Nation-Building

Scott has generously allowed me to open up the floor to nominations for the third Dean Nation Backbone Award. To recap, the first Backbone Award went to Rep. Nancy Pelosi and the House Democrats, and the second nod went to Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois and former Ambassador Joseph Wilson.

Who will it be next week, Dean Nation? Any elected official can be nominated, regardless of party affiliation. Our only qualifier is that the nominee must have shown courage, determination, and resolve in dealing with a recent issue. I'm opening this thread today and will run with it through Sunday afternoon. The winner will be announced on Monday.

Continue reading/discuss Backbone Awards: open thread for nominations ...

Dennis Kucinich has an article on Common Dreams urging Greens to support him. Suppose you were with a Kucinich supporter and a Green in a room. What arguments would you make to try and persuade the Green to support Howard Dean over Kucinich?

Continue reading/discuss phase II:Kucinich woos Greens ...

You'd have to have a heart of stone not to feel sympathy for Andrew Sullivan. Here we have a gay man who is also a Republican and ardent supporter of Bush. He has built a readership of thousands and made impressive fortunes off his essentially conservative positions (he, like Christopher Hitchens, have gained great mileage from their personas as former/recovering leftists who are therefore uniquely qualified to indict the excesses of Liberals).

But as he noticed from Bush's conference yesterday, his erstwhile political allies are on the wrong side of history on this one:

President Bush said yesterday, in so many words, that he is considering amending the constitution to deny gays legal equality in their relationships - indeed to enshrine second-class citizenship for gays in the sacred words of the founding document. It is very hard to think of any act any politican could endorse that would alienate and marginalize gay citizens and their families more. The Republican leadership in the Senate has signed on.
...
That's directly from the Senate leadership, under John Kyl. (What Kyl ignores is that "gay activists" have been the last people to endorse this. The fight for marriage began and continues because of ordinary gay couples refusing to accept second-class citizenship. We had to battle most activists to get it on the agenda at all.) The Weekly Standard has run a cover illustration depicting gays as some sort of barbarians intent on destroying society. National Review views polygamists as preferable to gay couples.

If there is any wedge issue to siphon fiscally conservative voters from Bush, it may well be civil unions/gay marriage. Dean's position is by far more amenable to the moderate gay community (though of course the Kucinich-supporting gay left won't settle for anything less than a complete social redefinition of the word marriage itself). What do you think of the potential to draw people like Andrew Sullivan to our side?

Continue reading/discuss Gay Marriage: wedge issue ...

Slate's take on Howard Dean demonstrates how Dean's nuanced position on national security can win people over - especially convincing those still on the fence of his foreign policy credentials. This short column dissects his position on foreign policy and shows that Howard Dean is not just "anti-war," but rather for ensuring that the use of force is justified in all instances. The line on Dean from his primary rivals (and surely the Bush camp) is that Dean is soft on defense... a bona fide "dove."

Dean's positions are more complex than either being "against" or "for" military action. Rather, there is a set of ideals and some principle behind his positions on foreign policy.

Continue reading/discuss Dean Not 'Soft' on National Defense ...

Terry Neal's headline 'Will the Real Howard Dean Please Stand Up?' is a bit misleading. This column isn't (as the headline implies) that Dean has contradictory positions, rather it demonstrates the unconventional, principled positions that Dean has taken on a range of issues. The result is that Dean becomes difficult to pigeonhole as 'liberal, moderate, or even conservative Democrat' as some would like.

It's interesting that Bush ran as a 'compassionate conservative' and everyone took him at his word that he was a more moderate type of Republican. Meanwhile nothing he had done as governor (or more recently as president) has supported that view. Meanwhile Dean defies expectations and labels and the pros get worked up because he won't fit into that nice "liberal box" that the mainstream press, his primary foes, and the Bushies would like.

I hope that he continues to confound the pundits since it will only broaden his appeal to Americans. Besides, we know that Karl Rove wants Dean to win, right? Be careful what you wish for, Karl, in the end Dean may be tougher to label than your boss.

Continue reading/discuss WaPo's 'Talking Points' on Dean ...

This NYT piece is the kind of broad, accurate overview that clearly says "Dean has arrived." There is a wealth if detail here, perfect for a prospective supporter to get a good feel for the truth about Dean and be immunized against "he's too liberal" or "Dean = McGovern" memes.

Some of the info was new to me, for instance:

He inherited a state budget deficit of about 11 percent, the highest income taxes in the country and the lowest bond rating in New England.

To the dismay of liberals in the Legislature who wanted to expand social and environmental programs, Dr. Dean and his chief economic adviser, Harlan Sylvester, a conservative stockbroker and investment banker, stuck with the Snelling budget-cutting plan. Helped by a booming economy, the state's finances improved sharply. Dr. Dean lowered income tax rates by 30 percent and put away millions in a rainy day fund. Vermont's bond rating became the highest in the Northeast.

In his last term, Dr. Dean won a change in law so that Vermont taxes were not automatically lowered by Mr. Bush's cut in federal income taxes, and Vermont had a comfortable surplus this spring when most other states faced crippling budget shortfalls.

I wasn't aware that Vermont avoided the tax cuts - and what a wonderful example Vermont makes as a result for what Dean can achieve.

Continue reading/discuss Defying Labels Left or Right ...

See the link for Liberal Oasis's brilliant analysis of how the DLC misinterprets their own polls. Also see Digby's anti-DLC rant which starts off as follows:

"The Internet may be giving angry, protest-oriented activists the rope they need to hang the party," wrote Randolph Court in the DLC's bimonthly newsletter, The New Democrat Blueprint.

I sure wish that the Republicans had believed that about talk radio because then we’d hold both houses of congress, the presidency and the courts today.

Dissing the internet’s power to organize and communicate says so much about these guys that I’d written them off even before I read about their latest bone-headed useful idiocy.

Continue reading/discuss Bloggers take on DLC ...

Dean beat Cheney-Bush! The Dean campaign just raised $508,640 from 9,621 supporters in one weekend (and conservatives took notice). All of us are waiting with baited breath to see what the Top Secret use for that money will be! But raising money is an ongoing challenge - especially in light of the Bush fundraising juggernaut, which is estimated to pull in $250 million dollars of special interest and cheap-labor conservative cash before the general election.

And we in Dean Nation must do our part - you may notice that our Dean Nation All-Star Team thermometer now reads 81%, reflecting our updated goal of $15,000. Each month until the general election, we will raise the bar $5,000, meaning that by the time November 2004 rolls around we will have raised $80,000 for Dean!

Please do join in this collective effort. Our dollars have a transforming effect, not just on Dean's campaign but on American politics itself. When NPR Marketplace or The Boston Globe or even GOP USA speak of "Dean's fundraising" whatthey really mean is US, not computers or the Internet or Convio. We have an enormous power, and the time to wield it is now!

So pledge what you can - be it $50 a month (about what you might spend on coffee), $25 a month (loose change), or even $10 a month - help us reach our goal of $5,000 a month each month, every month, until Election Day. Together, we are Dean Nation, and we will be heard. We want our country back!

Continue reading/discuss Dean Nation at bat! ...

Continue reading/discuss First Major Dean Speech on the Economy ...

Now mind you, I think Sharpton would make an awesome keynote speaker at the Dem Convention and I dig the guy, but we've heard this ludicrous meme repeated by many folks, and I wanna address it head-on. This exchange from Wednesday's Crossfire between Tucker Carlson, Paul Begala and Rev. Al Sharpton (the opening DLC stuff I just threw in for good measure):

CARLSON: The Democratic Leadership Council two days ago described the lurch to the left of the party. Senator Evan Bayh said the party is in the thrall of left-wingers like you and that the end result is, quote, "assisted suicide." Are you the Jack Kevorkian of your party? [...]

SHARPTON: Well, first of all, my party does not control the House, the Senate or the White House. So it is very difficult for someone laying in the funeral home to talk about assisted suicide. All we can talk about is a resurrection. And I think that I'm the candidate in this race that can talk about that.

BEGALA: Let me ask you about that, then. The criticism not only on the right, on the liberal side of the part it seems to me, Governor Dean, Howard Dean, the former governor of Vermont, seems to have all of the energy. He is surging and you're not. Why is that?

SHARPTON: Well, according to how you look. If you look at any of the polls, I've been just about tied with Dean. So how is he surging and I'm not, unless it is a misconstrued reading? And I didn't raise $7 million to get where I am in the polls.

BEGALA: Well, that's the question. He is surging. He's way ahead of you now.

SHARPTON: I don't know. I think that if you look at the fact that in most polls we're four or five. The people that are behind me, at least three or four people don't think we're not doing well. And I think when you look at the fact we're just starting to raise money. Imagine what we're going to do later. The question becomes not who is the flavor of the month. You know, a couple of months ago it was Edwards and now it's Dean.

The question is where we will be when the primaries start in January. And one of the things that I've learned from my experience in politics is that you must have a strategy and a plan. And one is them that you shouldn't do in August what you hope to be doing in December going into January. Peaking early does not lead to good...

...what? Begala cut him off. But regardless, here is the truth. We haven't peaked too early. In fact, we haven't peaked at all. This campaign is not even close to where we are hoping to be in December, or January for that matter. We have come many miles, and we have many, many more to go. As an example, Dean was virtually uknown in California this January. Now we are in the lead. Is 16% good enough? Of course not. To combine two appropo cliches: We've only just begun, and baby, you just ain't seen nothin' yet!

Continue reading/discuss Sharpton's Not-So-Psychic Network ...

Howard Dean: The Net’s best fundraiser?

Most campaigns have a Web presence and many are hoping that cyberspace will turn into a fundraising goldmine. Democratic presidential nominee Howard Dean knows this well, as he has used the Net successfully for his campaigning. Thanks to the Web, Dean emerged as the leading Democratic fundraiser for the last quarter. So, what’s Dean doing that’s working so well? Some say that’s partly because he has put some established Internet marketing tactics to very effective use, like mass-e-mailing. The campaign also makes aggressive use of viral marketing, the strategy of asking subscribers to forward online messages to friends and family. Dean has about 130,000 subscribers to his Web site -- and 59,000 donated money. Now, other campaigns are using some of Dean’s tactics. But it’s hard to match Dean’s success in that arena.

Reporter: Kim Masters

Continue reading/discuss audio: NPR Marketplace (7/30/03) ...

This is a follow up to Scott's earlier post. To quote reader cricket, who said in response to the original Suellentrop article, "My jaw dropped when I read this." Maybe there's something in the air on the McBus, but it seems like we might have a full-blown convert. Sure, the article drips with the usual snark and sarcasm, but it's funny. And the big plus is that it reflects the fact that not only is Dean able to work with the press, he's capable of charming them:

At this point in the trip, I’m in the midst of a full-fledged Dean swoon. Sure, I think he’s pandering on ethanol, his claim that he’s going to bring in 3 million to 4 million new voters to win the election sounds far-fetched, and his idea to raise $100 each from 1 million voters sounds perilously close to Orrin Hatch’s “skinny cat” flop from four years ago. But I like him anyway. Barring an implosion like the one McCain had when he attacked Pat Robertson in Virginia Beach, I think Dean has a real chance to win the nomination.

Suellentrop and Dean also had a conversation about NAFTA and fair trade, in which Dean expanded on his trade philosophy. Suellentrop puts Dean's theory in a nutshell:

Dean’s theory in a nutshell: The structure of wealth in the United States before labor unions resembled that in Third World countries today, so in order to create middle classes in the developing world, we need to bring labor unions to them.

This is accurate based on what Dean's said from day one, and it's a pretty sound theory if you look historically at the relation between economic and social development (I'm sure Gabriel will jump in if I'm wrong on this one). Dean told Suellentrop a story about a conversation with former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin in which Rubin affirmed Dean's analysis of the current economic situation. Read it yourself - it's an interesting story - and then let's hear what you think about Suellentrop's portrayal of Dean on the campaign trail.

Continue reading/discuss Really On the Road with Howard Dean ...

John Kerry is sniping at Dean over Dean's promise to repeal the tax cut in order to get health care and an economic plan into place. But Kerry's attacks won't work. Click the link above to find out why.

Continue reading/discuss Kerry Slams Dean And Thinks We'll Sit Idly By? ...

When it comes to the issues, Democrats win. Part of the reason that the Republicans have so much power is because they have successfully managed to poison the well of policy debate, painting dissent as treason, equating critics with terrorists, lumping progressive social policy in with socialism and Stalin, etc. This ongoing verbal tirade amounts to a perpetual character assasination of "liberals" - a term that is defined by their own usage as "people who disagree with the Republican Party"^[1]

But let us embrace the term liberal, as Dean has done - I think of a liberal as someone who desires a dialouge-driven social policy, whose ultimate purpose is to liberate the human potential of each individual and enable them to contribute back to society. Only through a healthy debate can the best ideas be encouraged to propser and find their way into policy, and above all shunning ideology. Republicans know that such a dialouge is an anathema to their ideology, and have created the Mighty Wurlitzer for the sole purpose of making such a dialouge impossible.

The only way to counter the threat is to expose the far-right's agenda, by finding a short phrase (or meme) that perfectly encapsulates how their ideological is to party above country. That short phrase is cheap-labor conservative:

You see, cheap-labor conservatives are defenders of corporate America – whose fortunes depend on labor. The larger the labor supply, the cheaper it is. The more desperately you need a job, the cheaper you'll work, and the more power those "corporate lords" have over you. If you are a wealthy elite – or a "wannabe" like most dittoheads – your wealth, power and privilege is enhanced by a labor pool, forced to work cheap.

Don't believe me. Well, let's apply this principle, and see how many right-wing positions become instantly understandable.

• Cheap-labor conservatives don't like social spending or our "safety net". Why. Because when you're unemployed and desperate, corporations can pay you whatever they feel like – which is inevitably next to nothing. You see, they want you "over a barrel" and in a position to "work cheap or starve".


• Cheap-labor conservatives don't like the minimum wage, or other improvements in wages and working conditions. Why. These reforms undo all of their efforts to keep you "over a barrel".


• Cheap-labor conservatives like "free trade", NAFTA, GATT, etc. Why. Because there is a huge supply of desperately poor people in the third world, who are "over a barrel", and will work cheap.


• Cheap-labor conservatives oppose a woman's right to choose. Why. Unwanted children are an economic burden that put poor women "over a barrel", forcing them to work cheap.


• Cheap-labor conservatives don't like unions. Why. Because when labor "sticks together", wages go up. That's why workers unionize. Seems workers don't like being "over a barrel".


• Cheap-labor conservatives constantly bray about "morality", "virtue", "respect for authority", "hard work" and other "values". Why. So they can blame your being "over a barrel" on your own "immorality", lack of "values" and "poor choices".


• Cheap-labor conservatives encourage racism, misogyny, homophobia and other forms of bigotry. Why? Bigotry among wage earners distracts them, and keeps them from recognizing their common interests as wage earners.

...

• Cheap-labor conservatives opposed virtually all of the New Deal, including every improvement in wages and working conditions.


• Cheap-labor conservatives have a long and sorry history of opposing virtually every advancement in this country's development going right back to the American revolution


• Cheap-labor conservatives have hated Social Security and Medicare since their inception.
  Many cheap-labor conservatives are hostile to public education. They think it should be privatized. But why are we surprised.
• Cheap-labor conservatives opposed universal public education in its early days. School vouchers are just a backdoor method to "resegregate" the public schools.


• Cheap-labor conservatives hate the progressive income tax like the devil hates holy water.


• Cheap-labor conservatives like budget deficits and a huge national debt for two reasons. A bankrupt government has a harder time doing any "social spending" – which cheap-labor conservatives oppose, and . . .


• Wealthy cheap-labor conservatives like say, George W. Bush, buy the bonds and then earn tax free interest on the money they lend the government.[Check out Dubya's financial disclosures. The son of a bitch is a big holder of the T-bills that finance the deficit he is helping to expand.] The deficit created by cheap-labor conservatives while they posture as being "fiscally conservative" – may count as the biggest con job in American history.


• "Free Trade", globalization, NAFTA and especially GATT are intended to create a world-wide "corporate playground" where national governments serve the interests of corporations – which means "cheap labor".

The ugly truth is that cheap-labor conservatives just don't like working people. They don't like "bottom up" prosperity, and the reason for it is very simple. lords have a harder time kicking them around. Once you understand this about the cheap-labor conservatives, the real motivation for their policies makes perfect sense. Remember, cheap-labor conservatives believe in social hierarchy and privilege, so the only prosperity they want is limited to them. They want to see absolutely nothing that benefits the guy – or more often the woman – who works for an hourly wage.

The power of this meme is enormous - far from the empty rhetoric of the term "liberal", it has a concrete meaning and is devastatingly descriptive. It does indeed expose the agenda of the far right and provides a common frame of reference for why we think our ideas are better. And it defuses the threat of their labels, and levels the field, wher ethe true dialouge can take place.

I urge everyone to use this phrase consistently. As Conceptual Guerilla states:

Try it. Every time you respond to a cheap-labor conservative in letters to the editor, or an online discussion forum, look for the "cheap labor" angle. Trust me, you'll find it. I can even show you the "cheap labor" angle in things like the "war on drugs", and the absurd conservative opposition to alternative energy.

Next, make that moniker – cheap-labor conservatives – you're "standard reference" to the other side. One of the last revisions I made to this article was to find every reference to "conservatives", "Republicans", "right-wingers", and "righties", and replace it with "cheap-labor conservatives". In fact, if you're a cheap-labor conservative reading this, you should be getting sick of that phrase right about now. Exxxxcellent.

If enough people will "get with the program", it won't be long before you can't look at an editorial page, listen to the radio, turn on the TV, or log onto your favorite message board without seeing the phrase "cheap labor conservatives" – and have plenty of examples to reinforce the message. By election day of 2004, every politically sentient American should understand exactly what a "cheap labor conservative" is, and what he stands for.

I fervently hope Howard Dean is the first candidate to use the phrase "cheap-labor conservative" on the stump. What do you think?


^[1] some conservatives get tarred with the liberal label as well. remember, The GOP is not identical to conservatives any more than the Democrats are equal to liberals or Greens with Progressives. Political parties use ideology as recruitment tools but often pay them mere lip service in practice. Case in point: whatever happenned to the balanced budget plank of the Contract with America?

Continue reading/discuss cheap-labor conservatives ...

Watch it on C-SPAN. Post comments here.

Continue reading/discuss Bush press conference at 10:30 EST ...

Have at it, Deanyboppers.

Continue reading/discuss Open Thread ...

I think Diane at Dean Defense Forces is a bit too defensive in her take on the Times' generally fair look at Dean. I urge you to read the whole thing. Just one excerpt:

Isn't he too liberal to get elected?

"If being a liberal means a balanced budget, I'm a liberal," Dr. Dean said, delighted at the opening. "If being a liberal means adding jobs instead of subtracting them, then, please, call me a liberal."

"I don't care what label you put on me," he finished, "as long as you call me Mr. President!"

Also see the letters in today's Times, which all take the DLC to task on its criticism of Dean. One says

The popularity of Howard Dean is not a coup but proof of how overwhelmingly his positions resonate with Democratic voters.

Continue reading/discuss NY Times profile ...

Be Like Dean!
John Kerry's voters ask their candidate to act like the other guy.
By Chris Suellentrop, MSNBC & Slate

DES MOINES, Iowa, July 29 — When I arrive at John Kerry's campaign headquarters Saturday afternoon for a "Kerry Country BBQ," the candidate's staff is buzzing about a tall young blond man who has arrived for the event. They want to prevent him from getting anywhere close to the candidate. Before I came to Iowa, I was conditioned to think of Howard Dean as the unpredictably exciting, insurgent candidate and to think of Kerry as the aloof, preprogrammed establishment contender. This is my first taste of what the differences look like up close.

What's all the fuss about the blond guy? I ask Kerry's Iowa press secretary, Laura Capps. "He takes pictures of himself with the candidates and posts nasty comments about them," she says. I’m not sure, but this may be a historic moment for the Iowa caucuses: The Kerry campaign is terrified of how their candidate will be portrayed by a blogger.

Later, I sidle up next to the man to ask about his Web site, which turns out to be NineDwarfs.com...So far, he's snapped pictures of himself with six candidates. This is easy to do in Iowa, where campaign events usually end with a ritual that resembles Picture Day at a Major League Baseball game, as voters line up to take snapshots of themselves and their children with the candidate du jour. The NineDwarfs.com blogger needs shots of Kerry, Carol Moseley Braun, and Bob Graham to complete his collection, but he fails in his mission at the Kerry barbecue. Instead, the next day he adds a picture of Kerry's head on the body of a chicken to the top of his site.

Kerry arrives a few minutes later, riding a Harley. A crowd of voters and campaign volunteers surround him, but it appears that the campaign workers are the ones making most of the noise, a lot of "Yay, John, woo-hoo!"-ing. (In contrast to the Dean campaign, I notice later that some Kerry volunteers and staffers are introducing themselves to the candidate, as if for the first time, and having their pictures taken with him.) [...]

MORE LIKE DEAN?

At the two Kerry events I attended this past weekend, voters kept encouraging the Massachusetts senator, in effect, to be more like Howard Dean. After Friday's Kerry speech, a voter walked up to him and told him the Democrats must quit being passive. "Oh, I’m not passive," Kerry soothed. Today, he does something similar when an angry voter complains about the Leave No Child Behind bill. "Oh, I am so furious about it," Kerry says matter-of-factly. These are questions Dean wouldn’t even be asked.

As I'm leaving the event, I run into a Kerry campaign worker. He stops me and asks me about Dean and what he's like. He says he'd really like to hear him speak, but it's not kosher for staffers to go to other candidates' events. Maybe if he goes in plain clothes, he muses. Everyone talks about what a great speaker Dean is, he says, but how does he interact with people? I tell him I was impressed.

The more I tell him about Dean, the more crestfallen he seems to get. Without mentioning Kerry, I tell him that Dean never appears to be trying to walk out of a room. He interjects: "That’s a real problem we have, because Kerry's a senator, so he needs to be back in Washington. Dean's basically unemployed, so he can spend all day hanging out with three people." It's only a feeling I get, but I can't help wondering if he signed up with Kerry because he thought Kerry would win, and now he’s questioning his decision. As I head out to catch my plane, I think that the girl on his right appears to be consoling him.

COMMENT by Scott: Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch.

Continue reading/discuss On the Road With...Dean? ...

The conservative Weekly Standard sees a real threat from Dean - and recognizes the symbolism of the fundraising model of the campaign, as tapping into the real roots of the Democratic party:

But these itty-bitty donations have a symbolic value, too. The Democratic party is a wishbone of proletarian sloganeering and plutocratic direction that, when snapped, always leaves one side disillusioned. Racial and lifestyle minorities provide the electoral ballast for the party, true. But outside of those categories, the Democrats are the party of America's crème de la crème--not just the "cultural elite," as Dan Quayle put it, but the elite, period. Overwhelming evidence for this came in the form of a June study by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. It found that Republicans outraise Democrats by 63 percent to 37 percent among penny-ante donors--those who give under $200. The GOP retains that advantage at all levels up to $100,000, although it steadily narrows as the dollar amount rises. Once you hit $100,000, the Democrats really begin to clean up. They hold a fundraising advantage that widens rapidly as the numbers get more stratospheric. In contributions of over $1 million, they outraise Republicans by 92 percent to 8 percent.

Dean may have risen by attracting a base of fundraisers who are the same people as those the party claims, increasingly implausibly, to speak for. Nonetheless--or, perhaps, therefore--many Democrats are asking whether he is "electable." Among these doubters are the architects of two consecutive losses in national elections. Their skepticism seems premature. Those Democrats who dismiss Dean as unelectable are making an assessment of what non-Democratic voters think, and this is a subject on which Democrats have been driven into a frenzy of illogic by their dislike of George W. Bush. The current self-serving self-delusion--one reads it in "Doonesbury" and hears it from Nancy Pelosi and a variety of marginal commentators and celebrity know-nothings--is that Republicans have succeeded because their message is stupid and simple and dishonest; and Democrats have failed because they're so subtle and principled. Under this logic, Democrats will do best by nominating a malevolent sleazeball and getting him to shout at the top of his lungs. Suffice it to say that this logic is identical to that upon which Republicans built a string of defeats in the Clinton years.

The article goes in into much more detail about the various "unelectability" arguments and provides original counterarguments, from the perspective of the right-moderate rather than the left one. And closes with recognition that Dean's rise is ultimately rooted in widespread opposition to Bush - something that the DLC seems unable to understand.

Continue reading/discuss Base Anger ...

It's been a while since we've updated the links on the sidebar. Some of you have added URLs, moved, or created new Dean sites. While I realise there is a comment string on the side for sidebar updates, I'm a bit pressed for time right now and I can't go through and check the veracity of all the links. Can everyone please check your respective state links and leave a comment here if you need a correction or addition? I know of two or three that we need to update for sure, but I want to make sure we can cover this in one fell swoop. Please leave a comment now if you need your site updated on the sidebar. Thanks!

Continue reading/discuss Sidebar update ...

Dean is beginning to hit his stride on the economy. For those wondering if Dean has a second act, my guess is that the economy will be "exhibit A" in a new burst into the public consciousness, and a mainstreaming of his message. A sampling:

'In his remarks, Dean assailed Bush and his economic plan. The president, in addressing the National Urban League Monday, had touted his policies, including tax cuts, for providing greater opportunity for Americans.

"Never has a president talked so much about jobs while doing so much to destroy them," Dean said.'

Continue reading/discuss Dean Tackles Bush, Economy ...

Brian McGrory writes in today's Boston Globe that Vermont Gov. Howard Dean is not what he expected... and he clearly is not going away:

'What I found was the candidate standing amid a couple of hundred fascinated people inside Elliot Hospital, taking questions that centered not on Iraq, but on health care. With national reporters ringing the room, Dean spoke off-the-cuff in a way that few politicians do anymore.

To be sure, there's little of the backslapping and two-fisted handshaking that send the message that he deeply cares. Nobody's ever going to mistake him for Jerry Seinfeld or, for that matter, Bill Clinton, especially when an elderly man called out, ''Can I ask one more question?'' Dean said, ''No, I want to give others some time.'' Then he turned away.

Later, sitting back at his state campaign headquarters, Dean seemed more relaxed. There was no blood on his lips. When asked whether he worried that his candidacy might be relegated to that of a flaming meteor, much like Gary Hart's or John McCain's in elections past, rather than choke me, he merely shrugged.

''Everyone else is so afraid to lose that they tailor their message so tightly and don't say anything,'' he says. ''If we turn into a fad, it's the American people that will decide.''

Asked how he'll avoid that, he makes the point that has other candidates worried most. ''This is the first time I remember the national press identifying the insurgent before picking the front-runner,'' he says. ''This is uncharted territory."'

Continue reading/discuss The Dean of Surprises ...

The Pat Buchanan-led "paleo-conservative" crowd, which has been anti-Iraq-war for strictly isolationist reasons, writes in the American Conservative that they would go for Howard Dean if he was anti-immigration. The strangeness of this is lessened when you realize that they see Dean as a "Rockefeller Republican" in disguise (and that the neo-conservative foreign policy of the Bush Admnistration is very much against the grain of classic conservative thought). The essence of their argument is that Dean can get the "poor white vote" to help him against Bush in the general election:

As George Borjas and other immigration economists have argued, while some immigrants do benefit the overall economy, a large coterie of low-skilled workers has costs, and those costs are borne disproportionately by less-skilled and lower-paid American workers. If you are the sort of person who wishes to hire someone cheap to clean your pool, you are probably someone who benefits from a large reserve army of poor and eager workers. If you are struggling to support a family with the skills of a high-school graduate, you will benefit from a tighter labor market and higher wages that would stem from a lower rate of immigration.

Miles maintained that the first winners from immigration reform would be the black workers—a group that has lost many niches in the American economy during the past generation to new immigrants. But white workers are getting hurt as well. In a phenomenon noted by Brookings Institution demographer William Frey, the white working class has been steadily fleeing high-immigration states during the last 15 years—from California to Nevada and Colorado, from New York to the Southeast. But the immigration surge has kept pursuing them, five or ten years behind, and is now beginning to have a notable impact on labor markets in the interior of the country.

Is there actually a large pool of poor, white voters who would defect to Dean? Somehow I think that poor voters, regardless of race, see Democrats as more attuned to their needs, and I'm not convinced that strict immigration policies would confer any advantage in that demographic.

Continue reading/discuss Dean and immigration ...

Billmon has a long post about why the Dean Team matters, in teh context of the Emerging Democratic Majority theme (whose autors paradoxically seem to be against Dean). It's a fascinating post and does a fantastic job of tying these two things together into a big picture.

Continue reading/discuss Dean's Army ...

WOW. This from grassroots guru Joe Trippi's O-blog thank you:

From Robert's first questioning if Burlington had gotten timid, to the suggestion that Governor Dean enjoy a sandwich while blogging today, the Dean Team vs Bush-Cheney fundraising challenge has been an amazing demonstration of how a Presidential campaign can interact with the grassroots -- and how individuals who believe in each other and work in common purpose can make a difference.

The bat is a symbol of what can happen when power is placed where it rightly belongs, in the hands of the people. A few days ago the bat was placed in your hands, and 9,568 Dean supporters responded with over $507,150.31 in contributions to Dean for America.

PS: The Governor said it was the best sandwich he ever had.

Continue reading/discuss WE DID IT!!! Final Total: $508,540.31 ...

Early reports are beginning to trickle in from the National Urban League convention, in which Bush and the Democratic contenders shared a stage for the first time. By most accounts, the contenders got in some real good jabs at Bush's policies, and Bush received a polite yet tepid response from the crowd. Here's what we've got so far.

WaPo covers the event, noting that Bush emphasised his faith-based initiatives. Yet the article also pointedly mentions that this is only the second time in nearly two years that Bush has appeared before a large African-American group.

As for the contenders, Ohio.com files this report, noting that Sens. John Kerry of Massachusetts and Bob Graham of Florida were no-shows. They mention that Dean got a standing ovation from the crowd when he said, "There are lots of white politicians who go before black groups and talk about race. We need white politicians who go before white groups and talk about race."

The AP wire story says that Bush hasn't met with the Congressional Black Caucus in over 2 years (!), and reports that each Democratic contender fired shots at Bush that resonated with attendees. I'll post more on this event tomorrow as information becomes available.

Continue reading/discuss phase II: Coverage of the National Urban League convention ...

Democratic Presidential Candidate Howard Dean enjoys his $3-a-plate turkey lunch with now close to 10,000 supporters, raising an astonishing $482,000 just a few bucks at a time, nearly doubling Dick Cheney's efforts at a South Carolina luncheon with a mere handful of special interest donors. Great job, everyone, but come on, let's do our best to make it a cool half-a-million bucks, eh? That'll show 'em! Woohoo!

Continue reading/discuss Dean's $3-a-plate Turkey Sandwich Luncheon ...

The Boston Herald has conducted its own poll in New Hampshire - ostensibly gauging support for a Hillary Clinton run against the rest of the field. Two things immediately jump out in this poll. First, Dean runs second only to Hillary (and she doesn't take much from his support, only from others in the field). Second, Dean leads Kerry head to head by 28% to 25%. Clearly this remains well within the margin of error, but this supports the other polling data posted earlier today. Good news for the Dean team. An excerpt:

"The race now tied between Dean and Kerry would quickly become a Dean-Clinton standoff, with Clinton picked by 27 percent of voters and Dean by 23 percent in the poll.

Kerry would fall to a second tier at 16 percent and all other candidates would be relegated to single digits.

But Dean's support among independent- and reform-minded voters seems intact with or without Clinton in the running.

``She doesn't eat into Dean's lead at all,'' said Herald pollster R. Kelly Myers. ``As of today, Dean is the only one who could hold his own (against Clinton).''

Indeed, among independents polled in the survey, Dean and Clinton are locked at 21 percent and 22 percent respectively."

Continue reading/discuss Dean Leads Kerry in New Hampshire! ...

DeanDefense.org, itself in the middle of a rebuilding, is becoming a better site all the time. We now have Randy Mayeux kicking some ... well ... something. We've got other new bloggers. We're going to be adding more to the site soon as well. Keep your eyes peeled, and, if you're ever looking for ways to help the Doctor, our site should be able to keep you active.

Continue reading/discuss Dean Defense Forces Growing ...

What do sexy underwear, Howard Dean and Gray Davis have in common? Well, in a shameless play to the Dean base, Georgy Russell, who's running on the recall ballot to replace the California governor, asks us to vote for our favorite underdog, with Howard Dean prominent among them -- along side Harry Truman! You can also buy Georgy's thong underwear and other merchandise. But instead, vote for Howard Dean, check out Georgy's blog and don't forget to come on back here and give a little to help Dean defeat Cheney/Bush! Maybe you're shameless, Georgy, but you got spunk!

UPDATE: Lior Abraham, Georgy's campaign manager, sends me this e-mail regarding this post: "Thanks for the heads up. We were actually about to change the poll anyway, but maybe we'll hold off and let the Dean base have some fun." Thanks, Lior! So Dean Nationals, get to voting. We are currently leading Georgy herself by a small margin, and the fun can't last forever....

Continue reading/discuss Georgy's Shameless Play, or, Blush Light ...

Having some fun on Amazon.com today I came across this interesting book that Amazon states "has not yet been released. You may order it now and we will ship it to you when it arrives." Doctor Dean's untitled book is currently ranked 63,505 on Amazon.com. I think we should all pre-order a copy and see if we can't get that sales ranking up a bit.

According to Amazon.com the book is slated for release in November of 2003.

:: CLICK HERE for MORE INFORMATION

Continue reading/discuss Untitled Memoir by Howard Dean ...

AMR released their latest New Hampshire field poll last week. AMR has traditionally undersampled independents, but this time around they're broken down the numbers for us. Here's a quick summary of the latest NH numbers:

If the race were held today....
Kerry 25% (-3), Dean 19% (+1) , Gephardt 10% (+/-0) *the rest of the contenders are in single digits, but note that undecided voters are up to 30% (+7)

Other notable Dean numbers:
- Name recognition is up to 97% (+12), favorability is up to 57% (+11), and unfavorable is still low at 10% (+1)

The poll concludes with this summary:

Of the 30% of likely Democratic primary voters undecided in their preference for president, 42% have a favorable opinion of Dean, and 45% have a favorable opinion of Kerry.
Of the 25% of likely Democratic primary voters saying they would vote for Kerry, 83% have a favorable opinion of Dean. Of the 19% of likely Democratic primary voters saying they would vote for Dean, 67% have a favorable opinion of Kerry.

Continue reading/discuss New Hampshire poll: Dean still trending upwards ...

CNN has a nice bit about the Iowa Dean Corps today, who have been volunteering at food banks and soup kitchens across Iowa. While the idea of volunteerism is nothing new, columnist Mark Sheilds (of CNN's Capital Gang) nails it when he says that the underlying message of this work is optimism and hope:

The Dean Corps has already been involved in environmental cleanups, which given the popular image of the Vermonter's following, is not surprising. But if a presidential campaign actually does perform valuable human and social service and helps to restore a fraying sense of community, that could potentially change the entire dynamic of the caucus turnout next January 19.

Imagine the profound contrast between the Dean campaign volunteers feeding the hungry and comforting the lonely with the Bush pioneer/rangers corralling their $200 million swag for a primary in which the president is unopposed.

It's called the Great American Restoration, and Dean outlined this theme in his speech to the nation on June 23. It's isn't a gimmick, it's a real movement to restore the American community. Sheilds goes on to draw an interesting comparison between Dean and his predecessors:

But unlike the Gipper, who put a smiling face on conservatism, the doctor does not brim with optimism. The self-deprecating humor is neither particularly self-deprecating nor funny. He is a candidate who seems likely to win more admiration than affection. It is worth remembering that in the last half century only two American politicians have served two terms in the White House.

Both were invincible optimists -- Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton

Now we're talking. Most of the members of this community have tried repeatedly to make the point that this campaign is about hope. It's about that feeling you get when you finally realise that you can make a difference. It's about channelling your energy into a positive force for change. Dean Corps in Iowa is doing it, the grassroots is doing it, and so are thousands of donors. Thanks, Mark Shields, for helping us spread the word.

Continue reading/discuss phase II: a message of optimism and hope ...

today on NPR's All Things Considered:

Participation in the campaign of Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean is just a click away. On Dean's Web site, one can donate money, volunteer, or chat with other supporters. The candidate's staff believes its use of the Internet foreshadows a sea change in politics, but can it elect a candidate?

Continue reading/discuss All Things Considered looks at DFA fundraising ...

THE BAT IS BACK!

Over the weekend, the campaign raised $250,000 to match Cheney-Bush's planned fundraising goal for today, Monday July 28th (at a luncheon in South Carolina). That's 4,818 regular Americans vs 125 elite special interests. And it epitomizes what this campaign is about.

But the campaign isn't resting on its laurels having matched Cheney-Bush (over a slow weekend!). Now they have added a SECOND bat - and here's what it's for:

You'll notice the second bat doesn't have a goal. It will be up to you and thousands of other Americans to fill that bat up to whatever amount you can by midnight, tomorrow. We've matched the Bush-Cheney fundraising machine. Tomorrow, let's see by how much we can surpass them.

And wait til you see what we plan on doing with the additional money you help raise tomorrow. It's top secret, but we can tell you this-- it will surprise everyone.

my speculation: the South Carolina primary is the prize!

So, Dean Nation - let's join in and step up to the plate! It's OUR turn at bat!

Continue reading/discuss Dean Nation vs. Cheney-Bush ...

What a week to try and choose winners of Dean Nation's second "Backbone" Award. See comments in this post for all the nominees, some of whom will no doubt be future recipients. But for this week, Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Ambassador Joe Wilson rise above the rest. They are telling difficult truths and asking hard questions -- all while enduring scathing and sometimes dangerous smear campaigns -- yet they continue to exhibit an amazing amount of Backbone. Is there any doubt left that Howard Dean is a leader in this welcome trend of fighting the agenda of the Radical Right? Here's Durbin on WsMD and "sixteen words" from ABC News:

"We've been asking the wrong question. We've been asking, why did George Tenet not stop the White House from misleading the American people? The more important question is, who is it in the White House who was hell-bent on misleading the American people and why are they still there?"

And here is Wilson from an interview with Andrea Mitchell discussing the White House's smear campaign against him and his wife -- including blowing Mrs. Wilson's cover as a CIA operative and putting her and her associates in danger's path and her career in jeopardy -- following a Meet The Press appearance in which he discussed the truth regarding Niger-gate and the "uranium" disaster:

"It’s a shot across the bow to those who might step forward. Those unnamed analysts who said they were pressured by the White House, for example, would think twice about having their own families’ names being dragged through this particular mud."

And this from The Hill as Durbin continues the fight for Wilson -- and himself -- against the Rove and McLellan Sewer Diversion Act:

He said that syndicated columnist Robert Novak and Time magazine (A war on Wilson?) both reported that administration officials "told them they believe Mr. Wilson had been chosen [for the mission] through the influence of his wife, whom they identified as a CIA operative."

Speaking to reporters after his Senate remarks, Durbin said, "If a member of the Senate is going to be subject to this kind of effort from the White House to discourage our responsibility … and goes to the point of questioning the integrity of my service on the Intelligence Committee, that is a serious as it gets."

"Sadly, what we have here is a continuing pattern by this White House," he declared. "If any member of this Senate, Democrat or Republican, takes to the floor, questions this White House policy, raises any questions about the gathering of intelligence information or the use of it, be prepared for the worst."

ACTION: Though I've no idea how to contact Ambassador Wilson, please send e-mail and/or please write or call Senator Dick Durbin, tell him you are a Howard Dean supporter, and tell him how much you appreciate leaders like Dean who stand up and fight for what is right and what is true in our country, especially when faced with powerful and vicious foes, and especially when it regards our national security. Finally, tell the Senator how much you respect that he's fighting for Joe Wilson, and ask him to please pass your best wishes to the Ambassador, his wife, and his family. As always, we've a long way to go, keep on fighting!

P.S The Fruitcake Rebellion fruitcake this week should go to White House spokesman Scott McLellan and Dick Cheney. But why waste $25 bucks on these guys when you can give $25 bucks to Howard Dean's campaign by simply clicking here!