well in early primary and caucus states such as Iowa, New Hampshire and Washington. Dean’s appearance in Seattle underscored the potential importance of Washington state’s presidential caucuses Feb. 7.

(here's a report of the Seattle rally from the local paper, the Tacoma News Tribune)

Newsweek's Eleanor Clift also has an interview with Dean that asks him directly about the DLC affair:

NEWSWEEK: Two leaders of the moderate Democratic Leadership Council, Al From and Bruce Reed, criticized you on May 15 as an elitist McGovern liberal. What’s your reaction to that?

DEAN: I really think this is mostly the old Democrats, not the New Democrats talking. These are the guys that want to protect the inside-the-Beltway folks and it’s not going to work. Inside the Beltway doesn’t win this election.

NEWSWEEK: How do you combat this?

DEAN: I don’t worry about it. Bill Clinton and Jim Jeffords have already done more than I could ever do.

NEWSWEEK: Did it surprise you that the DLC would come after you like this?

DEAN: It was stunning. I couldn’t believe it. I only thought Republicans treated other Republicans like this … [But] I’ll tell you something. I was in Seattle last night. We had a crowd of 1,200 people. I asked at one point, “How many of you have not been involved in politics in the last 10 years,” and half of them raised their hand.

NEWSWEEK: That’s the Democratic dream, to bring in new voters.

DEAN: That’s right. That’s the Democratic dream, and the tired old folks from inside Washington can’t do that.

The interview also asks Dean about whether his health plan can be characterized as "nationalized" (with all the negative connotation that implies), the conventional wisdom about his being a super-liberal, being pegged as the "anti-war" candidate, and whether he was scooped by Gephardt on health care. Dean's responses are as always direct, fresh, and matter of fact.

Continue reading/discuss media noticing the Inspiration Primary ...

How is this possible? 3 months ago Howard Dean was a political asterisk, today he has become such a threat to the frontrunner, and evidently, at least a few others, that they have taken every opportunity to twist his words, and distort his centrist record -- in what has so obviously, to anyone who is watching, become a desperate attempt to stop him before he can't be stopped.

They are trying to stop the Perfect Storm.

It is a storm that has never happened before -- because it could not have happened before. The forces required to come into sync were not aligned, nor in some instances mature enough prior to this Presidential campaign. But the past few days may prove to be only the first winds of the Perfect Storm that will be required to defeat George Bush.

First the storm requires thousands and thousands, perhaps millions of Americans to become actively involved in determining the future course of our country. But how do these Americans find each other? How do they self-organize? How do they collaborate? How do they take action together? For the first time since we heard the words World Wide Web -- the Internet makes this possible. In 1984 there was no net. How would Gary Hart had faired if there had been one? I worked for Vice President Mondale in 1984 and had the net existed in any great measure at that time, it is unlikely Mondale would have been the nominee. In 2000 there was John McCain -- but still the net wasn't mature enough yet to create the Perfect Storm of American politics. Tools like Meetup did not exist, blogs didn't exist either -- or at least not in the meaningful and powerful role they play today. And the McCain campaign has not planned for the event of cascading thousands joining it.

It took years to get here, years of millions signing up to their first ISP. Millions making their first Internet transaction. Millions using Ebay, or Amazon -- and becoming comfortable with using their credit card online.

The other critical difference is the amazing tools that have emerged. The Blogging community has grown with readership in the millions, but the one question that still needed to be answered -- was could the Internet be used by millions to take action off-line. Could people use the net to take action and mobilize beyond sending emails and even campaign contributions? Would they use the net to self-organize in a local community or around a common action? Moveon.org proved it so -- over a million Americans through Moveon's tools took common action for a common purpose in the last 6 months alone. There is no way to understate the importance of what Moveon and its members proved -- that the net can be used to mobilize huge numbers of grassroots to take local action beyond their monitors -- when showing up and being counted counts -- and when shoe leather and phone calling, and letter writing is required. They also proved how fast it could all happen. And in 4 1/2 months Dean Meetups members have grown from 432 to over 24,000 and still growing.

So with the net and the tools in place to fuel the Perfect Storm of Presidential politics -- there are a few other things that must exist to make it happen.

Among them a candidacy that is fearless, willing to take a stand, and able to inspire and energize others to do the same. The first winds of the storm are only starting to whip up -- but it will take a candidate like Howard Dean to sustain the waves that will wash away George W. Bush.

The other thing that is needed -- is a campaign organization that gets it -- or at least tries to get it. One of the other reasons I think this has not happened before is that every political campaign I have ever been in is built on a top-down military structure -- there is a general at the top of the campaign -- and all orders flow down -- with almost no interaction. This is a disaster. This kind of structure will suffocate the storm not fuel it. Campaigns abhor chaos -- and to most campaigns built on the old top-down model -- that is what the net represents -- chaos. And the more the campaign tries to control the "chaos" the more it stiffles its growth. As someone who is at least trying to understand the right mix -- I admit its hard to get it right. But I think the important thing is to provide the tools and some of the direction -- stay in as constant communication as you can with the grassroots -- two way/multi-way communication -- and get the hell out of the way when a big wave is building on its own.

Which gets me back to the Perfect Storm. People ask how are you going to win the nomination, or beat George Bush when he is going to have all that money?

My answer would be -- That never -- until now -- would there ever have been any hope of 1 million Americans contributing $100 each to take back their country and promote a common vision for the future of the nation. Maybe it will be 2 million who contribute $50. But the Internet makes that possible. Or maybe it will be 5 million Americans contributing $20. The tools, energy, leadership and the right candidate, are all in place to create the Perfect Storm of Presidential politics -- where millions of Americans act together and organize their communities, their neighborhoods and their precincts. It is ironic I think that the Perfect Storm may indeed be made possible by the internet -- but in the end the real storm it may create is the largest grassroots/election day get-out-the-vote -- shoe leather/door knocking organization in the history of American politics.

I have said before that it sounds audacious. But it points to the need to redouble our efforst and ourselves as quickly as possible. And it also makes clear why we need fewer comments like those from From and Reed -- and more oars in the water helping to make the waves grow stronger.

The interesting thing about John McCain is that some 40,000 Amerians signed up to join his campaign in the days immediately following his victory in New Hampshire. Today Howard Dean has over 50,000 who have signed up and joined the Dean for America campaign and we are 8 months away from the New Hampshire Primary. I don't think some people in our party understand the implications of that fact -- maybe it dawned on them for the first time yesterday -- but I kind of doubt it.

So what can you do? Well I hate to sound like a broken record -- but we need to do two things between now and June 30th. We have to keep growing the grassroots -- we need you to keep spreading the word -- forward emails and good stories to others who may not have heard of Howard Dean yet. We need the blogger community regardless of a blog's support, opposition, or neutrality to at least point out to people what this campaign is trying to do. We need you to help us to keep building the local organizations through the list serves, and through Meetup, and the Dean Wireless Network. If you have a group or list/serve going -- we need you to make sure we have the names here in Burlington so we can communicate directly with every Dean supporter. We need your help as part of the Dean Defense Forces. If you have high-speed Internet -- sign up for our new Howard Dean TV service.

But I can not overstate the importance of the most important thing you can do right now. Help us raise as much money as possible by the June 30th filing deadline. Host a coffee, a house party, or raise $10 each from two or three of your friends. The Meetup Challenge has meant $300,000 to the campaign so far -- the single biggest thing that could happen for our campaign would be that we reach the goal of $1million by June 30th. John Kerry had 14,000 contributors at the end of the last quarter, Howard Dean had 13,897 -- it was the size of the contribution that made the difference -- but our goal isn't to raise the size of the contribution -- its to double or triple the number of small contributions people can afford to make at this time by talking to our friends and neighbors. 50,000 $5 contributions for Howard Dean will mean much more than 125 $2000 for the frontrunner -- because when you are building the perfect storm it is the number of people building the wave that matters -- not the size of the check.

How can I ask for more help, when each of you has helped so much already. Just continue to do what you can..... the wind is getting stronger, and the waves are getting higher, the Perfect Storm is building...

Howard Dean is leading the charge to take our country back and you have the power to make it happen.

Continue reading/discuss The Perfect Storm ...

What is The Matrix? It's a false world of electrical impulses and illusion. It's an alternate reality that masks the horror of the real world. It's a massive deception, designed to keep the Common Man in a state of stupor, unaware of his power to change the world.

Neo and Morpheus? Nope. Rather, Howard and Joe. Welcome to Dean Nation, the Last Free City of the Common Man.

Continue reading/discuss Dean took the red pill ...

One of our active Dean Nation regulars has had his letter to the Editor pblished in the SF Chronicle. Great work, Gabriel - you're an inspiration to us all. Keep up the pressure, keep up the activism, and keep up the transfer of energy and passion from the Internet to the Real World. Gabriel's letter reads in full:

DEMO INFIGHTING

Editor -- I am outraged that two leaders of the Democratic Leadership Council have moved to quash Howard Dean's candidacy and called him an "elitist liberal" ("Democrats squabble despite Clinton warning," May 15).

Their memo distorts Dean's admirable record as a largely centrist governor in Vermont. The memo is particularly ridiculous in light of the fact that it was produced the very day that President Bill Clinton lauded Dean as a centrist New Democrat!

This move to dictate the choice from above is insulting, especially to those like myself who believe that Dean is the only candidate with a chance to defeat Bush.

Dean's "elitist" campaign has ridden a wave of genuine grassroots support, with nearly 25,000 supporters, including many in the Bay Area, organizing themselves via the Internet for monthly Meetup.com gatherings.

GABRIEL DEMOMBYNES, Oakland

Continue reading/discuss Letter to the Editor ...

With all this DLC talk, it's easy to forget this historic day...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 16, 2003

HOWARD DEAN STATEMENT ON ANNIVERSARY OF BROWN V. BOARD OF EDUCATION DECISION

BURLINGTON, VT - The following is the statement of Democratic Presidential candidate Gov. Howard Dean regarding the 49th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision.

"On this 49th anniversary of the historic Brown v. Board of Education decision, I am heartened by how much progress our nation has made toward equal rights, but there is still more to do. It is the duty and responsibility of every American to continue to work for equality. As time passes, we must ensure that we never forget the meaning of this decision, and that we are vigilant in our struggle to build a better society for all."

Continue reading/discuss HOWARD DEAN STATEMENT ON ANNIVERSARY OF BROWN V. BOARD OF EDUCATION DECISION ...

From the Dean Campaign...

For Immediate Release

May 16, 2003

Will the Real DLC Please Stand Up?

BURLINGTON, VT - On Wednesday, May 14th, the Democratic Leadership Council released a memo that dismissed Governor Howard Dean as an elitist liberal from the "McGovern-Mondale wing'" of the Democratic Party. It wasn't so long ago that the DLC was praising Howard Dean as an exemplar of moderate, centrist Democratic positions. Governor Dean's record hasn't changed. What changed at the DLC?

10.27.00- The DLC praises Governor Dean's prescription drug plan as the "Idea of the Week."

"Governors Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Howard Dean (D-VT) and Angus King (I-ME) jointly announced their three states would come together to create a regional purchasing pool for prescription drugs... Best of all, the regional plan will rely on market mechanisms"

11.8.96- The DLC posts a memo on their website Claiming Dean's re-election victory as Governor of Vermont was evidence of the success of New Democratic leaders.

"State election results provide additional evidence of Democratic resurgence under New Democratic leadership. Centrist Governors Howard Dean of Vermont... won re-election comfortably."

11.4.96- The DLC posts a memo on their website praising Dean as a Centrist, popular Democratic Governor, and predicts he will win re-election easily.

"Democrats in state politics, regardless of their background, tend to be New Democrats by instinct, in part because they are responsible for making public institutions actually work to help citizens solve their most immediate problems. Incumbent centrist Democratic Governors Howard Dean of Vermont... popular and heavily favored for re-election."

Continue reading/discuss Will the Real DLC Please Stand Up? ...

From the Dean Campaign...

For Immediate Release

May 16, 2003

Former DNC-Chief Steve Grossman to DLC: "Creating Conflict is Not Leadership."

BURLINGTON, VT - On Wednesday, the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) released a memo in which the DLC argued that traditional Democratic values are "an aberration" and that the thousands of grassroots Democrats inspired by Governor Howard Dean's message to "take back our party" are "activist elites" and not "real Democrats." Former DNC chairman Steve Grossman wrote to members of the Democratic National Committee in an email sent yesterday, criticizing the DLC:

"Having served proudly as National Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, I was disappointed by recent statements by the Democratic Leadership Council that disparaged Governor Howard Dean's record of fiscal discipline and social compassion. I was particularly distressed because DLC leaders chose to label tens of thousands of grassroots Democrats who are energized by Governor Dean's message as elitist.

"It is crucial that the Democratic Party have a frank and open discussion about the future direction of this party. It is a discussion in which Governor Dean continues to play a leadership role. The DLC should remember that such a discussion must include all members of the party, especially citizens who work hard at the grassroots to promote their candidates and their values, not because they're elitist, but because they share the Democratic Party's—and Howard Dean''—vision for a better America.

"It is a vision that includes fiscal responsibility, access to health care for all Americans, a strong foreign policy that promotes multilateral cooperation, a bold, forward-thinking energy policy, environmental protection, tolerance, and economic opportunity for all citizens. It's a vision that is proudly Democratic and proudly American. It’s the right vision for the future of our country.

"The DLC should remember that creating needless conflict is not leadership. There are countless Americans across the country who are inspired by Governor Dean's message and his optimistic vision for America. The DLC would do well to listen to those Americans instead of attempting to dismiss them."

Continue reading/discuss Former DNC-Chief Steve Grossman to DLC: "Creating Conflict is Not Leadership." ...

There's one final action I think we can take, and that is to try and get this AP Story from Vermont into places like the Post, or any paper that carried the original story that included the lede saying that New Democrats don't like Dean. I don't know what you can tell the editors other than it is an AP story, from Vermont, with a byline from May 15, 2003. For this one, it may work best to call the Post, which you can do at some phone number I can't find right now. Although, if you prefer, I'm sure you can still e-mail at politics@washpost.com.

If anyone finds that phone number, please post it in comments and hopefully Aziz or someone can post it on the blog. I'm moving the rest of today and can't put in the time I did yesterday. It already set me behind.

Continue reading/discuss DDF: More Wrap-Up on the DLC ...

When I returned home to my computer tonight, my inbox was full of volunteer offers to help out with the Dean Defense Forces, the Dean campaign had announced that over 1000 grassroots Democrats had signed the letter rejecting the DLC's stance, Atrios and Kos had both told the DLC they were out of line, hundreds (likely thousands) of us had posted comments on various message boards across the net, and I was still getting reports of people contacting the DLC, the Washington Post, and writing their local elected officials.

It literally almost brought me to tears. I've never seen so many people so united with so little effort. And it is the response to the DLC that proves exactly why they're wrong. Head over to the official site and you can read over a thousand letters from Dean supporters. Some are former Greens, some were formerly non-political, some are lifelong Democrats, some are county party chairs, some are Republicans, some are independents.

Dean's backers are more than diverse. We are America. And we're committed.

And it is really, truly beautiful.

So thank you, all of you for all you've done.

And thank you, to the campaign staff, for all your hard work.

And thank you, Joe Trippi, for leading us in these battles.

And thank you, Howard Dean, for everything.

Literally, for everything.

Continue reading/discuss Thank You ...

"We want our party back. Come back with us."

Continue reading/discuss The most recent post on the letter to the DLC ...

Governor Dean was in Oregon today, before he heads to Iowa tomorrow when he will meet with Cornell College students and participate in the Iowa City Health Care Community Roundtable. This article reports on his trip the the Pacific northwest.

First, it notes that Gov. Dean called President Bush to task on the length of time that the U.S. will be involved in the occupation/nation building of Iraq:

Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean on Wednesday predicted that U.S. troops will be forced to remain in Iraq for at least a decade to ensure a stable democracy after toppling Saddam Hussein.

"This president has made a fateful decision, and he's going to be there a lot longer than he says he is," Dean said of President Bush.

The article also notes Gov. Deans stance on Bush and his relationship with Sen. Santorum:

But Dean reserved his harshest words for Bush for not denouncing recent remarks by Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, a Republican who compared homosexual behavior to incest or polygamy in comments about a pending Supreme Court case on a Texas sodomy law.

"For him (Bush) to put his arm around Sen. Santorum and say he's an inclusive person is a pathetic catering to bigotry and hatred and is not becoming of the president of the United States," Dean told reporters following a campaign speech at an Oregon fund-raiser.

Of course, it was nice to see a bit of a "Everybody Loves Howard" in there as well:

More than 200 Democrats who gathered at a downtown hotel gave Dean a rousing welcome when he arrived, including Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury and former Gov. Barbara Roberts.

Bradbury joked that Dean was taking a more conservative stand on fiscal policy than many Republicans by opposing deficit spending and paying down state debt in Vermont during 11 years as governor, leaving it with one of the highest bond ratings in the country.

"I think it's great to have a whole room full of people who are Democrats and fairly liberal folks cheering and hooting and hollering for a balanced budget because the Republicans haven't balanced the budget in 34 years," Dean said.

"If you want to trust your hard-earned taxpayer dollars to the government you better let the Democrats do it because the Republicans can't handle your money," Dean said.

Bradbury said Dean had increased school spending in Vermont, compared to the steep decline in the education budget for Oregon that has resulted in early school closures and eliminated many support programs.

Continue reading/discuss Presidential candidate Dean speaks in Oregon ...

Continue reading/discuss "...because Dean's appeal to the liberal wing of his party transcends the issues." ...

If you aren't signed up for the Note daily E-mails, you wouldn't have gotten this. But if you were, along with the announcement that today's Note was posted, you would have seen this bit of "breaking news":

Senator Joseph Lieberman has asked his fellow candidates to agree to hold
one debate per month starting in July--but hold them in "neutral" forums
moderated by respectable journalists.

Here's the text of a letter from Lieberman campaign manager Craig Smith to
the other campaigns:

"On behalf of Senator Lieberman, I would like to propose that all of our
campaigns agree to one nationally-broadcast, media-sponsored debate a
month for the duration of the campaign. For practical scheduling reasons,
we suggest that these debates begin in July."

"If we all agree that the Democratic primary should be one of ideas, let's
all agree to appear regularly before the voters on television in
media-sponsored, neutral debates that have the potential of reaching the
widest possible audience. Doing so would not only help ensure that the
voters hear our voices but that the Republican Party is not permitted to
dominate the political debate with its fundraising resources and with the
media power of the presidency."

"I urge all of our campaigns to accept this challenge and to work together
to make this happen."

"We hope to be able to work with you, with the media and with sponsoring
organizations to organize these monthly debates."

As far as I'm concerned, nothing could be more positive for the Democratic field as a whole, and Dean in particular, than a monthly debate. I hope the Dean campaign, Kerry campaign, and every other campaign that seriously wishes to win this election takes Lieberman up on his offer. We, as a party, desperately need to test our ideas and bring exposure to our candidates. A series of debates is will allow us to battle test both our ideas and our candidates. And Dean, in particular, will be able to put his skills on the stump in front of a national audience...what could be better?

Continue reading/discuss Primary of Ideas ...

The San Francisco Chronicle is carrying an AP story on the Dean affair, complete with Jeffords' defense of Dean. Keep your eyes open for the story to hit your paper and respond when it does. Get those letters to the editor in to your local paper. And make sure people know the truth: Dean is a strong Democrat with a history of providing strong fiscal management, health care for all, and a pragmatic, progressive agenda.

Continue reading/discuss Dean Defense Forces: On to your Local Paper ...

RonK, posting over at the Daily Kos, has made our feelings about the DLC look, well, downright moderate.

Here's some of what he has to say:

DLC Detonates Dirty Bomb
[...]
It's time to pick up my trusty flame-thrower. The DLC -- or at least the DLC's biggest full-time spokesmouths -- has outdone the worst its many detractors could have imagined.
[...]
DLC launched an unwarranted, unfounded, overwrought, sorry-assed attack on a contending candidate ... a candidate whose record and platform are not inconsistent with DLC principles ... a candidate who clearly appeals to many grassroots DLC supporters and DLC-affiliated elected officials ... a candidate who has a lot of regular people excited about the next election.

Why take this shot, thinly disguised as an exploration of ideas? Maybe for the perceived advantage of a perceived DLC favorite. Maybe as a bid for the spotlight. Maybe Howard Dean scored too uncomfortably well in DLC focus groups. Maybe it was "just one of those things" that happens on "just one of those days".

No matter what possessed it, DLC leadership has gone over the hill and fragged its own camp on the way out. There's plenty of room for New Democrats. Is there still room for the DLC, and DLC candidates? That's not so clear. The DLC has soiled itself badly, and it's up to their leaders to clean up the mess and convince us they won't do it again.

From what I know, Ron has not endorsed Dean. This is anger from a Democrat who thinks the DLC crossed the line, which they did. And his whole post is worth reading. As he says, New Democrats are part of the coalition. The real question is, after a stunt like this, will they allow the DLC to represent them?

Continue reading/discuss Daily Kos Questions DLC's Sanity, Stability ...

The following press release was released by Dean for America:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 15, 2003

Congressional Members Call on DLC to Stop Divisive Tactics:

Senators Leahy and Jeffords, Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, join hundreds of activists in calling for Democratic Unity and speaking to Governor Howard Dean’s Leadership


The following statements were issued today in response to the recent memo circulated by Al From and Bruce Reed of the Democratic Leadership Council:

Senator James Jeffords (I-VT):

“As the Independent Senator from Vermont, I have worked with Governor Howard Dean and I know his long-standing record. I am disappointed to see leaders of the Democratic Leadership Council characterize his positions as extreme and elitist, and I call on them to stop their divisive tactics. Since when did it become extreme and elitist to balance the budget, extend health care coverage, offer equal educational opportunity and protect our environment? I have heard such charges coming from Republicans most of my political life, but I find it incredible to hear such charges coming from Democrats."

Senator Pat Leahy (D-VT):

“Lumping Governor Dean with the so-called “liberal elitist” wing of our party will make Vermonters of all political stripes chuckle Governor Dean’s twelve year record in the statehouse was not liberal, conservative or elitist. He inherited a deficit, balanced the budget, pinched pennies, provided healthcare to all Vermont’s children, protected the environment and created jobs. That is a record of accomplishment, achieved with the broad support of Republicans and Democrats in Vermont.”

Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (D-CA):

“When I go home every weekend, my constituents talk to me about health care, education and the economy. Dr. Howard Dean has an outstanding record of achievement in all of these areas. As governor, 96% of Vermont’s children had health coverage, and an additional 3% were eligible. He passed fiscally responsible budgets each and every year. He built a strong educational system, and as a result, Vermont’s students rank 6th in the country in overall performance. Dr. Dean’s record is one that ALL Democrats can be
proud of.

Al From and Bruce Reed spend a lot of time talking about myths in Democratic nominating process. I think it is more important to focus on the facts:

Fact #1: Attacking fellow Democrats is wrong and will do nothing to help beat George W. Bush in 2004.

Fact #2: Dr. Dean is a proven leader in the Democratic Party with a broad and growing base of support.

Fact #3: Dr. Dean will be the Democratic Party’s nominee next year and will go on to beat George W. Bush.

It is disappointing that From and Reed feel the need to rip into fellow Democrats. They should stop these misguided efforts, and spend their considerable resources on beating George W. Bush.”

Continue reading/discuss Press Release: Congressional Members Call on DLC to Stop Divisive Tactics ...

Perhaps the slogan "any news is good news" could apply to the whole DLC fall out. The article linked above has this response from the campaign:

Dean's campaign, struggling to overcome the financial and organizational shortcomings in a nine-candidate field, welcomed the attention.

"Every time they do this, we grow," said Dean's campaign manager, Joe Trippi. "If they want to get rid of us, they should just shut up."

Continue reading/discuss Democrats squabble despite Clinton warning ...

I was going to put this in the comments but I think it's important enough to post. It is crucial that, despite the anger and ill-will aroused by the DLC, we do not turn to bitter and oppositional rhetoric. If you step back from the situation for a moment, it seems clear that the DLC's strategy in releasing this memo publicly, a truly extraordinary step by any measure, is aimed at drawing Dean into yet another acrimonious battle. If they can just keep him wallowing in negativity, first with Kerry, then with the DLC (and remember, the DLC can fire shots forever, they're not running for anything), they will paint him as an aggressive bulldog and doom his primary chances in a sea of bad press. Dean will only come out from this on top if he and his supporters focus their response on their deep sadness that their party is turning to infighting and sniping at this early stage. We need to publicly hope for an understanding between Dean and the DLC because, in the end, both are working towards the same goals. Specifically, defeating George Bush in 2004, and generally, a better life for all Americans.

It is important to realize that after the fight with Kerry, Dean's greatest weakness (in the eyes of other campaigns/groups) is that he can be drawn away from his message and into battle. And they know, as do we, that when Dean, or any candidate, is focusing his fire on Democrats, he looks smaller, weaker, and less attractive to the general populace. He ceases being a potential president and becomes just another politician. Just keep that in mind as the hits come in, they are only coming because Dean is a danger to more established candidates, and they will only have power if we give it to them.

Continue reading/discuss Be Careful, Be Smart ...

The DLC has posted its full memo. And when you read it, I think it becomes clear that they have no good reason for attacking Dean, a man talking about fiscal sanity, a pragmatic health care plan, and who is uniting centrists and the left.

Some people commenting here have wondered why, in the Dean Defense Forces post on the subject, we worked hard to make it clear that Dean should appeal to New Democrats. The answer is that New Democrats and the DLC, as is clear by the memo, are not right-wingers. They're hesitant progressives. They, like Howard Dean, realize that social justice can't be achieved without financial security. They, like Howard Dean, realize that progressivism must be pragmatic. The only problem is that they don't realize that they are like Howard Dean, arguably more like Howard Dean than John Kerry, Dick Gephardt, Al Sharpton, or even the conservatives in the group like Joe Lieberman (because Lieberman truly is an old-school conservative Democrat - there's relatively little "new" about him).

Dean's power comes from his ability to unite the activists and the rank and file. He's willing to fight, but he's not Quixotic. The DLC should be defending him against charges that he's too liberal to run for President. They should be working with us.

Please, Al and Bruce, work with us.

And please, stop the sniping.

Continue reading/discuss The Memo is Available ...

From the Dartmouth Free Press comes this great interview with Dean, focusing heavily on Dean's domestic accomplishments. It's a good recent example of Dean talking about his ideas that is very valuable in countering the "super-liberal" meme. Worth taking a look and mining it for good quotes and bullet points.

Continue reading/discuss The Governor Next Door ...

Clinton is, as Matt pointed out, the ultimate DLCer and the most sucessful Democrat in history. The full article on the interview with Clinton is in the SFGate. Here are the important bits, but read the original for much more:

But [Clinton] said it was important for Democrats to stop fighting among themselves and refocus their criticism on their eventual foes -- President Bush and the Republicans.

If the current crop of candidates is judged on what they accomplished before running for president, the field is strong, Clinton said. And some of those accomplishments contradict the image candidates have earned in the presidential race, he said.

Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean is described as very liberal by many following the presidential race, Clinton said, "but look at what he did as governor of Vermont."

Clinton described Dean's accomplishments with health care in his home state and his proposal to promote a national health care plan with a modest price tag as "New Democrat" positions. He was referring to the moniker the Democratic Leadership Council puts on Democrats who can blend moderate ideas that appeal to swing voters with traditional Democratic themes.

And Clinton didn't hesitate when he was asked the overriding question: Can Bush be beaten? "You can always be beaten," Clinton said with a smile. "I could have been beaten in 1996."

The basic DLC spin is that Dean is unelectable. But Clinton points out that Dean has already staked out a very "New Democrat" position with his actual record of accomplishments. And that a New Democrat, with appeal to swing voters as well as an energized base, is what it will take to defeat Bush. My opinion is that the DLC is motivated by fear - of an unbeatable Bush. That blinds them and - as Clinton rebukes - causes them to focus on infighting. But Bush can be beaten - and Dean is Clinton's ideological heir.

UPDATE: Chris Andersen has an insightful analysis on the timing of Clinton's interview. It doesn't seem to be a coincidence.

Continue reading/discuss Clinton defends Dean ...

Is a better America worth $.25 a day? Is a safer world worth a daily quarter? Would you fork over $.25 a day for government fiscal sanity with your tax dollars? Is $.25 a day too expensive to insure children?

If you donate $100 this year to Dean's campaign, that's only a single quarter a day. If every single person reading this blog today committed to a quarter a day, that would be $300,000 dollars (with federal matching funds). We could make that difference today, by just clicking this link. right now. And making history.

A hundred bucks sounds like a lot. But it's an investment in democracy. And unlike with the GOP, it's an investment that ordinary citizens can afford.

UPDATE: I'm moving this post to today for higher visibility. In light of the DLC attack on Dean, donations are going to be even more critical in helping the campaign stay on message, respond quickly, and get organized with the media to get Dean's message out and fight the conventional wisdom. Please donate whatever you can - and do it today.

Continue reading/discuss $.25 a day ...

(Key updates at bottom)

It is critical that you all sign up for the Dean Defense Forces by following the title of this post. Typically, I won't be posting DDF material to this blog, but this situation is simply too important. The DLC has come out swinging at Dean and we need to respond. Here's the situation, some proposed actions, and some possible talking points:

David von Drehle writing in the Washington Post offers up the following:

More than 50 centrist Democrats, including Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner, met here yesterday to plot strategy for the "New Democrat" movement. To help get the ball rolling they read a memo by Al From and Bruce Reed, the chairman and president of the Democratic Leadership Council.

The memo dismissed Dean as an elitist liberal from the "McGovern-Mondale wing" of the party -- "the wing that lost 49 states in two elections, and transformed Democrats from a strong national party into a much weaker regional one."

[...]

"We are increasingly confident that President Bush can be beaten next year, but Dean is not the man to do it," Reed and From wrote. "Most Democrats
aren't elitists who think they know better than everyone else."

So how do we respond?

Well, first, provide the Politics folks at the Washington Post with some feedback at politics@washingtonpost.com . What's wrong with the story? Well,
they only ignored the fact that the most successful DLCer in history (Clinton, not From or Reed) thinks that Dean has the right stuff (From the
AP):

Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean is described as very liberal by many following the presidential race, Clinton said, "but look at what he did as
governor of Vermont."

Clinton described Dean's accomplishments with health care in his home state and his proposal to promote a national health care plan with a modest price
tag as "New Democrat" positions. He was referring to the moniker the Democratic Leadership Council puts on Democrats who can blend moderate ideas
that appeal to swing voters with traditional Democratic themes.

In this case, the entire lede was deeply flawed, as it claimed that the New Democrats dislike Dean. Clinton is THE New Democrat and he speaks highly of
Dean.

Second, write letters to the editor at letters@washpost.com. Include your home address and day and night phone numbers.

Talking Points (Pick and Choose):

1. Clinton, THE New Democrat, has recognized that Dean is a New Democrat. From and Reed have slipped from "New Democrat" status to "Conservative
   Democrat" status, scared of new ideas. In addition, Dean has been endorsed by DLCers, like Rep. Zoe Lofgren, and leading centrists, like Sen. Jim Jeffords.
   
2. The attacks against Dean are nothing more than hollow rhetoric from career political insiders who have run out of new ideas and who forgot how
   Clinton got elected.
   
3. Many of Dean's supporters are the Newest Democrats, converts to the party who previously felt ignored, uninspired, and unmotivated.
   
4. Dean has signed up 370 MeetUp members in both Austin, TX and Atlanta, GA; 260 in Raleigh-Durham; 200 in Phoenix; and thousands more across the South,
   Southwest, and West. These are regular people. The DLC myth that Dean is an elite is wrong. Dean is connecting with Americans across the country.
   
5. Dean's pragmatic health care plan, balanced budget proposals, and support of federalism all prove that he is a third-way Democrat, not an "elitist
   liberal" from the "McGovern-Mondale wing" of the party.
   
6. Dean has made it a hallmark of his campaign to fight divisiveness. While von Drehle's headline claims that the "D" in DLC doesn't stand for Dean, it is not entirely clear that it doesn't stand for Divisiveness. If From and Reed can't grow up, maybe they should go home.
   

Next, write a letter to the DLC letting them know what you think of their jumping into the primary.

Finally, write Jim Jeffords and ask him to defend Howard Dean's third-way policies. The New Democrats like to point to Jeffords as a good example of a moderate and Jeffords endorsed Dean. Thank Jeffords for his endorsement and urge him to give the DLC a polite reminder that Dean is not the "elite liberal" they'd like to claim. You can do this here.

Finally, join the Dean Defense Forces so that you can get regular updates by e-mail any time the Good Doctor needs our help:




Click to subscribe to deandefenseforces

Update - Contact Numbers for the DLC (Courtesy Adam in MA):

DLC: 202-546-0007
PPI: 202-547-0001

The PPI is the Progressive Policy Institute, the policy wing of the DLC.
Still More
The campaign has a joint letter its going to use to respond to From and Reed's memo. Go sign it. And the official blog has some responses up. Go read them and repeat the mantra in letters to the DLC and any media outlet that reports the DLC's stance: "It's the DLC -- not Howard Dean -- that is Out of Touch with America."

Continue reading/discuss Dean Defense Forces: The Divisive Leadership Council ...

Over 580 people have now signed up for the Dean Wireless network!

You can receive text messages on your cell, directly from the campaign, advising you of upcoming appearances by Howard Dean on television and in other media.

And now that the Dean Wireless network has its own microsite, you can even receive state-specific text messages.

We'll tell you when the Governor is going to be in your area, so you won't miss an appearance.

Click here to join Dean Wireless today. (If you are already a member, follow the link, sign in with your handle and password, and then join your state group, too.)

Continue reading/discuss Dean Wireless Expands ...

From the Rutland Herald comes an alarming soundbite by Dean, while on the trail in Iowa:

And at a breakfast meeting in the Uptown Café in Jefferson, Dean promoted a farmer subsidy program for corn and beef, one that would be modeled after the Northeast Interstate Dairy Compact.

YIKES. Supporting massive agricultural subsidies is a scary position to take. The Dairy Compact is akin to OPEC for milk - a high-level body of milk manufacturers that has the authority to inflate the price of milk nationwide (note that a gallon of milk costs more in most cities than a gallon of gasoline). This directly hurts the consumer, especially lower-income families. Note that the primary beneficiaries of the Dairy Compact are Vermont dairy farmers.

A similar boondoggle is the ethanol subsidy. Common Cause reports that this subsidy to corn farmers has cost the Federal Treasury $7bn since 1997 (how may children would that have insured?). The primary beneficiaries are not small farmers, but giant agribusiness conglomerates like Archers-Daniel Midland, whose massive soft-money contributions keep the subsidy alive in Congress.

The issue of whether Dean supports these two massive government payouts was actually posed in the DeanBlog Interview (# 9), but we haven't had any response from the campaign yet. This quote from the road seems to be the first time Dean has addressed the issue.

The proposed beef and corn subsidy that Dean proposes is similar to these programs, and runs directly against the grain of Dean's reputation as a fiscal hawk. The TNR primary gave Dean an F for this in the Political Courage category, pointing out that there are only two reasons Dean could have for making this soundbite:

Not surprisingly, the article doesn't quote Dean elaborating on this ridiculous proposal, and Dean's website doesn't say a word about it. It's hard to tell which is worse: If Dean just decided to tell Iowans what he thinks they want to hear, or if actually believes this is a good idea.

It will be especially interesting to see what Dean has to say about this when the responses to the DeanBlog interview come in. This is an issue that has a direct conflict between principle and politics. Dean's message has always been that he does what is right. Supporting these subsidies is a failure to meet his own standard.

Continue reading/discuss flirting with farming subsidies ...

The Bloviator has a simple summary of the details of the Dean Health care plan. Drawing on the campaign website datasheet and the coverage in the WaPo, Ross fills in some of the blanks and reveals some details that most observers may have missed (such as the automatic enrollment based on government tax and health record data, which may cause some concern for privacy advocates).

The Bloviator is an expert on health insurance issues - Ross' series on The Uninsured in America is essential reading for anyone interested in the economic impact of having medical uninsured. The series ran during Cover the Uninsured Week (March 10th - 16th) and here are the entries:

• 5580 a day will lose their insurance


• children


• uncompensated care: how much, and who pays?


• physicians and charity care


• rising costs mean employers drop coverage


• state budget crises


• legal immigrants and the five-year bar


• coverage proposals

This series is well-supported by solid data, and is a resource that we Dean supporters need to be familiar with if intend to defend Dean against charges that universal medical insurance is a big-government boondoggle. I urge everyone to drop by The Bloviator and give that series a read.

Continue reading/discuss DeanCare details by The Bloviator ...

winner: CTDem2, with this proposed soundbite for Dean: "The Republicans are currently charging $30/week on YOUR CREDIT CARD."

Continue reading/discuss comment of the week ...

This article in Slate is a good summary that doesn't shy away from critique.

Tuesday morning, Howard Dean outlined his plan to extend health insurance to 30 million more Americans. Here's a quick assessment of how Dean's plan fits into the Democratic presidential race.

1) Dean vs. Gephardt. Dean was planning to release his proposal in March, but he delayed it because of the war in Iraq. As the war subsided, Dick Gephardt beat Dean to the punch, proposing his own plan for expanding health insurance. Then, before Dean could attack Gephardt's plan, John Edwards attacked it at the May 3 debate in South Carolina. Edwards vs. Gephardt became the Democrats' chief policy conflict, reducing Dean vs. John Kerry to a clash of personalities.

Dean's health insurance plan puts him back on the policy map. Edwards hasn't produced a comparable proposal, and Kerry won't spell his out until Thursday. For the time being, Dean gets the policy debate with Gephardt all to himself. "Today, the Democrats have two distinct plans on the table for achieving health care for all Americans: Congressman Gephardt's and mine," Dean declared. His Web site compares the two plans, purporting to show that Dean covers more people than Gephardt does at less than half the cost.

2) Doctor- vs. lawyer-politicians. Since Dean is the only doctor in the race, health care is his issue. He needed to reclaim it from Gephardt, and today, he did so in an aggressively autobiographical way. He detailed his career as a medical student and physician, "volunteering in the emergency room" and at a "community health center" to help "people who had no insurance." Dean never mentioned Edwards, but he paved the way for a contrast between the doctor-politician who spent his career healing people and the lawyer-politician who spent his career suing them. Guess which profession voters prefer.

3) The Vermont "miracle." Dean doesn't use that term, as Michael Dukakis did. But Dean's campaign relies on the same idea. On any issue, he's got figures to show that Vermont, under his governorship, has been a model for the nation. (His opponents can present different figures to undercut his claims, as Kerry did in the South Carolina debate. But then they're playing on Dean's turf.) In Tuesday's speech, Dean bragged about how many Vermonters the state has insured, and at what little cost. In the South Carolina debate, he claimed to have "two advantages" on this issue: "I'm a governor, and … I'm a doctor." Now he's capitalizing on both.

4) Taxing the wicked. Why does Dean's plan cost the government less than Gephardt's does? One big reason is that Gephardt uses the tax code to reward companies that provide health insurance, while Dean uses it to punish companies that don't. To big firms that don't insure their workers, Dean warned, "We're not going to give you the same generous tax benefits we're giving to those businesses that are providing health insurance to their workers." Dean's Web site says his plan will "send a message" to these companies "by limiting their tax deductions and their government contracts." But Dean never addresses the hidden costs of removing these tax deductions and reducing competition for these contracts. Would businesses hire fewer people? Would the government pay more for contracted work?

5) Stimulus two-fer. Gephardt proposed to spend all of the government's disposable money (and then some) on his health insurance plan. He had nothing left over to make a stimulus package, so he claimed that his health insurance plan was a stimulus package. Dean uses the same trick. He says his plan will lower health-care costs for businesses, "freeing up valuable working capital." Therefore, the plan "is not simply a health care plan. It's an important part of my economic plan as well." Or, as Dan Aykroyd put it: It's a floor wax and a dessert topping!

6) Redefining strength. Dean's opposition to the Iraq war could cripple his candidacy. The war ended quickly and favorably, and President Bush plans to milk it in his re-election campaign. Dean needed to change the subject and cover up his perceived indifference to national security. How to look less wimpy? By redefining strength. "America's strength can't only be measured by the power of our military," he argued in Tuesday's speech. It's also measured "by the depth of our compassion." In the post-9/11 world, that may be a stretch. But for political battlefield surgery, it'll have to do.

Continue reading/discuss Dr. Dean's Prescription ...

Joe Lieberman, take note: Howard Dean is doing the right kind of moralizing when he calls providing access to affordable health care "a moral imperative". He realizes that there are more important moral issues -- poverty, poor education, sick children -- for government to concern itself with than the puritanical revival tent sex-police priorities of the Republican Party.

Whining about Hollywood and calling yourself "pro-family" -- what does that mean, anyway? that you don't want to be single? -- are cop-out moral stands for Republicans, and Democrats aren't going to get elected by imitating them. Phony outrage against rap music and bare butts on TV take the place of what should be real outrage over the fact that in the wealthiest, most powerful country in history millions of people still live in poverty, still can't see a doctor when they need to, and still aren't provided a decent education.

This is exactly what Republicans want. They want government in your bedroom when you're having sex, but not when you're home sick in bed. They would rather pay for you to be in jail for having a certain type of sex than pay for you to be in the hospital for a broken leg.

Howard Dean is right. Health care for everyone is a moral imperative. And he's out there telling Republicans that they should be ashamed of themselves for not supporting it. That's a real moral stand -- and a winning message for Democrats, too.

Continue reading/discuss How To Moralize in Politics ...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean laid out his plan Tuesday to provide health coverage for all Americans up to age 25 and greatly expand coverage to uninsured adults.

Providing health care for the uninsured will be a major campaign issue for many of the Democrats trying to oust President Bush next year. Dean, a physician who has a record of expanding health care coverage as governor of Vermont, sees himself as the best positioned to lead on the issue.

As governor, Dean focused on small expansions of the existing health care programs so that today 96 percent of Vermont children and 91 percent of adults are covered, and his presidential campaign is based on the same principle.

"This is a moral imperative. Here, in the richest and, most advanced country in the 21st century, it's unbelievably wrong for a sick child to go without seeing a doctor because her parents can't afford it," Dean said in a speech at Columbia University, where he took classes before going to medical school. "We have fallen 50 years behind in this country, behind the social standards of what we consider to be the civilized world."

Dean burst onto the national scene as an outspoken opponent of the U.S.-led war with Iraq and is often described as an anti-war candidate. But he says his campaign will be based on his ideas for providing health care to the uninsured.

Dean lost ground on the issue to Missouri Rep. Dick Gephardt, who announced last month that upon taking office he would push legislation requiring all employers to insure their workers. Gephardt would reimburse companies for 60 percent of their health care costs, and repeal President Bush's tax cuts to pay the $200 billion-plus annual cost.

On Tuesday, Dean, trying to take the lead on the health care issue, drew distinctions between his proposal and Gephardt's plan. Dean's plan is designed to expand coverage to 31 million uninsured Americans, about the same as Gephardt, for less than half the cost at $88.3 billion a year.

"This is the best health care proposal I've seen in terms of its ability to pass, its ability to cover people and its price tag," Dean said.

Dean also criticized Bush for failing to address the issue of insured Americans while passing tax cuts that have increased the deficit. He said he would repeal part of Bush's tax cuts to pay for the insurance and pledged that his presidency would start with balancing the budget.

"If we don't restore fiscal integrity to our government we will simply not have the dollars it takes to offer the health care coverage America needs," he said.

Lesson learned treating uninsured
Dean talked about how he and his wife, Judith Steinberg, worked together at a medical practice in Vermont and about his volunteer work at a community health center for people with no insurance. He said the lessons he learned treating those uninsured patients motivated him to get involved in politics.

Dean said he would provide health coverage to everyone up to age 25 by expanding existing government programs for low income families -- Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program or SCHIP.

He also would expand SCHIP to cover adults that earn up to 185 percent of the poverty level and allow other uninsured adults to buy into the a heath care plan identical to the one available to federal employees.

Dean would allow small businesses with less than 50 employees to buy into a subsidized health care system identical to the one for federal workers. And he would cut tax breaks for corporations that don't provide health insurance.

Other candidates in the nine-way race for the Democratic presidential nomination also plan to address the need to insure more Americans, including Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, who will give his health care speech Thursday.

Continue reading/discuss Dean unveils proposal to insure more Americans with $88.5 billion plan ...

Imagine the following scenario: a terrorist attack releases a biological weapon in downtown Chicago (much like the the terrorism drills conducted today). Many people are infected with a dangerous disease. However, a large fraction of these people are uninsured.

Some of the uninsured will go to county hospitals, and the exorbitant cost of their treatment will be borne by the taxpayer. The lack of insurance will stretch already-strained resources and the overall capability of the health care infrastructure to respond to the attack will be undermined. And some of the uninsured will simply not seek medical care, thus enabling the biological agent to continue to spread. We have seen how the Chinese government's failure to isolate suspcted SARS cases has led to an explosion in the infection rate - imagine how much worse the situation could be were the virus a weaponized virulent agent instead of a natural one.

To Bush, homeland security is an excuse for government restrictions on liberty, an ideal to which he pays rhetorical lip-service while cutting funds. Dean's healthcare proposal, however, would have a real impact. It would save money in the long run, by reducing the state cost of health care - and it would save lives.

Continue reading/discuss health care as homeland security ...

Here are some excerpts from Governor Dean's health care speech today. To read the full speech, go to our website.

From the moment I entered this race, guaranteeing affordable access to health care, and balancing the budget have been the touchstones of my campaign. From day one, I’ve outlined how I'd achieve universal health care – and challenged my opponents to do the same.

To me, health care isn’t simply a policy issue. It’s a moral imperative. Here, in the richest, most advanced country in the world in the 21st century, it’s simply wrong for a sick child to go without seeing a doctor because her parents can’t afford it.

Wrong for a woman to find out she has late stage breast cancer, because she couldn’t afford a mammogram.

Wrong for elderly people to be choosing between prescriptions and food.

We must remember that the important distinction in this election isn’t between the details of the Democratic plans. It’s the distinction between Democrats – who view this as a moral imperative – and President Bush, who for over two years has failed to address this issue.

Instead, he and the Republican party have pursued a misguided economic policy mortgaging our economic future for a set of tax cuts that provide, at best, minimal help to the average American working family.

Continue reading/discuss Dean Health Care Plan for America ...

One of the grossest abuses of power by a majority party is to abuse the redistricting process. By "gerrymandering" districts to favor one party's demographic base, the politicans end up choosing the voters, instead of the other way around. The GOP in Texas has chosen to ignore the budget crisis (exacerbated by Bush's unfunded mandates), and instead of doing what's right for Texas, attempted to tighten their grip on power.

Yesterday, a group of Texas House representatives stood up for their principles, and in a brilliant move, broke the quorum^[1] to prevent the GOP redistricting bill from passing.

The sheer courage and idealism on display by these Texas Democrats makes me proud to be a Texan transplant. What's more, it's exactly the kind of take-our-country-back attitude that Dean has personified. In the heartland of the GOP and the home turf of George Bush, we have scored a major victory, due to a sacrifice by 53 honorary residents of Deanistan. Their names are:

Roberto Alonzo, Dallas
Kevin Bailey, Houston
Lon Burnam, Fort Worth
Gabi Canales, Alice
Jaime Capelo, Corpus Christi
Joaquin Castro, San Antonio
Garnet Coleman, Houston
Robby Cook, Eagle Lake
Yvonne Davis, Dallas
Joe Deshotel, Beaumont
Dawnna Dukes, Austin
Jim Dunnam, Waco
Harold Dutton, Houston
Craig Eiland, Galveston
Dan Ellis, Livingston
Juan Escobar, Kingsville
David Farabee, Wichita Falls
Jessica Farrar, Houston
Pete Gallego, Alpine
Timoteo Garza, Eagle Pass
Ryan Guillen, Rio Grande City
Scott Hochberg, Houston
Terri Hodge, Dallas
Mark Homer, Paris
Chuck Hopson, Jacksonville
Jesse Jones, Dallas
Pete Laney, Hale Center
John Mabry, Waco
Trey Martinez-Fischer, San Antonio
Ruth Jones McClendon, San Antonio
Jim McReynolds, Lufkin
Jose Menendez, San Antonio
Joe Moreno, Houston
Paul Moreno, El Paso
Elliott Naishtat, Austin
Rick Noriega, Houston
Rene Oliveira, Brownsville
Dora Olivo, Missouri City
Aaron Pena, Edinburg
Joe Pickett, El Paso
Robert Puente, San Antonio
Chente Quintanilla, Tornillo
Richard Raymond, Laredo
Allan Ritter, Nederland
Eddie Rodriguez, Austin
Patrick Rose, Dripping Springs
Jim Solis, Harlingen
Barry Telford, DeKalb
Senfronia Thompson, Houston
Carlos Uresti, San Antonio
Mike Villarreal, San Antonio
Miguel Wise, Weslaco
Steve Wolens, Dallas

If one of these heroes is your representative in Texas, write to them and express your support. And I hope Dean weighs in, because these courageous representatives have put their careers on the line - and their freedom. Gov. Perry has authorized the Texas Rangers to forcibly return them to Austin. They need all the support they can get.

^[1] I analyse this amazing drama at UNMEDIA in more detail, and liken it to the famous Kobayashi Maru test in Star Trek II, the Wrath of Khan. Like Kirk, I don't like to lose. Dean is our Kirk.

Continue reading/discuss Texas Dems show Dean backbone ...

The most important thing Dean had to say about Health Care was:

"We must remember that the important distinction in this election isn't between the details of the Democratic plans," said Dean. "It's the distinction between Democrats -- who view this as a moral imperative -- and President Bush, who for over two years has failed to address this issue."

This is the right way to move things forward - by rising tide that floats all boats.

Continue reading/discuss health care: the Big Picture ...

Democratic presidential contender Howard Dean is to outline a plan on Tuesday to vastly expand U.S. health care coverage, making it easier for families to afford health insurance and for small businesses to offer it to employees.

Dean, a doctor and former governor of Vermont who has promised to put health care at the heart of his 2004 White House campaign, said his plan also would penalize large companies that do not make it easy for employees to buy insurance by taking away corporate tax breaks.

"To me, health care isn't simply a policy issue, it's a moral imperative," said Dean, according to the text of a speech he will deliver on Tuesday at Columbia University in New York.

"Here, in the richest, most advanced country in the world in the 21st century, it's simply wrong for a sick child to go without seeing a doctor because her parents can't afford it," he said, noting the United States was the last of the major industrialized countries to provide universal health care.

Dean, who expanded health coverage in Vermont during his term as governor, is the second of nine Democratic contenders vying for the right to challenge President Bush (news - web sites) to release a detailed plan for health care coverage for the 41 million uninsured Americans.

His proposal would expand existing state and federal plans to allow health care coverage to every child and young adult up to age 25 while offering tax and other incentives to help working families afford insurance.

It also would organize a system for small businesses similar to the federal employee health system and allow employers to join it at lower rates.

Dean aides estimated the plan would cost about $88 billion annually, and Dean said he would pay for it by eliminating portions of Bush's tax cuts.

"We can do this if we take part of the Bush tax cuts and use it to create a practical system giving every American an affordable way to purchase health insurance," Dean said.

Democratic Rep. Richard Gephardt of Missouri outlined a sweeping universal coverage plan last month that he said would also help stimulate the economy by easing the health insurance burden for employers. His plan would cost more than $200 billion annually, which Gephardt would pay for by repealing Bush's tax cuts.

Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry will outline his health care plans during an Iowa speech on Thursday as Democrats focus on an issue pushed into the shadows after the failure of former President Bill Clinton (news - web sites)'s proposal to pass Congress in 1994.

"We must remember that the important distinction in this election isn't between the details of the Democratic plans," said Dean. "It's the distinction between Democrats -- who view this as a moral imperative -- and President Bush, who for over two years has failed to address this issue."

Continue reading/discuss Democrat Dean Unveils Plan for Health Coverage ...

Democratic presidential candidates courting voters in South Carolina and other early primary states have been invited to an event that Fox News Channel plans to broadcast live on Jan. 29.

The South Carolina Business and Industry Political Education Committee would sponsor the event. BIPEC sent invitations to the candidates last week but doesn't know yet who will commit to attending while their schedules are jammed with events leading up to the primaries.

The debate would be two days after the New Hampshire primary and five days before presidential selection events in South Carolina and several other states.

On top of that, the groups involved aren't the most hospitable to Democrats, said former South Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Dick Harpootlian, who organized the May 3 presidential debate in Columbia.

"I think it will be a debate that nobody comes to," Harpootlian said of the Fox event. "BIPEC is a known Republican front organization, and the debate will be held by a right-wing network."

Tom DeLoach, BIPEC's chief executive officer, denied his group is affiliated with the GOP. "We're a nonpartisan education association," he said.

Marty Ryan, Fox News' political coverage executive producer, also disagreed with Harpootlian's assessment. "I don't buy the premise on either front," he said.

BIPEC has run two Republican debates, DeLoach said, but state and national Democratic Party issues prevented a 2000 Democratic presidential debate.

Campaign officials for Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean said they had received invitations but had not decided whether to participate. Other campaigns contacted did not immediately respond.

Continue reading/discuss South Carolina II ...

To add something of a positive note -- this week's print edition of Newsweek has this Howard Fineman piece

Continue reading/discuss Newsweek -- High-Tech Insurgent ...

Matthew Yglesias directs us to the new feature at The New Republic Online -- the TNR Primary. Their description of how it works:

From now until the eve of the first presidential contest in Iowa next January, TNR writers are offering observations, criticisms, suggestions, and, most importantly, letter grades, in response to developments in the primary fight. Each entry will grade a candidate in one of five categories: foreign policy, domestic policy, intellectual honesty, political courage, and general likeability. All of a candidate's letter grades are averaged together, with foreign policy and domestic policy grades weighted double, and the resulting "grade point averages" are used to rank the candidates. (Click here for the current standings). At the end of each month, TNR declares a winner--the candidate with the highest GPA. The candidate who performs the best over the course of the entire TNR Primary will win special mention in TNR's endorsement issue next January. Only the candidates with some shot of winning the nomination--Howard Dean, John Edwards, Dick Gephardt, Bob Graham, John Kerry, Joe Lieberman--are eligible to compete.

So, flipping through candidates' report cards (here's the full report for Dean), one finds Howard Dean earning an "A" for his response to George Stephanopoulos when he asked if any of the candidates would raise taxes:

"[A]ll I am going to do is put the tax rate back to where it was when Bill Clinton was president," Dean explained, "because we did a lot better under Bill Clinton than we are under George Bush."

Flip around some more and--ready your gasp, Jim Jordan--someone questions John Kerry's political courage. And it's not Howard Dean! But TNR does use a comparison with Dean to make its point:

On Saturday night George Stephanopoulos asked all the Democratic candidates at once whether any of them would "rule out raising taxes as president of any kind." There followed an awkward pause. No one wanted to be dishonest--but certainly no one wanted to be Walter Mondale, either. Suddenly Howard Dean, always the most impetuous of the bunch, threw up a hand. Down at the end of the table, John Kerry looked at Dean and followed with something that looked like a hand-raise of his own. Only it wasn't quite that. Kerry lifted his forearm halfway up, then left it suspended in an tentative gesture of ambiguous meaning. It was as if he were Dr. Strangelove, wrestling his own arm as his political and intellectual impulses clashed internally. It's possible Kerry was simply indicating he wanted to speak. But when he was called on a moment later, he completely glossed over the question about taxes and proceeded to attack Dick Gephardt's health care plan. We're still waiting for an answer.

After someone resuscitates Chris Lehane, they should let him know that it was Kerry's political courage on an issue that TNR's Michael Crowley was questioning. We all revere Senator Kerry's heroic service in Vietnam. But those -- again, not Howard Dean -- who question his political courage to take a tough stand in a national campaign with his career on the line are talking about a politician's calculations, not a young man's bravery.

UPDATE: Headline edited to reduce obnoxiousness in response to Kerry-bashing sensitivities expressed in comments. For the record, I like Kerry a lot and he's my number two in this race at this point. Jim Jordan and Chris Lehane, though, aren't exactly earning my respect. These two views are not necessarily contradictory.

Continue reading/discuss Dean Running Second in TNR Primary ...

Quite a bit has been said recently over the impending culture war of 2004 (Here, Here and Here). Most of it, as far as I can tell, has been said by Matt. But, whether or not he started it, the Note has picked it up, and it seems clear that the convergence of Human Rights Watch, the Log-Cabin Republicans, Rick Santorum, the Christian Right, and Dean's support for Civil Unions (which ensures that everyone else has to take a position on them) is going to force this issue to a head in 2004. Much like a zit.

Matt and others have said quite a bit on this issue, but I want to use it to make a larger point. Extremists are very dangerous to major political parties, because they often comprise a good portion of the base. So the Parties straddle the line and attempt to keep both the fringe placated and the moderates happy. Bush and Rove have been uncannily good at this over the years, and it accounts, in large part, for Bush's success (for more on this, I highly recommend you all read Molly Ivin's Shrub). But the fringe is dangerous for Bush in a way that it isn't for Democrats. Our extremists are, to an extent, flexible. They do move and change and update themselves with the times...we might feel they are too far left and want too much, but they can be dealt with, persuaded, cajoled. The Christian Right cannot. They are bound by the Bible, they have a document they must follow and as such, the decisions of their political leaders must match a pre-defined doctrine, they cannot change due to electoral whim. Some policies can be fudged as relates to the Bible. Some run afoul of very unclear or obscure commandments. Homosexuality is not one of these.

If Civil Unions do in fact become one of the issues in 2004, Bush is highly, highly screwed. He will either have to rip down his big tent and ensure that the Republican party is viewed as the party of backward bigots for years to come or watch as the Christian Right abandons the Republicans and dooms his reelection effort to failure, much as his Father's raising of taxes alienated Conservatives and doomed his own reelection effort.

We, as a party, need to realize that the most dangerous part of the Bush Administration is their two-faced governance, their ability to project one image (that of the moderate) while governing from the far-right. To end their ability to do that, we are actually going to have to rip Bush right at that line, we are going to have to separate the compassionate from the conservative and see what Bush chooses. He cannot choose both, the very nature of the Christian Right renders them completely unable to compromise on this issue and so his defense of "Christian Values" is going to have to echo from the mountain tops. Of course, that same defense will disgust moderates who, by and large, do not want to vote for intolerance and policies that one can see being overturned and viewed with revulsion ten years down the road. Civil Unions look to me to be exactly that wedge issue which can do it.

So that's the game plan. Ready? BREAK!

P.S - Is anybody else starting to find these guys mildly pathetic? It's like a puppy who keeps getting beat but invariably returns to his master...I'm starting to feel bad for them.

P.P.S - Full Disclosure: Also posted on my blog.

Continue reading/discuss Culture War 2004 ...

The following letter was published in the May 19, 2003 issue of Newsweek.

In his article about Rep. Richard Gephardt’s proposed health-care plan, Jonathan Alter mentions Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean’s approach to health care (“A Genuinely Healthy Debate,” May 5). My mother lives in Missouri and is one of Gephardt’s constituents. Last month she lost her job and her health benefits. She cannot afford Cobra nor the “gap insurance” that would cost her at least $300 a month. Meanwhile, in Dean’s Vermont, more than 92 percent of adults are eligible for health care, and that health care is subsidized for uninsured low-income adults—and this is in a state, some would argue, with a balanced budget. Alter calls Dean’s plan a “nonstarter,” but guess in which state I wish my mother lived right now?
Heather Ash
Sherman Oaks, Calif.

Continue reading/discuss Vermont's Healthy Approach ...

Matt Bailey posts below a Times article with the headline, "Tension Between Dean and Kerry Helps Recast Race for Democrats". Reader Katherine notes in comments that it isn't the snappiest headline, and she's right. But the message of the headline is dead on. The article plainly illustrates the difference between Dean and Kerry, and their respective campaigns.

Kerry Campaign Manager Jim Jordan is at it again, doing his faux-incredulous thing in the newspaper. We already knew he was willing to discredit himself with the old misrepresent-and-spin routine. This time he's "surprised" at how personal the Dean campaign's attacks on John Kerry and the other candidates have been. Here's the quote, which appears two weeks to the day after Kerry campaign spokesman Chris Lehane questioned Dean's fitness to serve:

"There's no secret that we think Mr. Dean's rhetoric has been hot and a little bit personal — with a number of Democratic candidates, not just Senator Kerry. I think he has questioned their character in a way that is surprisingly personal, surprisingly early."

Needless to say, he didn't provide examples or address Lehane's comments.

The contrast between Jordan's contrived surprise and Dean Campaign Manager Joe Trippi's affability is striking:

"I think they are more tightly wound than we are," said [Trippi]. He stopped and started to laugh as he considered his own words.

That contrast carries over to the candidates. Take this quote from Dean and just try to imagine John Kerry uttering these words:

"I was surprised when I looked at the debate at how grumpy I looked. I think I was just more stressed than I realized."

If any further Dean/Kerry spats play out as this one has, it's fine with me. I think we all hope that Kerry's jackals can control themselves, and that there won't be any. But don't be surprised if tomorrow you read about Jim Jordan's "surprise" at some aspect of Dean's health care plan which he finds "extraordinary" and which "has never been endorsed by a serious candidate for president" and therefore "raises serious questions about his capacity to serve".

Continue reading/discuss Campaign Contrast ...

The second-most-detailed health care plan in the Democratic race for president is about to become tied for first:

Former Gov. Howard Dean of Vermont will unveil details on Tuesday of a health care plan that his aides argued would cost less than half of one offered by Representative Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri, a fellow Democratic presidential candidate. They also said it would bring more Americans into the system.

Dr. Dean's plan would expand programs that offer health coverage to children of the working poor; provide a new private insurance benefit, with a tax credit, for people who cannot afford even reduced premiums; and give tax incentives to businesses that offer coverage.

"We're going to do it as a side-by-side with Gephardt's plan," said Dr. Dean's campaign manager, Joe Trippi. "It will provide coverage for more Americans than the Gephardt plan and would cost under half of what the Gephardt plan would cost."

Mr. Gephardt would repeal most of President Bush's tax cut to pay for a universal health care plan that by some estimates would cost $247 billion by the third year.

Dr. Dean, a physician, would expand a current program that subsidizes health care for children of the working poor to cover people up to age 25 and to adults who meet income guidelines.

Mr. Trippi said the package also would offer private coverage equivalent to that given to federal workers at reduced rates.

Since many people get insurance coverage through the workplace, Mr. Trippi said the Dean plan also would focus on employers. For employers of more than a specified number of workers, Dr. Dean would put in place tax incentives for providing health insurance. Businesses that drop coverage could face a tax penalty, which he figures would make it more likely that employers would continue coverage.

Even before he reveals his full plan, Dean is the candidate with the most serious health care proposal except for Dick Gephardt, who has a very detailed plan that won't cover me. With Dean putting out his full proposal, the question becomes: how long can the other serious candidates go without publishing theirs?

Continue reading/discuss Status of the 'Non-Plan' ...

Coming from a political, strategic point of view, I think Sen. Kerry's biggest mistake in South Carolina at the first debate was even mentioning his conflict with Gov. Dean. While we all know and love him, many voters are still saying "Howard Who?" He helped to focus attention on the governor, and worked at creating his own strong opponent. I have edited down the article quite a bit. You can read all of at at the link above or on my site.

The political fortunes of two New Englanders battling for the Democratic presidential nomination, Howard Dean and John Kerry, have become entangled in a way that has sharpened tension between them and recast the dynamics of the party's presidential competition.

The tension was evident in their edgy exchanges over the Iraq war at the first Democratic debate last week: Dr. Dean, the former governor of Vermont, and Senator Kerry, of Massachusetts, became so animated that three of their colleagues advised them to calm down. Dr. Dean and Mr. Kerry now say they regret, at least to some extent, the way they acted during parts of the forum.

Beyond that, the clash has offered an insight into the style of two generally liberal Democrats from New England who beyond that could hardly be more different in manner or temperament and who do not seem to like each other very much.

But the attention it has drawn for the underfinanced Dr. Dean may prove to be just what the doctor ordered. And it does not appear to be going away any time soon, in no small part because of Dr. Dean.

Dr. Dean, in an interview, accused the Kerry camp of passing information to reporters intended to besmirch him by highlighting, for example, his assertion that America would not always be the world's dominant power, and the medical draft deferment he invoked during the Vietnam War. He said Mr. Kerry's style was appropriate to the rough school of politics in Massachusetts but might be unseemly elsewhere.

"I was surprised by the personal nature of the attacks," Dr. Dean said, adding: "No one else has done it in this race. I think the rules in Massachusetts for down and dirty politics are different than it is in many other states."
In an interview, Mr. Kerry said he would not respond to Dr. Dean's characterization of his campaign style, though he said he had only raised questions about Dr. Dean's policy statements and responded to accusations he had made. Mr. Kerry added that he regretted spending so much time discussing Dr. Dean at the debate, and in the interview tried to talk about anything else but his rival.

"George asked me a question, and I answered," Mr. Kerry said, referring to the moderator of the ABC News debate, George Stephanopoulos. "I wish I had not, to some degree.

That restraint is not entirely shared in Mr. Kerry's camp. In Mr. Kerry's circles, Dr. Dean has become known, not endearingly, by the nickname Ho-Ho. Mr. Kerry's advisers have drawn attention to what they describe as impolitic and contradictory remarks made by Dr. Dean.

Mr. Kerry's campaign manager, Jim Jordan, said: "There's no secret that we think Mr. Dean's rhetoric has been hot and a little bit personal — with a number of Democratic candidates, not just Senator Kerry. I think he has questioned their character in a way that is surprisingly personal, surprisingly early."

Still, many Democrats were struck by how Mr. Kerry kept returning to Dr. Dean in the debate, whether challenging criticism by Dr. Dean of his record on gay rights (Dr. Dean said he was misquoted) or disputing Dr. Dean's record on health care as governor. As a rule, candidates in a strong position seek to stay above the fray, and avoid engagements with lower-tier candidates.

"If I were advising them, I would tell him that he has nothing to gain by doing that," the Rev. Al Sharpton, one of his Democratic rivals, said of Mr. Kerry. "I don't see where he even scores points policy-wise. And certainly, politically, he doesn't gain by arguing with someone who is not a long-term threat."

That view seemed shared by Dr. Dean.

"We thought it would be a tactical error for him to do that," Dr. Dean said, chortling at the memory of the repeated attacks. "I think the exchanges were probably not good for either of us on television, but in the newspapers it was good for me. It got me into the first paragraph of all the articles."

That said, Dr. Dean said he was not glowering at Mr. Kerry, as television shots of the debate made it appear. "I was surprised when I looked at the debate at how grumpy I looked. I think I was just more stressed than I realized."
"New Hampshire is going to be a real dog fight," said Judy Reardon, who is Mr. Kerry's deputy director for northern New England. "Howard Dean, because he's not working, is able to be here more than John Kerry or any of the other candidates."

This scrapping, though, is more about trying to maneuver through the field of nine candidates. Dr. Dean, who other than Mr. Sharpton is probably the most media-savvy candidate in the race, clearly realizes that a good way for an underfinanced newcomer to presidential politics to win attention is to pick a fight with a leading candidate.

And to the continued frustration of Mr. Kerry and his advisers, Dr. Dean enjoys the freedom that comes with being someone viewed as unlikely to win. That has given him considerable leeway in saying the kind of things that would get a more established candidate in trouble.

"There's no secret that he has little to lose in the factual accusations that he's made," Mr. Jordan said. "These aren't complaints, this is politics."

The increasingly pitched response by Mr. Kerry's campaign also seems to reflect the fact that Mr. Kerry has surrounded himself with advisers who famously counsel their clients against turning the other cheek. "The basic rule in politics is that you're either on the offensive scoring or on the defensive being scored on," one Democrat close to Mr. Kerry said tonight.

Mr. Kerry said he had no personal animosity toward Dr. Dean. But Democrats outside the campaign, including some in Dr. Dean's camp, suggest that Mr. Kerry's staff might be goading Mr. Kerry along.

"I think they are more tightly wound than we are," said Joe Trippi, Dr. Dean's campaign manager. He stopped and started to laugh as he considered his own words.

Continue reading/discuss Tension Between Dean and Kerry Helps Recast Race for Democrats ...

Some news on the campaign in South Carolina...

Just moments before he was set to deliver a big speech to the South Carolina Democratic Convention, presidential candidate Howard Dean had to make a choice: He could be blunt or he could be careful.
He chose blunt.

Ignoring his advisers' last-minute pleas to tone down his antiwar stance, the former Vermont governor insisted on bringing up his opposition to the Iraq war in a state known for its support of President Bush, its abundance of veterans and its fierce patriotism. As Dean stepped onto the stage before hundreds of delegates at the South Carolina fairgrounds, the first words out of his mouth were, "Most of you know I did not support the war in Iraq."

His aides winced. But the moment passed quickly — without a single boo — and by the time Dean finished his stump speech calling for economic development, universal health care and racial unity, the crowd was on its feet clapping.

"It's time to inject some backbone into our party," Dean urged the delegates before wading into the crowd to shake hands and pose for snapshots as his supporters chanted "How-ard Dean! How-ard Dean!"

For Dean, it was confirmation of his belief that he can appeal to voters by taking on issues — the war, race relations, gay rights — that most of his eight opponents for the Democratic nomination are hesitant to touch. The question for Dean is whether his blunt Northern liberalism will win him respect or cost him votes in the South, where Democratic primary voters tend to be moderate and general election voters favor Republicans. He's hoping to win in part by focusing his appeal on black voters, who make up nearly half of Democratic primary voters in South Carolina.

"I think what's at stake here is the soul of the Democratic Party," said Dean, a 54-year-old physician. "We've got to stop being afraid of the president's poll ratings and stand up to him."

It's a message that appeals to voters such as Farrel Brandin, a self-described liberal and retired museum curator from Winnsboro.

"He doesn't sweep things under the rug," said Brandin, who attended the convention with her husband, August, a retired engineer. "He says what he thinks even when it's not politically correct."

Dean's trademark outspokenness — delivered in a New York native's rapid-fire cadence — has proved more popular in the South than most political pundits would have predicted, said Dick Harpootlian, an attorney who just retired as chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party.

"Howard Dean has been the biggest surprise — he's on fire here," Harpootlian said. "I get calls about him every day. People find him charismatic. He's got some real action going."

Still, no one outside of Dean's campaign is predicting that the Vermont Yankee can win in Dixie. A South Carolina poll taken by the American Research Group just prior to Dean's May 2-4 trip to the state showed Dean running a distant sixth in a field of nine. Dean was favored by just 2 percent of voters. In contrast, he is running neck-and-neck with Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry in New Hampshire, according to several recent polls.

"If I was Howard Dean, I'd pick another state besides South Carolina," said Merle Black, professor of political science at Emory University in Atlanta and co-author of "The Rise of Southern Republicans." "There are some pockets of really liberal voters in South Carolina, but not enough. ... He should go check out the Arizona primary instead."

Even some South Carolina voters who support Dean worry that his antiwar sentiments and support of gay rights, affirmative action, environmental protection regulations and tax-cut rollbacks will cost him votes here in the Feb. 3 primary.

South Carolina college student Steven Hamilton backs Dean for showing guts by championing the cause of gay rights in the Bible Belt. Hamilton also thinks Dean will lose the South for that very reason.

As Vermont governor, Dean signed the nation's only civil unions law, which grants most of the legal rights of marriage to same-sex couples.

"I think it's amazing that a liberal Northerner would come down here and say what he's been saying," said Hamilton, a 21-year-old student of international relations at the University of South Carolina. "I think it's very admirable. ... But, realistically, he's not going to win in the South."

"I think the white vote is going to be very difficult for him to get," said Hamilton, who is black. "And the black community here is very traditional. Homosexuality is very controversial. So I think that could set him back with the black vote a little bit."

But Dean is betting his populist message of job growth and health-care coverage for all will appeal to both black voters and rural whites in a state where unemployment has risen above 6 percent and more than 12 percent of residents have no health insurance.

And he says voters who get to know him will find out his liberal social views are balanced by opposition to strict gun control laws and a fiscal conservatism that prizes balanced budgets, reduced deficits and help for small-business owners.

"When I talk about civil unions as an issue of equal rights, equal opportunity for all, it's the end of the discussion for most African-American voters. They get it," Dean said in an interview with Gannett News Service on the way to meet members of a black gospel choir. "Rural white voters will be difficult ... but if they have to choose between (their opposition to) civil unions and health insurance for their kids, they'll pick health insurance for their kids."

Dean, who for 11 years governed a state with almost no black residents, has put his South Carolina campaign in the hands of black leaders and is aggressively courting black voters, who are crucial to a Dean victory. He has come out strongly in favor of affirmative action and has chastised President Bush for referring to affirmative action programs as "quotas."

"When I met Governor Dean, it became very clear that he was definitely the real deal," said state Rep. David Mack III, the incoming chairman of the South Carolina Legislature's Black Caucus and the chairman of Dean's South Carolina campaign. "I think folks like his style. They like that straightforward, look-in-the-camera-and-tell-people-exactly-what-you-think approach."

Continue reading/discuss A Vermont Yankee in the Conservatives' Court ...

From the campaign...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 10, 2003



DEAN STATEMENT ON PASSING OF CONGRESSMAN DICK GEPHARDT’S MOTHER

BURLINGTON, VT—The following is the statement of Governor Howard Dean in response to the news that the mother of Representative Dick Gephardt, Loreen Estelle Gephardt, passed away last night.

“I extend my deepest condolences to Congressman Gephardt and his family,” said Governor Dean. “By all accounts, Loreen Gephardt was a vital, active woman who loved her family and lived a full life. The loss of a loved one is extraordinarily difficult, and my sympathies go out to Congressman Gephardt, his extended family, and all others whose lives Loreen Gephardt touched in so many ways.”

Continue reading/discuss ...

Joe Trippi is one of us. He reads the DeanBlog, he posts comments, he rocks to the Dean Techno Mix. I think it's about time that someone gave him the spotlight!

There on the fourth floor, with a view of the brick facade across the street, Trippi spends mornings, afternoons and evenings chugging Diet Pepsi with a telephone stuck in his ear. He’s currently filling the role of chief spokesman for the campaign, too. The phone never stops ringing, as reporters far and wide line up to cover the new kid on the block in the 2004 presidential race.

“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist,” said Trippi, to recognize the benefit that Saturday’s national exposure brought to Howard Dean. In fact, said the Trippster, every time Ho-Ho appears on national TV he gets a big bump in popularity. And the bump appears online as the curious sign up by the thousands for Dean “meetups” all around the country. Check out: http://dean2004.meetup.com.

No candidate has ever tapped the Internet the way Howard Dean has. It’s one of the skills that Trippi, a Silicon Valley brat with a technology background, brings to the doctor’s table.

Joe' ease with technology really shines here on the DeanBlog, and I know I speak for everyone when I say that his participation and hard work are a major factor in Dean's netroots success.

But good grief, Diet Pepsi? :)

Continue reading/discuss profile on Joe ...

Well, I finally managed to muster enough fundage to contribute to Dean for America, whatever that means. And, actually, it means something pretty significant. I pulled together $30, and I'm guessing some you haven't donated yet and could probably put together at least 10.

Now, you're probably thinking. Sure, I could spare ten bucks, but I need that ten bucks more than the campaign does, don't I?

Well, here's some math:

The ten bucks the campaign receives now will be automatically matched by the federal government, turning the ten bucks into twenty.

Out of the $703,650 spent by the Dean campaign so far, almost $11,000 has come back to them. How? Because Dean staff are so pro-Dean that they're taking their salaries, paying taxes, and then donating back to the campaign. That means that your donation will probably become, in effect, at least $20.03. We're already seeing growth.

The other big part is (and this is where you have to think in a macro- sense, which can be hard) that the more donations the Dean campaign gets, the more press it generates. If Dean raises enough money to stay competitive, press keeps up, and more donors are likely to donate in the future. In addition, the mere number of donors will get Dean press. He's got 14,000 people willing to donate to his campaign and many of this are not big donors, but regular people, unlike Edwards's trial lawyers. That'll be used to generate press, which, in turn, will generate more money.

After all, we all know what the EMILY in Emily's List stands for, right?

Early Money Is Like Yeast (it causes dough to rise).

Continue reading/discuss Put Your Money Where My Mouth Is ...

There have been some amazing comments in recent threads, with a lot of ideas for one-line soundbites for the Dean campaign. Let's have a Deanstorm session and come up with as many as possible. I'll kick it off by reposting CTDem2's soundbite regarding civil rights/Santorum:

"As a doctor, you treat all your patients the best you can - black or white, rich or poor, gay or straight. I feel that as a political leader in America, you must do the same. That is what civil unions is about - basic equal rights."

BTW - I'd like to commend the regulars on the ZonkBoard - if you haven't been reading it, you're missing out on real gems, such as this new Dean website by CentaurMyst, a link to this Dean interview in Philly, and this comment from DU about the "inspiration effect". The ZonkBoard moves fast and it's developing a sub-culture and flavor all its own. Just don't blink, or you'll miss it...

Continue reading/discuss open thread: campaign soundbites ...

The Dean Defense Forces (DDF) now has an e-mail presence.

What is the DDF? We're an independent group of pro-Dean folks who mobilize in response to articles from newspapers and accusations from other campaigns, the RNC, and political action committees. This listserv will only distribute messages from moderators. The messages will only be sent to this listserv as we don't want to contribute to the growing problem of cross-posting on Dean lists where we all end up getting 6 copies of the same message.

Join DDF if you're interested in being part of an independent, rapid-response team to help increase Dean's presence in the media. Joining this listserv will also give us a great way to tabulate how many people are interested in helping out with such a method of volunteering.

Thanks,
Matt

Update
We'll make this even easier for y'all:




Click to subscribe to deandefenseforces

Continue reading/discuss Dean Defense Forces ...

My co-blogger has one good reason below. It is, in fact, the reason that I've believed all along. Dean inspires people: moderate, independent, liberal, sane, and crazy in a way that no one has in years.

Inspiration Matters

But beyond that, I think that quietly a scenario is coming into clear focus in which it not only becomes possible to have Howard Dean win the Presidency but makes him the Democrat best positioned to do so.

Am I crazy? Possibly. But that will only make me one part of the winning coalition.

Via Kos, we can see a news item in NewsMax.com (NewsMax: "We make Fox look reasonable.") about the push by some in the Christian Right to drop the Republicans over the issue of gay rights. Basically, these folks are upset that Bush isn't completely bigoted and won't stand up and say he agrees with Santorum. And this could leave Bush in a very, very awkward position. There are already two parties in existence with affiliated parties in a lot of states that could mount a candidacy in 2004 that would run to the far-right on the issue of gay rights: The Constitution Party and America First Party. If the gay rights issue begins to heat up, as it will, it will leave the country in a massive debate and some states, in particular, will see the divisions.

It's important to begin by noting that there are basically three views in this country on gay rights. One is liberal and basically holds that civil unions (or marriages) should be legal, openly homosexual servicemembers should be allowed to serve, sodomy laws have to be repealed, adoption should be legal for gay couples and, typically, hate crimes laws should include protection for gay people. Until civil unions or marriages are passed, people deserve equal access to health care. There is the moderate position, which is fine with openly homosexual service members and the repealing of sodomy laws, but is split over hate crime laws, adoption, and civil unions. And there is the conservative position, which opposes all of it.

Within the next few months, the Supreme Court is going to hand down a decision that will either galvanize liberals or galvanize conservatives on the issue of gay rights, but the real explosion will come when the Massachusetts Supreme Court will likely vote to legalize same-sex marriage, as noted by Stanley Kurtz in this NRO piece. What Kurtz fails to understand is that there are conservatives for whom a middle-ground is unacceptable. These people will bolt the Republicans if the Republicans don't attack homosexuality. Santorum proved that they have to do more than defend marriage. They must be on the offense and, if Bush does that, he will lose the moderates who maybe are uncertain about gay marriage, but know they want everyone treated with human dignity. If he plays to the middle, he loses the base. And Nader proved that 2.7% can have a huge effect (especially when New Hampshire is already showing itself in a dead heat).

But the real thing going on here is that Dean will catalyze the debate. If Iraq is less-than-stable at the point that we're hitting the general election, the main attack point that Bush will have against Dean is civil unions. If Bush goes after Dean on civil unions, Dean responds with sodomy laws and Santorum, and his great "dividing rhetoric" (the following is only taking place in my head):

I'm sick and tired of being divided. The Republicans divide us by sexual orientation. They single some out because of who they are. Matthew Shephard understood what it was like to be singled out for who he was. Black men getting lynched in the South knew what it was like to be singled out for who they were. And on 9/11, all Americans came to understand what it felt like to be singled out for who we are. When it happens to us as a country, the Republicans wrap themselves in the flag and call it terrorism and enforce stricter laws. When it happens to members of the gay community and we try to enforce tougher laws, we get accused of trying to punish thoughts. Harry Truman desegregated the United States military. He did it over the objections of the country because he knew it was the right thing to do. Today, no matter what the polls say, uniting the country, Black and White, Straight and Gay, Woman and Man, is the right thing to do. Our united military has become the greatest fighting force on the planet. Without unity, security can't exist.

Sure, it needs a little work. But it would set the Right in a tizzy. Dean would be framing the debate, with a far-right opponent (Buchanan? Phillips? Keyes?) providing a counter-stance and Rove trying to triangulate but failing miserable because this is an issue where leadership will matter and leadership means that you can't triangulate.

But there's something bigger on top of all of this, and that's what is going on in Florida, where Rep. Mark Foley (R), who is a frontrunner for the Republican nomination for Bob Graham's Senate seat, has been outed. Given that people are already thinking there could be a gay-rights showdown in the primary in Florida, what can we expect when same-sex marriage ends up on the agenda. How does Bush pander to the bigots in Florida without destroying his Senate candidate? How does Bush win Florida if he is forced to choose between pandering to the bigots and working with a Senate candidate. Obviously, many moderates in Florida would be disgusted to see a "compassionate conservative" turn his back on Mark Foley simply because he is gay. And many conservatives would be appalled that the Republicans would nominate a gay man for the U.S. Senate. And if a third-party builds enough strength in Florida with the combined Presidential and Senate race, they could easily outperform Nader's 3% effort, especially if they were smart and targeted the state.

There is, of course, a question as to why Dean won't see the same problem on the Left if gay rights is the big issue. After all, he only legalized civil unions, not marriage. He has specifically said that he won't require states to adopt civil union laws. The most progressive statement he's made is that he thinks DOMA is unconstitutional and that if the Court agrees, he'll work to repeal it. So why won't Greens jump ship to someone who promises marriage? Well, the short answer is that some Greens will. But the people for whom gay rights is critical will understand that they are in a three-way cultural war and if they make it four-way, they lose. Nationwide civil unions would be so amazingly huge that it will get the votes.

Stanley Kurtz of NRO was certainly right that Democrats have been misunderstanding the implications of the Santorum affair. He just doesn't realize that he's missing the dynamic as well.

Dean can win. And he will.

Continue reading/discuss Why Dean Will Win ...

There have been a lot of primaries in this election cycle already. The money primary, the Shrum primary, the staffing primary, and so on. I've even heard there are a few primaries down the road that have actual voting in them, so look forward to those. But there was one "primary" that I had totally missed until Rick Klau reminded me of it. That is the inspiration primary. As many of you know, my choice in this election was Gary Hart, he inspired me. As Rick Klau found out, I wasn't the only one with a devotion to Hart. I think inspiration is a factor that is left out of polling and the standard political articles, MeetUp has done much to measure it, but MeetUp demonstrates net savvy and campaign strategy as much as it does inspiration, so I'm not sure that serves as an effective marker either.

This is a primary Dean is winning handily. Note that the candidate with the second highest MeetUp numbers wasn't Kerry or Edwards, it was Hart. It's becoming apparent to me that Dean, whatever his faults, is inspiring far more people than any other candidate. In fact, I'm hard pressed to identify one candidate save Dean (and maybe Kucinich, does he count?) who is inspiring anyone. Gephardt is looking better, Lieberman did well in the debate, Kerry is a strong candidate, Graham is a solid candidate, Sharpton is a funny candidate, but no one is getting inspired by these men. At best, they feel secure in their potential, but no one revels in their promise. A while back I wanted to create a group blog that would be staffed by supporters of every candidate, so the Gephardt people could talk to the Dean people could talk to the Lieberman people could talk to the...The problem was, I couldn't find anybody who was really into any candidates save for Dean and Hart.

Inspiration is a most intangible quality. Everyone wants to wield it, but few are ever able. When the candidates are pleading for the young to get involved because they want to run a campaign like RFK did, they aren't really making a serious appeal to the youth, they are trying to recreate RFK's ability to inspire. They want to be RFK, and so are attempting to put into place some of what he did, but they are doing it artificially while he did it naturally.

Dean, however, is inspiring people. When I criticize other candidates, I never hear a word. But when I go against something Dean said or did, I have 15 comments, all of them rabid. It's like attacking a religion. Despite my feelings on the utility of that, it shows that people are latching on to Dean ferociously. They're not with him because he's the lesser of two evils or he's highly electable (not to say that he isn't), they're with him because they believe in him, and that's a very, very important difference. For that reason, I think Dean is stronger than he is being given credit for. There are still weaknesses which must be addressed, but on the whole of it, inspired voters are worth more than a vote, they're worth the vote of their friends, and relatives, and social circles...23% inspired is different than 23% favorable, and I am very anxious to see Dean's grassroots appeal live up to that promise. He has the potential right now to run the type of campaign that hasn't been seen for decades, one in which the candidate is carried to the Presidency on the backs of his believers. And if he stops with the attacks and continues with the appeals to the highest ideals of our democracy, his potential just might become our reality.

By the way, my name's Ezra Klein and I'm from the Democratic wing of the Democratic par-err, I mean, I'll be posting here some from now on.

Continue reading/discuss The Inspiration Primary ...

There's a poll that has a hypothetical general election match up between Bush and Dean on the What The Nation Thinks website. When I went there, it was 46% Bush and 47% Dean, so get on over there and bump it up further!

Many thanks to the poster on the Illinois for Dean Yahoo Group goes by the name "Franksaidso" for pointing out the poll.

Continue reading/discuss A Fun Little Poll ...

Yet more news coverage on the wonders of the Dean Meetup...

No one is expecting Howard Dean to raise more money than his Democratic rivals for the presidential nomination, but his supporters are taking advantage of the Internet to energize supporters from the ground up.

About 50 Dean supporters gathered at the Lakefront Cafe at the UW Memorial Union on Wednesday for a "Dean Meetup" organized through the Web site Meetup.com.

It was a remarkable turnout for a progressive Democratic event going on at the same time as TV's "The West Wing."

"We've got to find a different way to spread the word about the candidate because we don't have as much money," said Ken Coffeen, 62, a southeast Madison resident.

Meetup.com is an Internet site designed to bring people with common interests together. People vote online to determine where the events will take place. The Madison event was one of 250 Dean Meetups nationwide on Wednesday.

Dean served as the Democratic governor of Vermont from 1991 to January of this year. He is best known for signing into law civil unions, which give gay and lesbian couples the same legal rights as married couples. Dean, who supports universal health care and opposed the war in Iraq, has much of his support from academic hotbeds like Cambridge, Mass., and Madison.



Dean's campus supporters here say they have the first organized presidential campaign of the 2004 cycle.

Many of the meetups nationally were social events at taverns Wednesday night, but in Madison it was a strategy session.

Liz Schmidt, one of the Madison for Dean coordinators, said there isn't a lot of money to buy official campaign signs. She encouraged attendees to make homemade signs to bring to next month's state Democratic Party convention in Milwaukee, at which Dean will make his first Wisconsin campaign appearance.

"It works because a lot of the work is done for you: the Web site, the sign-up, venue voting, they notify you," Schmidt said of the Meetup program. "It couldn't be any easier."

At Wednesday's event, the third such Dean Meetup in Madison, attendees introduced themselves, including former volunteers for John F. Kennedy and George McGovern and UW-Madison students just getting involved in politics.

Dean is "the only candidate who could possibly convince the Green Party not to go on their own," said Don Jones, 67, who was executive director of the state Democratic Party in the 1980s.

And Harris Lemberg, a Madison computer programmer, said: "It's my perception Howard Dean is the only Democrat running for president who will say what he truly believes, and not what people want to hear. He's not a Republican Lite."

UPDATE: Shamlessly added Bucky to fulfill alumni responsibilities. Where's my promised Lake Mendota lakefront plot? --Aziz

Continue reading/discuss Meetup for Dean is a hit ...

Thanks to Pfb for pointing this one out on one of the comment threads. It's from Vermont Public Radio:

Still, Dean fights hard, one vote at a time. He won a convert last weekend as he was going to Congressman Clyburn's fish fry. A homeless man named Lucky Frasier stopped Dean on the street:

(Frasier) "When he told me he was running as a candidate, I didn't believe him. I said man you must be telling me a joke! And he said, no."

(Dillon) Frasier says Dean got him past security so he could enjoy the meal of fried catfish.

(Frasier) "He said, 'You hungry?' I said, 'Yeah.' He say, 'Come on.' And then when we got to the place with the fish fry, one of the people didn't want to let me in. And he says, 'That fella there - he's with me.'"

(Dillon) Frasier wore a bright blue Dean button all weekend. He's a registered voter, and he says there's no doubt he'll vote for Dean in the primary.

This is just a segment of the story. You can read all of it (or listen to it) by following the link above.

Continue reading/discuss Southerners size up Dean's chances ...

As much of the country focuses on the aftermath of the war in Iraq, Howard Dean wants to add a new ingredient to foreign affairs: trade unions.

If General Motors can move a factory from Detroit to Mexico, the presidential candidate asked labor leaders yesterday, why can't organizers from the United Auto Workers unionize Mexican employees?

"If you do that, you begin to build a sense of hope among Mexicans that they can build their country," Dean explained.

Speaking at a luncheon with New Hampshire labor leaders, the former Vermont governor mentioned the recent war just once - and then only briefly, accusing President Bush of waging "a war with no way to pay for it." Instead, Dean proposed his own theory of foreign affairs: organized labor as a buffer against terrorism.

"Trade is not just about money, it's about defense," Dean told 50 or so union workers at the Barley House restaurant in downtown Concord. "If you help create middle class countries that believe in democracy . . . you have created a country that is not a threat to the U.S., nor will they willingly harbor a group like al-Qaida. They have too much to lose."

In a brief lunch-time appearance, Dean put traditional union concerns - health care, pension reform and workers' rights - at the center of America's economic future. Dean has often described himself as representing "the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party." The people assembled for yesterday's lunch represented the core of that base. They cheered loudly at any derogatory references to the president. Most responded favorably to Dean's suggestions that the government assume a bigger role in health care and worker safety.

"Most of us think the government has to play a role in this chaos," said Mark MacKenzie, president of the state AFL-CIO. "From a policy perspective, everybody's got to take a look at health care."

Upon arriving at the restaurant, Dean shuffled around a large table stacked with cold-cut sandwiches and sodas. He shook every right hand in the room, but didn't waste any time by asking names or indulging in small talk. Awaiting his introduction by MacKenzie, Dean sat stiffly between two construction workers on an upholstered banquette.

James Casey, commissioner of the state Department of Labor, said he was impressed by Dean's record as Vermont governor, especially in health care. Casey, who's endorsing Dean for president, said more ambitious plans, such as the one proposed by Rep. Dick Gephardt, require too much government funding to really work.

"What better way to stop the bleeding than a doctor, Governor Dean," said Casey.

Dean held back from criticizing the particulars of Gephardt's health care plan, saying only that he though it was too expensive. Instead, Dean proposed a plan that would devote half of the president's tax cut to health care. He also stressed the need to increase competition in the prescription drug industry.

"We've got to get away from this notion that government can't do anything right," he said.

A recent poll of likely New Hampshire voters puts Dean in a statistical tie with Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry. While yesterday's crowd was relatively quiet and restrained in their questioning, many of them seemed impressed by Dean's Democratic credentials.

"I like how he sounded on health care," said Joey Ientile, a business manager for Local 686, a construction workers' union in Manchester. "Rising health care costs is a national problem, not just here in New Hampshire. . . . When is this going to stop?"

And while Dean attacked the Bush administration of bowing to the demands of corporate leaders at the expense of organized labor, he mentioned one Bush tactic that he recommended Democrats adopt.

"It is not his policies that are popular," Dean said of the president. "But he lays out a clear, unambiguous path, and people know where he's going. . . . If we lay out a clear, unambiguous Democratic path, most people will pick the Democratic agenda."

Continue reading/discuss Dean promotes foreign labor unions ...

I just wanted to share a few thoughts with all of you. It's a cross-post from my own site...

I have a lot of theories about the Dean Campaign. There are some things that excite me, there are others where I think that more work is needed. In general, I keep my opinions off this weblog. I scour the web and put up the stories that are out there so you don’t have to. But I thought that I’d put a few words of my own down tonight.

Tonight I attended the Dean Meetup held at Headlines Bar & Lounge in New York City. It was only my second Meetup. My last meeting, was the first one where I was one of the original “Dean Fifteen.” It’s amazing how much has changed in only a few months. From the original small group of us (I take no credit for this, as I was not able to contribute too much time) formed New York for Dean. Tonight it was announced that New York will have an official campaign apparatus in effect soon with hired staff members.

But the thing that impressed me most is the people who were there. There was Tyler, the interested supporter who was just dying for some way to help or to get involved; there was Franz and Rachel from Music for America, a PAC devoted to helping Gov. Dean – who had an amazing amount of enthusiasm; also, there was a woman whose name I would misspell, so I won’t attempt to try, but she is from Switzerland, lived in Lebanon, moved to DC in the late 60’s and has been in NYC since and she just stopped in to check out what everything was about. These people make me think that perhaps Gov. Dean is the type of candidate that we’re supposed to have – someone who is sought after more than he seeks.

So many people are drawn to him. We are enthusiastic about him. He energizes people. I think this is what is needed to defeat Bush – a candidate who excites people and someone that you can believe in. Just look at the blogs out there. The grassroots support for Governor Dean is astounding. This is why Sen. Kerry and the other candidates are so worried have begun to focus on stopping the Dean Momentum: they know it is a campaign on the move. In the words of Howard Fineman, Gov. Dean “a man to watch, if not the man to beat.”

Let’s take our country back.

Continue reading/discuss Post Meetup Thoughts ...

I don't know about anyone else -- but I look forward to hearing about how all the Meetups have gone across the country. So if you attended one it would be great to get a report in the comments section. Here's the report "From The Road With Kate O'Conner" about the Meetup in Nashua, New Hampshire:

FROM THE ROAD: NASHUA, NEW HAMPSHIRE

I am writing this LIVE from the Meet Up at Martha's Restaurant in Nashua, NH! There are over 150 people here! We couldn't miss the restaurant when we pulled around the corner because there were 50 people standing out front with Dean signs. The Gov. entered the room to the sounds of the re-mix of his speech to the California state convention - our new favorite song!!

Gov. Dean is giving a great speech! He is talking about the issues that he thinks are important: health care for all Americans, a stable economy and a balanced budget, and a reasonable approach to foreign policy. Here's some of what he just said:

"I am tired of being divided by race. I am tired of being divided by income. I am tired of being divided by gender. I am tired of being divided by sexual orientation. I am tired of being divided!"

"The only way to beat President Bush is to stand up for what we believe in."

"I want a country that believes again."

"Now that we are tied in New Hampshire other campaigns will go after us. Well, I am not going anywhere and there are 22,000 Americans just like you around the country who aren't going anywhere!"

Gov. Dean had the crowd fired up!! It was a great Meet Up!

Continue reading/discuss So.....Meetup Reports? ...

Matt Bailey links to the article where Howard Fineman says what we've all been thinking. And it's a good article, but I'd like to expand a little bit on some of the points he makes, because there are some deeper truths implied.

Even if you follow politics closely, you probably didn’t notice that the Howard Dean boomlet faded a few weeks ago. The theory was that no anti-war candidate—and Dean is one—can survive the fall of Baghdad and the rise of a president playing Top Gun on an aircraft carrier.

This is a critical observation, because this lie is one that has been circulated by the DLC-folks and rival campaigns (and their lackeys like Gary South, who I'm pretty sure I can't dislike too strongly since he's pretty much the only significant behind-the-scenes player who hails originally from Montana). The sad irony here is that the DLC, which started out as a rather intelligent "third way" organization, has now succumbed to the notion that "third way" means "Republican-lite". This idea is completely false. Dean is the third-way candidate. He is the Clinton for 2004. It's the DLC that doesn't know how to win elections, not Dean.

He has the august Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts reacting to his moves (and elevating Dean by attacking him). Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri unveiled a sweeping healthcare proposal, playing to an issue that Dean, a doctor, hoped to own.

And Dean’s dovish views and chesty demeanor are defining the debate, drawing reactions from other contenders. His biggest applause line is: “I represent the democratic wing of the Democratic Party!” Sen. Bob Graham of Florida had a retort last week in South Carolina: “I represent the electable wing of the Democratic Party!” In a TV debate there, Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut added his own reaction, which was that no candidate who wasn’t “strong on defense” could defeat George W. Bush. Translation: That means you, Howard.

The implication in this entire set of lines is that Dean is strongest of Democrats. He's the one everyone else has to attack. Right now, virtually everything significant revolves around Dean and the Dean-Kerry squabble, the Dean-Gephardt health care plan debate, the Dean-Lieberman national security tizzy, and the Dean-Graham rhetorical boxing. These candidates are now all defining themselves in terms of Dean.

If Dean can send other Democrats into this desire to have them define themselves in relation to him, he's already winning and he will win, both the primary and the general? Why, because if Bush and Rove fall for the same tactics, they end up being the incumbents who can't even run on their incumbency. They run on not being Howard Dean.

And I'm not entirely sure how Dean's doing it, but he is. He quickly went from being the attack dog to being the guy who doesn't have to attack. It was an incredible turn-around and we'll see how it will continue.

He is running a relatively lean but efficient operation, with knowledgeable veterans (Steve McMahon and Joe Trippi from D.C.) teaming up with Ben & Jerry types from Vermont and elsewhere.

So far, Dean’s outfit is the most adept at using the Internet, which is to the 2004 campaign what cable TV was to 1992 and direct-mail to 1980—the new Best Practice for reaching and motivating voters.

Virtually no comment necessary. We know Dean is out-organizing those other folks. LaRouche may have more people on the ground. But, well, he's LaRouche. Dean's supporters may be enthusiastic, but we're not a cult.

That's it for my explication, but I just want to stick this line in everyone's head again:

“Kerry has a Noah’s Ark campaign,” a top Dean lieutenant told me in South Carolina. “They’ve got two of everything.”

One more reason to vote Dean. When we get to the general election, Dean's campaign will know how to maximize resources. And since both sides will start with the same amount of money, we're gonna need to squeeze it for all it's worth.

Continue reading/discuss He's Saying What We've All Been Thinking ...

Newsweek's Howard Fineman has this article on Gov. Dean observing, "Former governor of Vermont is organizationally savvy, aggressive." After the war in Iraq came to an end, many thought that the governor's best days were behind him, but Fineman argues that "In fact, the former governor of Vermont is still a man to watch, if not the man to beat."

Even if you follow politics closely, you probably didn’t notice that the Howard Dean boomlet faded a few weeks ago. The theory was that no anti-war candidate—and Dean is one—can survive the fall of Baghdad and the rise of a president playing Top Gun on an aircraft carrier. Well, Democratic insiders (and their media cousins) may think that Dean’s a non-starter in the race for their party’s 2004 presidential nomination. I don’t agree. In fact, the former governor of Vermont is still a man to watch, if not the man to beat.

Why? A FEW reasons. For one, Dean has made himself the organizing principal—pun intended—of these earliest innings of the campaign. As they say in baseball, he’s the straw that stirs the drink. He has the august Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts reacting to his moves (and elev