Nation-Building

All aboard the Southwest Voter Express! Dean National Phillip de Vellis sends us this link and asks us to help plug this site. We're glad to be of help, Phillip. The Southwest Voter Express is being arranged by a group of California Deaniacs who were inspired by the Texas Rangers' trips to Iowa and New Hampshire. From the site: The Southwest Voter Express is being organized by California Dean volunteers in conjuction with campaign officials in Arizona and New Mexico. You don't need to be from California to come along. Dean supporters from Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Texas and anywhere else are welcome to hop on board. Unfortunately, we cannot provide you with free travel to these locations, but our local hosts will give us a place to stay and a warm welcome once we get there. The state directors have purchased voter databases for us to target frequent Democratic voters in each precinct we visit. This is very important activity that consistently produces positive results on...

From Dean for America... FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 30, 2003 Congressman Maurice Hinchey Endorses Dean for President NEW YORK -- U.S. Representative Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) today became the 11th Member of Congress to endorse Democratic presidential candidate Governor Howard Dean, M.D. Said Congressman Hinchey: "Howard Dean is the candidate who can energize Democratic voters and win back the White House. He has forcefully and eloquently opposed President Bush's policies, while offering clear alternatives. He was among the first to see through the Bush Administration's deceit in leading us into war with Iraq and he has consistently pointed out the failures of the Bush economic agenda. "Governor Dean knows the importance of investing in our nation's infrastructure, protecting our natural resources and guaranteeing affordable health care for all Americans. I enthusiastically endorse his candidacy and will be working hard to make him our next president...

Okay, okay, I haven't posted Dean Nation's Backbone Award in a couple of weeks, but there are some pretty good potential nominees out there right now! Here are your comments from the last nomination session -- they will all be considered. So, who showed some Back recently? What did they do? Why was it awesome? How did it affect things? And, who should get the Spineless Jellyroll ? When possible, please post appropriate blog or news links with your nominees. By the way, Anna will soon be updating the Backbone Award links section in the left sidebar, hopefully by Monday when the winners (and losers) face the music. Have a great weekend Dean Nationals!

As pointed out by Anna and Aziz, the early endorsements by labor are incredibly important. Dean needs to show the others that he's picking up traditional Democratic organizing support as well as running an incredible tech savvy grass roots movement. IUPAT, CTA, and the SEIU are listening to their members. We have to make sure the bigger union leaders hear what their people are saying about Dean despite their long history with the other guy(s). I thought these were some good talking points from Bob Hooper, Past President of the State Employees Association, on how Dean worked with Labor in Vermont as Governor. After you catch THE BAT , check out what Hooper has to say about how Dean went out of his way for labor. QuickTime 56K Download file 100K Download file Windows 56K Download file 100K Download file (Cross posted at DeanTV.org ) Burlington Sheraton Rally (10/24/03)

The bat is back! actually a whole swarm of bats - as the campaign launches the Bush Frightens Me fundraising drive! The goal is $310,000 and the first 10,000 contributors who donate $31 or more will get a complimentary Bush Frightens Me button! Go and frighten Bush back - and send a shiver down his spine by donating to Dean. And the collective power of Dean Nation surely scares Bush the most... BWAHAHAHA!

Deans goofy side has been on display recently - we all recall how Dean took a physical leap onto a moving truck... now he's engaging in leaps of a more verbal nature: Dean declared himself a "metrosexual," the buzz phrase for straight men in touch with their feminine sides, as he touted his accomplishments in "equal justice" for gay and lesbian couples. But then he waffled. "I'm a square," Dean declared, after professing his metrosexuality to a Boulder breakfast audience with an anecdote about being called handsome by a gay man. "I like (rapper) Wyclef Jean and everybody thinks I'm very hip, but I am really a square, as my kids will tell you. I don't even get to watch television. I've heard the term (metrosexual), but I don't know what it means." Maybe I'm just drinking the Kool Aid, but I find this kind of thing hysterically cool. Garance Franke-Ruta, the Dean-sympathetic Senior Editor over at TAPPED, cou...

I hate to play Nanny around here. Dean Nation is a community and I don't consider myself as the resident Net Mom - we have built this site together by virtue of our ideas and our debates and I am proud to be one of the crowd. But with admin power comes some responsibility, and given that the ZonkBoard has almost become unusable recently, I'm afraid that I must insist that certain rules be implemented henceforth. I've received a number of emails to this effect as well as many offhand comments in threads. The ZonkBoard is designed to be a social place - a way to share quick links, to say hello, to share ideas, and welcome newbies. It is NOT for long essays, broken up into chunks of max-char-limit, nor is it a place for dumping piles of links in quick succession. And, above all, DO NOT FEED TROLLS. Please limit ZB entries to quick bites, a link and title, or other **short** content, and please do not submit 5-10 posts in quick succession. Part of the decay on the Z...

This is huge. Business Week has learned that the AFL-CIO's largest union is going to endorse Howard Dean on November 6. This comes on the heels of the IUPAT and CTA endorsements . The SEIU's action, coming shortly after Dean won pledges from two small unions, the International Union of Painters and the California Teachers Assn., goes a long way toward completing the transformation of the former Vermont governor from a niche candidate backed by limousine liberals, antiwar activists, and tech-savvy young people into a mainstream candidate who can also connect with blue-collar America. Says SEIU President Andy Stern: "It's clear that Dean has gained the most support amongst our members and local leaders." The SEIU's move would effectively kill AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney's efforts to gather labor behind Dean rival Representative Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.). This latest endorsement is certainly representative in a shift in our campaign. As the article ...

From Dean for America... MEMORANDUM To: Media From: Dean for America Press Office Date: October 29, 2003 Re: Openly Gay Dean Staffer Harassed at Gephardt Event Yesterday, an openly gay Dean for America staffer who attended an event for Congressman Dick Gephardt in Iowa (as is common practice among campaigns) was pushed and grabbed by Gephardt staffers, one of whom derided him as a "faggot." In response, Dean for America campaign manager Joe Trippi wrote a letter to Gephardt for President campaign manager Steve Murphy, calling upon him to find the staffer responsible for this egregious behavior and fire him. Governor Dean, who signed the nation's first civil unions law in Vermont, is a strong supporter of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community. Congressman Gephardt has also spoken out against anti-gay harassment. Joe Trippi's letter is below. October 28, 2003 Steve Murphy, Campaign Manager Gephardt...

I have argued for a long time that the appeal of Howard Dean is a combination of message, medium and man. The message, that we can't be Bush-lite resonated with Democrats. The medium, the one you're using right now, allows a level of interaction that was not possible before. Then there is the man himself. Dennis Myers of the Pahrump Valley Times in Nevada managed to nail it down today. "Dean's strongest asset is not liberal views but his willingness to lead at a time when the Democratic Party is starved for leadership." Myers illustrates this, not by talking about the Civil Unions bill, but how Dean took on the surround of the issue, the cultural conservatives who invaded the state of Vermont with money, and whose hate-filled campaign forced Dean himself to wear a bullet-proof vest, in 1999 and 2000. Writes Myers: Dean responded by standing up to them, campaigning against what he called the "cultural right." He won reelection, the gay...

Over at Google News , the lower-right corner of the top screen runs a continuing interactive survey. Labeled "In The News," the box carries the 10 keywords people have been searching for on the site, over the last several minutes. Over the last week, while the press' attentions have been focused on a supposed "surge" by Kerry, or Gephardt's attacks, or even the futile attempts by Al Sharpton and Dennis Kucinich to get noticed, there has been one fairly constant factor in that box -- the name of Howard Dean. Dean's name is in the box more often than George Bush or Saddam Hussein. It's not foolproof. Sometimes you still have to input the name (use howard-dean so you don't get stories about Howard University or Dean Howard from "Animal House") but not often. It's the best proof of the Governor's standing I can think of. The people are voting with their mice.

Chris Mathews: Love him or hate him? Usually it's a combination of both. I'm either impressed with Tweety's ability to spin like a top, or I'm tossing a shoe at my television because he's popped off and said something stupid. I guess there's no middle ground with that guy. Anyway, he spoke at Brown University yesterday and had some interesting things to say about our man Howard Dean: Matthews acknowledged that his personal favorite in the race is Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor who many see as the Democratic front-runner. "He came out of Vermont, a small state, with no foreign policy experience and with sheer guts he believed in one big idea and that big idea was: 'It was wrong to go around to the other side of the world to fight a war.'" See, sometimes he's pretty good. But then he opens his mouth again: The problem for Dean, the former aide to House Speaker Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill of Massachusetts, Matthe...

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I have completely learned to appreciate Rev. Al Sharpton's presense in the race. He's been witty and engaging, and has brokered peace between the candidates on several occassions. That being said, methinks he needs to take his own advice to heart: "Howard Dean's opposition to affirmative action, his current support for the death penalty and historic support of the NRA's [National Rifle Association's] agenda amounts to an anti-black agenda that will not sell in communities of color in this country... Any so-called African American leader that would endorse Dean despite his anti-black record is mortgaging the future of our struggle for civil rights and social justice." First of all, I am not sure where Al gets his assertion that Dean is against affirmative action. From CSU-Long Beach for Dean's website : The University of Michigan does not have a quota system, it never did have a quota system. ...

Meet Dean's Communications Director in New Hampshire--Dorie Clark. She's a big part of the reason why the Dean Team has been consistently communicating a winning message in New Hampshire. Let's not forget, as the winter hits the north, that Dean can use all the help he can get to reach the independent thinking people of New Hampshire. Dorie's one of those people that makes politics a lot of fun. DeanTV.org caught up with her after a rousing Dean Rally in Walpole, NH. Quicktime 56K Download file Windows 56K Download file Quicktime 100K Download file Windows 100K Download file To join Dorie and the hard working gang in New Hampshire check out deanfornewhampshire.com

Ron Brownstein writing in today's Los Angeles Times predicts slapstick ahead for Ah-Nold and Dub-ya. In fact, as I've been saying, Ah-nold seems to have more in common with the Dems -- and if you add in campaign themes and styles -- particularly Howard Dean : But, inevitably, Schwarzenegger's top priority in Washington has to be federal help to close the state's budget deficit. Bush has consistently resisted large-scale federal assistance to the states. This year, Bush reluctantly accepted a temporary $20-billion state aid package as the price of winning the last two Senate votes for his tax cut plan. But Bush has shown no interest in expanding or extending that aid. Meanwhile, Democratic presidential contenders such as retired Gen. Wesley K. Clark and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean are promoting plans to funnel $40 billion or more to the cash-starved states over the next two years. On health care there's a similar convergence. Schwarzenegger said he wante...

Dean supporter Ray Minchew of Washington4Dean has created what he hopes will be a safe haven for supporters of the Democratic candidates. Ray writes: Allright kiddies, enough nastiness! This blog has been created to give the various candidates' bloggers a place to come and hash out their differences. As you all know, we're seeing trolls of all sorts these days. Kerry and Clark people getting trolled by supposed Dean supporters, Dean blogs being trolled by Kerry and Clark people, Kerry getting trolled by Dean and Clark folks...even some Edwards trolls popping up as he picks up steam. I think we've begun to realize that these trolls are the same people, just breeding contempt in our ranks, but too many of us are really beginning to hate one another.... Once we have a nominee, whoever doesn't win is going to need to combine forces, take the organizations they've built and transfer them to the winner. And we're going to need to not hate one another for that to h...

We'll have to wait 7-14 days for the official announcement, but.... Representative Jesse L. Jackson Jr. said Monday that he would soon endorse Howard Dean for the Democratic presidential nomination, telling a mostly black audience on the South Side of Chicago that Dr. Dean had "the best chance to be the next president of the United States."..."I'm not wasting my time with any more non-straight-talking candidates"..."I've seen him stand up for health care. I've seen him stand up for students. I've seen him stand up for ordinary Americans. I'm asking you to stand up for Howard Dean." Rep. Jackson is well-respected in his community, and we're grateful that he's decided to join the movement. He brings with him a record of integrity and honor, as well as hundreds of thousands of supporters across the country. Slowly but surely, we are making inroads in the African-American community. I know that many of us have expressed ...

The Army of Black and Gold - the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) - became the first international organisation to endorse Governor Dean yesterday. According to and article I googled up, IUPAT is known for being a true army on the ground. They are very organised, hard-working, and have quickly built a reputation as a political force to be reckoned with: "I vowed upon taking office to listen to my members on picket lines, job sites and union halls and what I heard was they liked Governor Dean's message," Williams said at a rally to announce the endorsement. Dean told about 100 union members that while the campaign's focus has been on the war in Iraq, he plans to stress the issues of health care and jobs in the next few months. "This is a fight for working people in this country," Dean said. IUPAT has about 3000 members in Iowa who'll soon be hitting the streets in support of Dean, and over 140,000 members nationally. Ther...

Forty were killed yesterday , six more today . Iraq has become unspinnable . But that is even true for us . Today Americans still believe Iraq is better off without Saddam Hussein. But as the casualties mount, even that is coming into question. Cher (yes, Cher) visited Walter Reed Hospital this week and came away horrified by the number of soldiers she saw without limbs . Modern medicine keeps the vast majority of casualties from death but over 2,000 coalition forces have now been wounded, and that does not count the thousands more who may have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), a life-long reaction to horror that leaves no visible scars, only broken lives . The U.S. election is still 12 months away, inauguration nearly 15 months off. The situation on-the-ground discussed by candidates on Sunday may be irrelevant when Iowa votes, let alone America. The fact is that the Cradle of Civilization today is a Killing Field. It was an oppressive, brutal dictatorship, r...

I was just remarking to a friend that these Republican anti-Bush defections are becoming awfully common, and along comes Howard Fineman with this excellent Newsweek cover story that may not be surprising to many of us, but is certain to take some of the Free-Roaming GOP by surprise: HILARY CLEVELAND of New London, N.H., goes way back with the Bush family. Her late husband, James Colgate (Jimmy) Cleveland, was a Republican in Congress, where his paddle-ball partner in the House gym was George H.W. Bush. Hilary served on the Andover board with Barbara Bush and was finance chair of Bush's primary campaign in New Hampshire in 1980. She organized locally for George W. in 2000. But the other day, upset over the war in Iraq, she left the Republican Party, changing her registration to "undeclared" so she could vote for Dr. Howard Dean in the Democratic primary in January. "You don't go to war without valid reason," she said, "or international support....

When this article by Washington state-based writer Philip Gold first came out during the pre-TIME/Newsweek cover days of Howard Dean, it struck me as courageous. After all, the whisper at the time was that it was unpatriotic--if not treasonous--to question the actions or motives of the Bush administration. This guy was actually turning his back on a life time of work for the conservative movement! Originally published in the Minnesota Journal of Law and Politics , Gold leads his article with this: Leaving an organization can be hard. Leaving a movement, harder. And leaving an idea — unless you realize that the movement has deserted the idea, and that it’s time to say so — traumatic. Given the deep interest some conservatives seem to have in the Dean Movement (as indicated by the many inquiring minds visiting this site), Gold's reasoning could be helpful to some of the more disillusioned Republicans who pulled the lever for Bush in 2000 but feel like they got something th...

To Sum Up: Vice President Cheney, formerly head of Haliburton, and still receiving income from the company, is one of the architects of the war on Iraq which has resulted in billions of dollars of reconstruction contracts to the firm, which uses cheap imported labor from Asia rather than local Iraqis as it makes wildly overpriced estimates for basic tasks like building bridges or gasoline. Howard Dean may or may not have received a $2000 campaign contribution from someone with the same name as a retired member of the Haliburton board of directors. Yeah. That's exactly the same thing. And I have a bridge to sell you... built by Haliburton! in the Arizona desert! im getting some irate emails from the sarcasm-impaired. Let me be explicit. Dean's "ties" to Haliburton are NONEXISTENT. The comparison to the ACTUAL conflict of interest between the Bush Administration and Haliburton makes the absurdity of the allegation clear.

From Dean for America... FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 26, 2003 California Teachers Association Endorses Howard Dean in March Primary LOS ANGELES--Impressed by his strong commitment to public education and teachers, the top governing body of the 335,000-member California Teachers Association voted overwhelmingly today to endorse Howard Dean in the March presidential primary election. "This primary election is too important to ignore," said CTA President Barbara E. Kerr. "Our voices must be heard in this critical race. Howard Dean has a long history of supporting public schools and children, and he understands the dangers we face from the federal government's growing influence over our classrooms and how we teach." The vote was taken by the CTA State Council of Education, comprised of nearly 800 democratically elected teacher representatives from across the state, at the Council's regular quarterly meeting in Los Angeles. Dean addressed th...

From Dean for America... FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 26, 2003 DETROIT -- George Bush Dick Cheney Donald Rumsfeld Paul Wolfowitz Condoleezza Rice Colin Powell John Kerry What do these people have in common? Their bad judgment led them to decide that war in Iraq was the correct course of action. From his vantage point as Governor of Vermont, Howard Dean's judgment led him to a different conclusion -- he opposed the war because he did not believe that Iraq posed an imminent threat to America. -- 30 --

Go nuts.

As events in Iraq continue to spin out of control, is Howard Dean developing an Iraq problem? The latest Newsweek poll shows a sharp rise in the number of Americans who want the troops home now, especially among Democrats, women and young people. Dean's position here is clear. He was against getting in. But now that we're in we can't bug out. Dean wants to internatoinalize the effort, but that grows harder as the task gets larger. How do we keep anti-war Democrats from deserting the anti-war Democrat? Al Sharpton and Dennis Kucinich are both encouraging it. Bushies, meanwhile, are waiting to see Dean go hat-in-hand to France, to beg terms of Jacques Chirac and Gerhard Schroeder. That fantasy will be spun regardless -- truth is no object in Republican politics. But there is a piece of jiu jitsu I think Dean might use to turn the whole issue around. Go to Canada. Speak about American-Canadian friendship in Toronto. Get an audience to talk trade and Iraq wi...

Ah, yes, another Sunday morning bursting with our favorite TV talk shows and pundits making predictions about our guy. So far the campaign's been enjoying the advantage of getting plugged and covered more because Dean has been such a formidable candidate from the start. The other candidates are all being forced to measure up against "Dean, Dean, Dean, Dean..." Amazingly enough, Dean is still enjoying the benefits of being perceived as an underdog. You know Dean's brand is on top when a single digit competitor, like Kucinich, fires empty charges and makes false demands just to keep his brand positioned visibly next to Dean's. How transparent. Washington insiders, like Donna Brazile, are finally admitting that Dean's got a movement on his hands and not just a campaign. Despite a brutal schedule, Dean doesn't forget where it all started. He dropped everything after Friday night's Burlington Sheraton rally just to quickly say how much he appreciate...

A little success can be misleading. First because it’s little. Second because it’s success. It’s important we put the size of the Dean campaign’s success so far in perspective. We are now nearly a half-million strong. But this is a nation of nearly 300 million. To win the 2004 election we must scale by a factor of 100, and beyond. That’s the goal. Next to it our mountain is a molehill. But we do have success. We have more troops in the field than our Democratic rivals combined. Our troops are well-funded. We can go on TV. When the press (because it seems like a better story) or other Democrats (because they must do it to win) seek to take someone down, it’s our guy they’re talking about. The question becomes one of maintaining momentum. Obsessing on the extremists or extremism of the other side won’t do it. The only way through is a positive motivation. Our challenge is to find it. And here’s why I really like Howard Dean. Because he has already found it. He delivered it...

Dean has presented his plan for renewable energy: Governor Dean proposes creating a renewable portfolio standard (RPS), requiring more American biofuels, boosting wind energy transmission, creating a solar power tax credit, extending the production tax credit (PTC), and investing in renewable energy and efficiency as part of the Fund to Restore America. The Dean campaign said their plan would create 15,000 new energy related jobs in Iowa and US$126 billion in new local property tax revenue by 2020. There are six specific points (from official press release ): * Create a Renewable Portfolio Standard 20% by 2020. Despite a bipartisan plea from 53 Senators, the GOP leadership in Congress, buckled under to oil and gas interests and rejected calls to require that our nation generate 10% of its electricity from renewable sources. Governor Dean will put the interests of Americans ahead of special interests and require that our nation generate 20% of its electricity from renewable so...

Democratic presidential hopeful Dennis Kucinich is demanding that New Hampshire television stations stop broadcasting ads from rival Howard Dean, arguing that the spots distort the records of both candidates. Earlier this week, Dean began airing two 30-second spots in New Hampshire criticizing his opponents' record on the war in Iraq and prescription drug benefits. While highlighting his opposition to the war, the former Vermont governor says "the best my opponents can do is ask questions today that they should have asked before they supported the war." Dean does not name his rivals. Kucinich, the Ohio congressman and the only candidate who voted against the resolution authorizing the war, took exception to the spots. "I am proud of my record of opposition to the war on Iraq and the occupation of Iraq, and I will not stand by while a fellow Democrat distorts my record and his own," Kucinich said Friday. Later, at a news conference in Portsmouth, ...

Note that the very idea of a Veep Watch makes a certain presumption of inevitability... and an analysis of Edwards v2.0 by Garance Franke-Ruta from the American Prospect has some insightful observations: Edwards is going over ground that other Dems have covered. And, in fact, the North Carolina senator has been giving virtually the same stump speech that Liebovich recorded since at least last May. But the raw anger coming out of the Edwards camp these days -- the shift in tone from pleasant good humor to spittle-splattering rage -- is a relatively new thing. It all seems to have started back in September, the week Clark got into the race and Hurricane Isabel hit North Carolina. Something shifted that week. An aide to a competing campaign told me he thinks it was that suddenly the middle-tier candidates all realized they were no longer fighting Dean for the nomination, but fighting each other for the chance to face off with Dean later in the contest. Whatever it was, you co...

Well, it seems Bush and Co. have found a way to slow the ebb of dead soldiers arriving home in caskets, at least on television. From Dana Milbank , writing in The Washington Post: Since the end of the Vietnam War, presidents have worried that their military actions would lose support once the public glimpsed the remains of U.S. soldiers arriving at air bases in flag-draped caskets. To this problem, the Bush administration has found a simple solution: It has ended the public dissemination of such images by banning news coverage and photography of dead soldiers' homecomings on all military bases. In March, on the eve of the Iraq war, a directive arrived from the Pentagon at U.S. military bases. "There will be no arrival ceremonies for, or media coverage of, deceased military personnel returning to or departing from Ramstein [Germany] airbase or Dover [Del.] base, to include interim stops," the Defense Department said, referring to the major ports for the returning rema...

Hey all, I'm back! Not certain how many of you saw or knew about this Dean segment from The Daily Show last week. I can't seem to find a direct link, but it's the first video clip on this page titled "Trails and Tribulations." It's pretty funny, especially one moment toward the end. Enjoy!

The Road Trip for America (as I've taken to calling it) kicks off next Monday, October 27. Go read the link at the O-blog for all the info, and here's the schedule for the first week: October 27: Los Angeles Kickoff October 28: Santa Barbara October 29: Salinas, San Jose, and Oakland October 30: Sacramento October 31: Davis and San Francisco The trip will also include Reno, Las Vegas, Flagstaff, Phoenix, Tucson, Las Cruces, Albuquerque, Roswell, Austin, Houston, Dallas, Crawford, New Orleans, Oklahoma City, Little Rock, Jackson (Miss.), Atlanta, Orlando, Raleigh, Richmond, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, and Philadelphia. We'll keep you updated as the tour progresses.

Sorry I haven't posted any of these lately. I've just resubscribed to the mailing list and will try and post these weekly updates once again. Please note that several states are having public rallies. And if I could find the event on Get Local, I've linked it so you can sign up. If there's no link, I'd appreciate locals leaving one in the comments section so the post can be updated. Thanks! Thursday, October 23, 2003 Governor Dean has no public events. ------------------------------- Friday, October 24, 2003 3: 35 p.m. -- Governor Dean appears as a guest on "The Mitch Albom Show" show on the ABC Radio Network. For a local station, visit this site and enter your zipcode . ------------------------------ Saturday, October 25th Governor Dean campaigns in New Hampshire . For more information, please contact the NH Press Office at 603-222-1900. --------------------------------- Sunday, October 26, 2003 Governor Dean campaigns in Michig...

There's been a lot of talk since Election 2000 about how the Democrats are strong in the Blue States (the Northeast and Mid Atlantic, the Pacific Northwest, and the Upper Midwest) while the Republicans are strong in the Red States (everything in between). A conventional wisdom has developed over the past three years -- led by the seminal work by John Judis and Ruy Teixeira, The Emerging Democratic Majority that the Democrats don't have much of a chance of winning Red States and Republicans have less and less of a chance of winning Blue States. In light of the recent California debacle, who knows if this CW holds. But it probably does, to some extent. As Judis and Teixeira point out, over the past few years, Democratic voters have been concentrating in Blue States and Republican voters have been concentrating in Red States, solidifying those states as surer wins for the respective parties. And with the Red States losing population as Blue States gain population, so goes the EDM...

From Dean for America... FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 23, 2003 Congressman Tim Ryan Endorses Governor Howard Dean for President NILES, OHIO--Congressman Tim Ryan (OH-17) today endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Governor Howard Dean, M.D. In making the announcement today, Ryan cited Governor Dean's grassroots-based campaign and his efforts to end the hold of special interests on the governing process. "Governor Dean brings political power back to the people," Congressman Ryan said. "When he sits in the White House his priority will be the people who gave 74 dollars and volunteered their time to his campaign, not the special interest groups who finance their candidate of choice. His message is honest, and I find that refreshing in the political arena." "I am excited that Tim Ryan has decided to join our campaign and take our country back," Governor Dean said. "In his first year in Congress, Tim has already proved himself an...

gem from the Zonkboard: Have you ever noticed that trolls come out about the time school is dismissed and go away about the time parents arrive home from work?

....for Dilbert's Weaseliest Individual . Heh. Somehow I don't think he'll be touting the results of that election while on the stump...

Also posted on the O-blog, the latest Franklin Pierce poll shows Dean opening a large lead (33%) over Kerry (19%), and Clark (7%). His lead cuts across all age groups and gender. Nice work, Dean Team. Must be all those buses rumbling from Vermont to New Hampshire for those busy canvassing days during leaf-peeping season. From the analysis of the polling data: "Governor Dean is opening up a significant lead over Senator Kerry and the pack lagging behind them," said Rich Killion, Fitzwater Center Director. "The first candidate to creep into the 30% range in the Franklin Pierce poll, Dean is enjoying clear leads over Kerry among every critical voter category: Democrats, Independents, men and women and with voters of each of the states' two congressional districts." Even though Howard Dean has been the frontrunner since our July survey, he continues to define himself on his terms and leaves this period -- for the first time -- with not only the highest net fav...

Garance Franke-Ruta has written a wonderful article which is so insightful that I have nothing to add. This quality in Dean's rhetoric -- that he is appealing not just to people's partisan leanings, nor to their particular ethnic or gender identities but to their history and identity as Americans -- is what has made him compelling to so many liberal voters who feel America is no longer even trying to be a "City upon a Hill." Instead of fearing the legacy of northeastern liberalism, he has embraced it as the philosophy that founded contemporary democracy, created America, kept it whole during the 19th century and fought to expand the franchise so that African Americans and women could participate as full citizens. When the other presidential contenders have tried to reach back past the Great Society, it has often been to connect with the last northern Democratic president, John F. Kennedy. And Dean? In the Boston speech, he quickly mentioned the 1960s and the New De...

Shenanigans! I call shenanigans on the DNC! It seems that our good buddies at the DNC have been messing with Dean and Clark. Florida is having a democratic convention in my hometown of Orlando in early December, in which the state's first straw poll will be conducted. Approximately 3000 party activists are expected to attend, and the informal straw poll could give a boost to whomever wins. John Kerry's deputy campaign manager, Marcus Jadotte, has accused Dean of attempting to "stack the deck" in Dean's favor. *sigh* Marcus, honey, give it up. Now the reason I'm calling shenanigans has nothing to do with Marky-Mark and everything to do with the information being given to Dean and Clark by the DNC: It appears increasingly inevitable that the straw poll would happen despite the DNC's protests. Maddox said Saturday that he expects the state party's central committee to vote next month to conduct the poll. Among the campaigns, confusion reigns ov...

LOVE this article from the Village Voice, which examines the open-source campaign of Howard Dean. There's several quotes from the grassroots which - IMO - correctly summarise how vested we are in this campaign and why we're all willing to work so hard to get Howard elected. From the outside, Dean's great innovation appears to be his willingness to trust; certainly the network of activism that cradles him depends heavily on it. From the perspective of the Dean HQ, this means relying on the activists to faithfully echo his positions on the issues. That shouldn't be difficult—the Internet is Dean's indispensable confederate, and his disciples say it not only provides them a community and a voice, but also all the tools—like posters and position papers—that they need to become, in the words of one supporter, "Dean franchisees." Dean's side of the bargain is, on the surface, even simpler: His supporters count on him to dethrone George W. Bush. "This...

Arizona, baby! No previous polling is available. If anyone has that link, please leave it in the comments. Dean 32% Clark 24% Lieberman, Kerry 15% Arizona and the Western states are totally in play, and as many of us have previously theorised, Dean's moderate to conservative stances on gun control and the budget should help him out west. Plus, Arizona is an early primary state (they vote on February 3). A win there would surely help us across the south and west and increase our momentum going into the March Super Tuesday primaries. Lieberman is expected to make a big push in Arizona, and has in fact spent a lot of time out there, but Dean can win with our help. I heard through the grapevine that some of the California Deaniacs are going to Arizona over the next few months and pound some pavement, a la the Texas Rangers in Iowa. (On a related note, Phillip, I still owe you that phone call - I'm sorry - can we try again this week?). These foot soldiers will be key...

Polling report posts the last roundup of all the national polls. I won't blog them all here, just got check it out. And remember, national polls are pretty meaningless at this point. But... that being said, Dean leads in almost all of the national polls this week, and where he's not ahead Clark is on top. For those polls that are based on name recognition, Lieberman is still on top (don't get too excited, TNR , I still say he's down for the count), and in some cases Kerry's in the lead.

Hold on to your morning coffee, folks: Check out the full-size pic over at People Powered Graphics . It must be funny week over at the O-blog . First there was the truck episode that Aziz blogged about yesterday, and this morning we've got both Soylent Dean and the Truckin' image . Oh, and this Borowitz article is hilarious: KERRY, GEPHARDT KEY DEAN’S CAR Tag-Team Dems Go Nasty in Iowa Fight The race for the Democratic presidential nomination took a nasty turn tonight as Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) and Rep. Richard Gephardt (D-MO) were caught keying the car of former Vermont Governor Howard Dean in the parking lot of the town hall in Davenport, Iowa.