Nation-Building

Air America is online now. Tune in to the O'Franken Factor and listen to Al give 'em hell. The link above goes to a post on annatopia that has links to the online streams. I will give you a head's up - it seems that the most reliable stream is via the Portland affiliate. Al started his show with a statement of purpose, then said the point of Air America is to "Take our country back!" YYYYEEEEEAAAAHHHH!

Live, 5:15 p.m. ET: Howard Dean Nader wants Kerry to lighten up Clunky Kerry Liberal Voices (Some Sharp) Get New Home on Radio Dial

The Boston Herald focuses on the specfic remarks in praise of Dean by President Clinton (and President Carter also) during the Unity Dinner last week: When the biggest Dems gathered last week to fete U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry, they made clear it was not Kerry but rival Dean who deserved credit for giving them an opening against President Bush. "Howard Dean was the first person who legitimized it for all of us to say we don't like what's going on here," former President Bill Clinton told a cheering crowd at the Democratic National Committee's Unity Dinner. Clinton said Bush and his administration tried to push the country "far to the right" but that Dean was the one who stood up and challenged them. "I want to thank courageous Howard Dean for drawing a sharp distinction when it wasn't the thing to do," added former President Jimmy Carter, who met with - but stopped short of endorsing - Dean during the primary. A Kerry win over ...

These are strange times for the Dean netroots. Dean's new organization is (rightly) focused on real-world activism and participation in politics, relegating the Internet infrastructure to a support and logistics role. Trippi's new organization CFA is running in stealth mode, mainly consisting of daily news roundups by Joe Drymala at the CFA blog. And Dean Nation is in a kind of limbo, since Dean himself isn't making much news of late - according to Kos , he walked out halfway through Kerry's speech at the Unity Dinner (UPDATE: because he had a plane to catch, according to Jerome), and according to the o-blog , he will be on CNBC tonight at 7pm EST. What really matters to me most is the community we built here. I found this site to have great value to me, because of the active discussion that took place in the comments, the links-fest at the Zonkboard - even the trolls have a familiarity to them now :) We even have a pet barking moonbat! Does this site have continuing...

UPDATE: Kos covers the Dinner, with photos! Also, turns out that Clinton praised Dean lavishly in his speech, for his backbone translant to the party.

Democratic unity dinner Kerry, Dean spend day mending fences Dean gives Kerry a loud and clear endorsement Tight presidential race brings out young voters

"While my run for the White House ended last month, our work to take back this country has only just begun. George W. Bush's policies continue to fail to deliver on issues that matter most to Americans, and we desperately need a change of leadership come November," said Dean, speaking at a rally with Massachusetts Senator at The George Washington University's Kogan Plaza. "John Kerry is a fighter with a distinguished record of service to this country, and I believe he has the experience, strength, and vision to get this country back on the right path," Dean said. "John Kerry is fighting every day to defeat President Bush because he knows that four more years of George W. Bush's right-wing ideological agenda at home and weak leadership in the world would be devastating to our country for many decades to come. The future of our country depends on defeating this president, and John Kerry is the candidate that can beat this President in November. If ...

The Lehrer NewsHour on PBS at 6:00 pm EST The CBS Evening News at 7:00 pm EST Capital Report on CNBC at 7:00 pm EST in addition to the Democrats United luncheon and the Kerry endorsement - it's a big day for Dean... and there's a LIVE WEBCHAT with Dean right now via JohnKerry.com !

It's way overdue, as one commentor pointed out - who gets our nod? and who gets the jellyroll?

via Dean Nation alum Karl Frisch, The Atlantic Monthly has an in-depth article on the Dean campaign , written by insider and pollster Paul Maslin. It's an even-handed look that portrays Joe Trippi as a genius- enfant-terrible , Dean as an impetous and often unpredictable candidate, and the overall operation as one characterized by flashes of brilliance puntucated by - in hindsight - massive oversights. Maslin does not shy away acepting blame, either. Here's an important excerpt: We were acutely conscious that any sustained flight of television advertising—we were considering running ads for two weeks—was going to take a big bite out of our cap. I assumed that we would proceed carefully and not consider airing anything until after the Fourth of July. So imagine my surprise when Howard Dean burst into our Burlington headquarters on the afternoon of Friday, June 6, followed not long after by Joe Trippi, and announced that we were going to "go up" in Iowa. "Ke...

Thursday, the DNC is hosting it's "Democrats United" conference, which will honor Presidents Carter and Clinton as well as all the candidates for President this year. Dean will be atending, and it's no coincidence that he chose the same day for his official endorsement of Kerry. Unity is going to be a major theme of the DNC from here out, and the single biggest reason is the desire on the part of the establishment to tap into the grassroots the way Dean did. We Dean supporters remain a valuable commodity. Both the party and the media will be taking a close look at the netroots to see how we react. What are your thoughts on being united against Bush? How do you feel about supporting Kerry?

Dean posted to the oblog yesterday afternoon: I don't want to give any of you a heart attack, but I plan to formally endorse John Kerry on Thursday, along with all 34 Congress people who endorsed me during the campaign. One of the goals of the campaign was to send George Bush back to Texas, and the only person with a chance of doing that is John Kerry. I have spoken with him on numerous occasions. He is committed to universal health care, he has an excellent environmental record, and for that and many other reasons, he is a far better choice for president than the current resident of the White House who apparently (as revealed on Sixty Minutes over the weekend) ignored warnings of the potential of a terrorist attack before 9/11 in addition to costing us 2.3 million jobs! In any case, I encourage you to support Sen. Kerry, but if you are not ready to do so, I hope you'll put lots of energy into the other two goals: reforming the Democratic Party to nurture its recent ba...

No, John McCain is not a Democrat. But he is the kind of politician that Howard Dean's new organization is looking for - committed to principle and duty. It's notable that McCain defended Kerry last week from charges of being soft on defense. The addition of McCain to DFA v2.0 would be a powerful asset, and would unite the Dean grassroots with the McCain grassroots of 2000. In the end, we all want the same thing, and I think that it's a mistake to narrow the focus to a sepcific set of policy beliefs.

The o-blog has updated with a clear list of the specific goals of DFA v2, reformulated in a much more direct manner than previously: 1. First, Democracy for America will be committed to strong, sustained grassroots involvement in the democratic process. Today, half of Americans don’t even bother to vote. People see what the problems are, but they are cynical about the system and prospects for change. Only through acting will people recognize the power they have to change this country. 2. Second, Democracy for America will be committed to promoting an America where candidates and office holders tell the truth about policy choices and stand up for what they believe. The era when politicians equivocate about matters as fundamental as war and peace must end. 3. Third, Democracy for America will be committed to fighting against the influence and agenda of the two pillars of George W. Bush’s Washington: the far right wing and their radical, divisive policies, and the selfish special...

Here's the transcript.

In American history, change has come about through lots of different means. Third parties have forced the major parties to compete for votes by addressing certain issues. The Populists and Progressives followed this path. Highly organized grassroots movements have gained influence over one of the major parties, especially when they had minority status and were looking for a way to return to power. The religious right is the most recent example here. Major parties have tried to reach out to new voters "from the top," usually getting them from the pool of swing voters. This is the DLC path. Admittedly, the above analysis is really general and may not hold up in the eyes of real historians. Democracy for America has set itself on the second path. Was this the right decision? I think it was, because the Democratic base already agrees with our core principles (as do many Republicans), and they're just afraid to fight for them. What do you think?

Welcome to the weekend!

After Cheney attacked Kerry on national television, a chickenhawk daring to question a veteran's fitness to lead our troops, the response from prominent Democrats was... utter silence. Only one person defended Kerry and refuted the notion thta he'd be soft on defense. That person was John McCain! This led me to wonder just where the heck the Democrats are. A new article in TAPPED says that they are all united, which is fine, but are they doing anything? The Prospect article even credits Dean with the backbone: It is a revitalized party, taught to walk upright again by Howard Dean and then inherited by John Kerry. But there is still a kind of "Hail Mary" feel to the election. The excitement of the moment can be easily dashed for Democrats, and they know it. The ball is in the air, but it'll take a long eight months to find out the result: touchdown, interception, or dropped pass. And so the important question is: How long will the unity last? Given ...

Dean Group to Focus on Accountability Howard Dean Launches New Group Onward Deaniacs Supporters of Howard Dean Use New Cinemetrix Web-Movie Dean Forms Political Group Dean rallies SF supporters Howard Dean on Real Time with Bill Maher

The new website has launched! The site redesign includes Blogforamerica.com, and is a much cleaner, professional look (kudos to Nicco). The prepared text for today's announcement speech is already posted to the new site. Dean lays out the four primary principles of the new organization: First, Democracy for America will be committed to strong, sustained grassroots involvement in the democratic process. Today, half of Americans don’t even bother to vote. People see what the problems are, but they are cynical about the system and prospects for change. Only through acting will people recognize the power they have to change this country. Second, Democracy for America will be committed to promoting an America where candidates and office holders tell the truth about policy choices and stand up for what they believe. The era when politicians equivocate about matters as fundamental as war and peace must end. Third, Democracy for America will be committed to fighting against t...

Congratulations to Joe! Howard Dean's former campaign manager, Joe Trippi, won one of Wired magazine's Rave Awards on Monday night for his role in a campaign that relied heavily on the Internet. Trippi accepted the award in person at the ceremony, held at The Fillmore rock hall. He shared his award in the "Political Force" category with Scott Heiferman, co-founder of the Web site and online service Meetup.com. The real winners, Trippi said, were the hundreds of thousands of Dean supporters "because they were the ones who used the Internet. This is just the tip of an iceberg."

It looks like CNN has stopped updating the delegate scorecard , which suggests that the impact of further delegates being assigned will indeed be significantly lessened. However, despte not really earning any additional delegates after Vermont, I think that the delegate campaign did have one success in that Kerry has clearly decided to try and utilize Dean as a visible spokesperson and part of the campaign - as Dean demonstrated on MTP on Sunday, he's good at it. Notably absent are Gephardt and Lieberman from similar roles, which means that the Dean movement retains it's influence. Tomorrow the focus will shift to the new organization, so I feel confident in finally dropping the active mantle of the delegate campaign. One major event yesterday though was the primary victory of Illinois state Senator Barack Obama . Obama is an incredible candidate and will be one to watch. He makes for a natural Dean ally and I hope that Dean is able to assist him in winning the seat at stak...

Dean: Bush's order to send troops to Iraq Kerry Wins in Ill., Defends Iraq Votes 'Deanie Babies' Grow Up

Here's the email that Dean sent to the supporter email list yesterday: On March 18, I will announce our plans to build a new organization, using our nationwide grassroots network, to continue our work to transform the Democratic Party and to change America. We are determined to keep this organization as vibrant as it was throughout our campaign. There are a lot of ways to make change. We are leaving one track, but we are going on another track that will take back America for ordinary people again. I will make the announcement in three cities: Thursday, March 18, 2004 Seattle, Washington: 9:30am at the Westin Hotel, Cascade Ballroom, 1900 5th Avenue San Francisco, California: 6:00pm at The Palace Hotel, Ralston Room, 2 New Montgomery Street Friday, March 19, 2004 New York, New York: 11:30am at The New School, Tishman Auditorium, 66 West 12th Street In addition to the formal announcement, we will be launching a new website, and of course, a blog. Wh...

interesting tidbit from The Note: On Friday BC '04 campaign manager Ken Mehlman and former Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi address the Institute for Politics, Democracy, and the Internet's Politics Online Conference at George Washington University, D.C. should be an interesting transcript!

at the end of Inside Politics on CNN, comes this nugget: CROWLEY: Howard Dean's ability to fire up the party faithful included a number of applause lines centered on one theme, change. Dean, as you may know, lost out to Senator John Kerry but his campaign rhetoric lives on. If you listen closely on the campaign trail these days, you might hear a Dean echo. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DEAN: The truth is that the power to change this country is in your hands, not mine. KERRY: We need to change what is happening in this country, and the power to change it is in your hands. (END VIDEO CLIP) CROWLEY: Not convinced? Tomorrow the Kerry campaign plans the first of what it's calling "Change for America" rallies. This is GOOD - the more Kerry relies on Dean rhetoric, the more bound he will be. We ain't no briar patch :) Is anyone planning on attending one of these Change Kerry rallies? If so, remember to wear your Dean gear prominently...

a relevant excerpt: MR. RUSSERT: Let me show you something you said in the campaign way back in July. "If I as governor of Vermont can figure out the case is not there to invade Iraq, how can three senators and a congressman who claim to have authority in public affairs manage to give the president unilateral authority to attack Iraq?" The three senators being Kerry, Edwards, Lieberman and Congressman Gephardt. DR. DEAN: Sure. MR. RUSSERT: Having said that, how can John Kerry make a case against the president on Iraq when he voted to give him the authority? DR. DEAN: Well, first of all, in campaigns, we focus on the differences, and this was a big difference in the campaign. But I think you also need to look at the similarities now that the campaign is over. For whatever our differences were on the war--and they were significant--there are some significant important similarities. First of all, John Kerry has made it very clear that he wanted a real multil...

Pretty neat seeing Dean back on the national stage this morning on MTP, eh? Sure, it's a bitter pill to hear him stumping for Kerry, but in between the promotions he's managing to get our message out. He's reminding those that Dated Dean and Married Kerry that he's not going away and will be the faithful usher waiting with open arms should the Groom falter at the alter. When Russert's session ended I actually tortured myself with thoughts about why Dean would be the best VP choice. You know; money, organization, good attack dog, shorter than Kerry, good age....yea yea yea NOSTALGIA already. What did you come away with from the MTP interview?

Gov.Dean on Meet the Press Howard Dean: The UnNader? New Mexico Watchdog Group Kansas caucuses Kid Reporter Shares Stories From Trail

My sister Maura sent me this response to the DFA v. 2.0 principles quoted by Aziz further down the page. She is an educator and Dean delegate in Washington State with a separate degree in early childhood education. As such, I have great respect for her opinion on these matters. ************************************* And we will fight for progressive policies like: 1. 'Health care for all' should include insurance and special care for: Parents including classes, mat/paternity leave, pre-natal, birthing, nursing, and post-partum family care 2. Young children with changing bodies, teething and dental requirements, walking & talking including the right to wheelchairs or hearing aides... learning what to eat. 3. Middle-schoolers with changing bodies, diets, and exercise habits (no more recess?) 4. People who are differently-abled; mentally and /or physically; temporarily, developmentally, or terminally 5. People experiencing changes of life or ...

The Baltimore Sun has a piece on Trippi that mostly ignores Dean (dexcept for some tweaking). While there are some major flaws (for example, it insinuates that Trippi was personally responsible from growing the grassroots from 432 to 600,000, without really acknowledging the role of the grassroots and independent websites), it's still a good piece and does a lot to re-humanize the architect of the campaign. The most interesting thing is the closer though: "I want to chill out for a week," he says, "and decide what I'm going to do with the rest of my life." This is not a man who chills well. It's hard to imagine Trippi without CNN and Internet access and a cell phone pressed to his ear. It will be just him in a bathing suit and shades lying in the hot Mexican sun with nothing to do but roll over in the sand if a stranger happens to ask, "Senor, would you rather be dead ... or working for George Bush?" The track record for populist poli...

"John Kerry and I had a very good meeting today. During the campaign we often focused on what divided us, but the truth is we have much more in common beginning with our fervent desire to send George Bush back to Crawford, Texas in November. The future of our country depends on this. In addition to our strong commitment to turning this country around by beating George Bush, John and I also share a strong commitment to providing healthcare to every American, cleaning up and protecting our environment, and getting the 3 million Americans who lost their jobs during George Bush's presidency back to work. As I have previously said, I will work closely with John Kerry to make sure we beat George Bush in November and turn our country around. There is a lot we can do together to rebuild an America that belongs to all of us, and we'll be saying more about what our amazing grassroots network can do to help with this goal on March 18."" -- Governor Howard Dean

Kirkpatrick Sale writes in his now-classic history of the SDS that the group produced buttons for the 1964 Democratic campaign that, in contrast to the LBJ campaign slogan "All of the way with LBJ" read "Part of the way with LBJ." They gave him a partial endorsement for his work on Civil Rights and the Great Society, even though they disagreed with the then-smoldering conflict in Vietnam. Maybe we need "Part of the way with JFK" buttons?

The link above goes to the Yahoo News photo archive of Dean's meeting with Kerry today. Dean was given a standing ovation by the Kerry staff. I've archived a few of the better photos here so they don't expire. I think that having voted for Dean yesterday, and seeing Dean embrace Kerry (though not yet endorse, though that is surely coming) has been good for me in a sense. I know I felt as disappointed as anyone else that we wouldn't see a Dean Administration. I can now finally let go of that dream - and with no regrets. I certainly won't call this "closure" though - because that implies an end, and we all know that Dean ain't done yet. Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean reacts to applauding Kerry campaign staffers as he and Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry , D-Mass., enter the Kerry campaign headquarters in Washington, D.C., Wednesday, March 10, 2004. Dean, the former Democratic presidential frontrunner, came to Washington ...

From the tone of this Reuters article (posted nine minutes ago) it doesn't sound like Dean is ready to "fall into line" quite yet: The meeting between Kerry and Dean, one of his harshest critics in the early battle among Democrats for the right to challenge Bush on Nov. 2 and a one-time front-runner, was not expected to produce an immediate formal endorsement... ...."The senator expects to continue his positive dialogue with Gov. Dean," Kerry spokesman David Wade said. "He has sought his advice and input and Gov. Dean has been very generous."

My county (Galveston) hasn't reported yet, but there was a lot of appreciative murmuring when I drove up to my precinct polling place with my Dean sticker. Today is a day I'll proudly recall to my daughter years from now. The day I voted for Dean.

ladies and gentlemen, i am now an *elected official*. can you freakin' believe that?!?! tonight i was unanimously elected precinct chair for texas 2217. i was also selected to lead our delegation in the senate district caucuses in two weeks. i never thought - when i started following howard dean's candidacy in august of 2002 - that i would be here right now, at this moment, helping to take my country back. damn, this feels good. as for our precinct caucus, dean took 50% of the delegates and kerry took the other 50%! and in the other precinct i was monitoring (2026) we got a 50-50 split with kerry there as well. EAT THAT, NAYSAYERS! keep your eyes on Dean for Texas tonight. we're posting updated delegate counts as the results are called in. remember that tonight's delegate selection isn't the final count. i've explained it all over in my daily kos diary . the delegate campaign rolls on!

The o-blog has a thread relating to the principles that Dean laid out for the new DFA v2.0 organization, in his Feb 26th speech in New Haven. These are: "We will promote grassroots democracy and bring new people into politics. We will support candidates and office-holders who tell the truth; stand up for what they believe; and oppose the radical agenda of the far right. We will fight against the special interests. And we will fight for progressive policies like: Health care for all. Investment in children. Equal rights under the law. Fiscal responsibility; A national security policy that makes America stronger by working with allies and advancing progressive American values." What do you think? Personally I don't like #3 because I think it's too vague. we need to specify which special interests we don't like and why. Also, investig in children should not mean throwing piles of money at schools, but rather a more focused approach. And I love...

why the war in Iraq is an issue: The American people will tolerate a great deal in the president. One thing they will not tolerate is misinforming the American people, particularly if it turns out to be deliberate. That is why the Iraq war will continue to be an issue in the campaign. Not because we’re at war, and people object to going to war - there have always been people who object to going to every war. But because the American people will not tolerate finding out after the fact that they were not told the truth. on Greenspan and Social Security: We have a chairman of the Federal Reserve who has done something, to me, which is just absolutely stunning. Alan Greenspan, who has served this country with honor and very well for a long time, in the 1990s, was part of an attempt to fix the Social Security problem and help craft a solution - perhaps it was the late 80s - help craft a solution where we would raise payroll taxes some, and Social Security would be extended. Recent...

Resolved: That Howard Dean should and ought by all rights to be elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee to replace Terry McAuliffe in 2005.

Sometimes, ideas in politics come from so far out in, er, left field, that I'm completely blown away. Who would have thought that Tom Brokaw was a credible choice for Veep? well... after doing some cursory research into his biography, suddenly I think so too. Brokaw is retiring from his anchor position at NBC and at age 63 is still not too old to switch careers. Reading over the transcript of Brokaw's moderation of the Iowa Debate, I come away impressed. Even the Village Voice grudgingly admitted that Brokaw did his job well, asking tough questions all around. I was fascinated to find out that Brokaw dropped in unannounced to the Dean campaign headquarters the day before the Iowa caucuses, to chat with Trippi. A recent Q&A with Brokaw by the CJR asked him about his plans after retiring from NBC, and he also had some comments about Dean's campaign : The mainstream media initially missed the strength of Howard Dean’s campaign. Was that because Dean was succe...

I don't know yet if Texas has electronic ballots, but after reading this voting horror story from Thomas Nephew, I am starting to wonder. My earlier proposal about how to implement an electronic audit trail is crude and there are literally dozens of ways you could implement a similar scheme that meets the same criteria. Still, tomorrow I will cast my vote for Dean. It may well be my only chance to ever do so. But I have hope yet that it will count for something more in the long run.

Forgive me for ever intimating that Howard Dean was a liberal. Once again, he proves to be a master of compromise. This AP article (printed in the Boston Globe) reveals that in just four short years civil unions have become completely normative in Vermont: Just four years ago, civil unions for gay couples were considered a positively radical idea. Now, they are almost an ordinary event in Vermont. In fact, in some parts of the country, civil unions have become the moderate fallback position in the nation's growing debate over gay marriage. Massachusetts politicians, including Republican Gov. Mitt Romney, have searched for a way to institute civil unions and thwart a ruling by the state's highest court granting gay couples the right to marry. Similarly, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry opposes gay marriage but would support civil unions. And despite fears that former Gov. Howard Dean's signing of the Vermont civil unions law would doom him, it play...

Dean Nation alumnus Jerome Armstrong has an analysis of the niche that DFA v2.0 seems to be evolving towards. The bottom line is that Jerome sees DFA v2 as the leader-in-waiting after a presumed Kerry stumble and Bush re-election. I think that point can be debated - there's simply no telling what Dean will do next and it's certain that the goal of the new organization will be very much dominated by Dean's specific vision, of which we can only guess. But there is at least one part of the analysis that seems fairly on the mark and undisputable: that the netroots will be a reduced force: Roy Neel is the executive in charge of the transition, and is guiding the formation of the new organization. What that means is that Gore and Dean are closer than ever, that Trippi's influence has completely waned, and that the decentralized netroots effort is no longer a guiding force from within Howard Dean organization. Burlington's DFA is in its last days, the current HQ...

Kevin Drum recently did a nice summary of the reasons why the compressed primary campaign was a good thing . And having a nominee early also makes cool scenarios like Ezra Klein's "shadow government" possible. However, there is one rather counter-intuitive downside - overconfidence. Here's the dynamic at play. We have a nominee. He starts attacking Bush. The ABB crowd get's hyped up, because we have a guy saying the things we have been saying for three years. These things are the reason why Dean captured our imagination early on and that same rhetoric drives Kerry's success. And the media responds! The Bush campaign ads are ferociously attacked, scandals and investigations abound on PlameGate and the 9-11 stonewalling. Kerry outpolls Bush in Florida, Juan Williams interviews Administration officials on NPR and gets fact-checked by the left for letting them get away with blatant lies. It's all looking great! William Saletan has a new piece in S...

Howard Dean is currently on C-Span at something called the "Annual Pre-Gridiron Dinner Event." I saw the end of this earlier, and it was a good speech about trade issues, and the necessity of balancing continuing openness on trade with policies that will help ease the resulting economic dislocations. Given how polarized and dogmatic trade rhetoric can get, it was a real breath of fresh air.

This Burlington Free Press article discusses Dean's plans for the new grassroots organization (click the title above). An excerpt: Dean acknowledged at a Wednesday night meeting of supporters in Burlington he was leaving for Washington, D.C., on Thursday to drum up funds for the new, as yet unnamed organization. "Yeah, we'll do some fund raising," Dean said. "It's one of the reasons I'm going to Washington tomorrow." Longtime Dean aide Kate O'Connor declined Thursday to say how much money Dean hopes to raise to fund the new organization. Dean will unveil his plans for the group in Seattle on March 18, then go on a cross-country speaking tour to tout the plan to supporters. Dean has declined to discuss in detail what his new organization's focus will be, but hinted at the Wednesday meeting that one of its roles would be as a Democratic watchdog for progressive values. "There's a mission for this party that's been ...

We haven't been called by the Kerry people yet, but the DeanTV Action News Vehicle could be back in action after some repair. When the riots start again in either Ohio or Florida, you can count on us to be there with a camera as Tom DeLay's gang of Thugs March In like they did to stop the count in Florida. Anybody need a ride? We'll stop in Boston and New York City first. There's a good Irish pub in between each stop.

Dean Nation has raised $40,000 dollars plus change for Dean for America. Still, DFA v2.0 still has about $100k in debt remaining. Can we raise another $1000 for DFA between now and the March 18th announcement?

Dean dropped by for a surprise visit to last night's meetup in Burlington - there's a great report on the o-blog about it, plus pictures. But the best meetup report is from Chris at Interesting Times: Overall, the Portland area saw a drop in meetups from 9 locations last month to only 3 this month. But attendance was still good at the meetup I went to (about 30 people). It took a while to build the meetup momentum that we had before and it might take a few months to get the numbers back up again. But it is possible. Why do I say that? Because, despite Dean dropping out, there were new people at the meetup last night! emphasis mine - it's extremely interesting that new people continue to be drawn to the Dean movement. It's not unexpected that the soft support would drop and that overall meetup numbers would decrease, but Dean's core message remains universal: bring citizens back into the democratic process. The fact that new people continue to attend meet...

Dick Golden, a frequent visitor at Dean Nation & Progressive Nation, had this published in the Sarasota Herald Tribune today: Primary votes still matter The presidential primary Tuesday is still important. It offers Florida Democrats the opportunity to vote with their hearts. The preferences expressed in the primary do not have to relate to the votes cast in the Nov. 2 election. March is for the heart; November is for the head. Understandably, the Democratic Leadership Council and the Democratic National Committee have been eager to produce a presidential candidate. Clich? or not, there are occasions when haste makes waste. Howard Dean is on the Florida ballot. If he was or might have been one's candidate -- and if one accepts the fact that Dean's candidacy for 2004 is undeniably dead -- please read on. Dean suspended his campaign and pledged to support the eventual Democratic candidate, and to urge his own supporters to vote for whomever the Democratic candi...

Vermont Public Radio has a brief segment interviewing Dean about his victory in the VT primary. Dean talks about how the delegate campaign is helpful, and praises Truth and Hope 's efforts to keep the campaign alive on that front. Dean wins Vermont Primary Tuesday night, VPR's Bob Kinzel spoke with former presidential candidate Howard Dean about his strong victory in the Vermont primary. In a telephone conversation, Dean reflected on politics in Vermont, his future plans and how gratified he is by the support in his home state. Dean explicitly mentions working with moderate Republicans as part of the goals of DFA v2.0. Score!

This Sunday at 8pm, CNN is set to air a special documentary following the highs and lows of the Dean campaign. For anyone who has been involved, this should be a great tribute to Dean, and a look at what went wrong (through the lens of the media, at least). I'm also hoping they'll do a little work on what comes next for Gov. Dean. Hope they took the time to arrange for an interview with him, although I doubt it. My guess is this is culled from their video archives. Probably won't offer anything new, but it should be fun to revisit the high points. Enjoy! UPDATE: (Aziz) The documentary is actually about the campaign staff, not the Governor himself. It mostly follows Matthew Gross and Mark Sundeen (both of whom are now blogging at CFA) around during the Sleepless Summer Tour. It should be a very interesting look behind the scenes and the media firewall. Karl has a reviewed a rough cut if you want more detail.

we have your summits right here...

Kerry had this to say about Governor Dean during his victory speech : Today we are all reminded of the unprecendented contribution he has made to our party, and our country, particularly by bringing so many who were disenfranchised into our party, and into the political process, and I know he will continue to fight to do that. I take Kerry at his word for his sincerity, but I plan to hold him to this sentiment. As should we all - by voting Dean. But there's only one way we can ensure that the DFA v2.0 organization can truly achieve its potential to keep Kerry and all the other politicians continually reminded of who they work for. We must help DFA retire its debt .

Thus far the count from CNN is pretty good - 15 from Vermont of course, but also 13 from California (despite only getting 4% of the vote, and 3 from Maryland with 3%. I think we can lay the Trippi thesis to rest now). Plus a few pickups in other states. Kucinich earned some delegates in his home state, but unlike Dean could not beat Kerry on home ground, though he essentially campaigned only in Ohio in prep for the big day. And Edwards could not win Geirgia, and will withdraw from the race. All in all, the outcome was a huge validation of the Dean Delegate campaign. Super Tuesday showed that there is a strong reserve of Dean support out there that will materialize and even win states without an active campaign. Imagine what we can achieve when DFA v2.0 is launched! And, the argument that we need to vote against Kerry and for Edwards turned out to have been equally futile. Any Dean supporters who voted Edwards thinking that he had a chance to dethrone Kerry were fooling themselv...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former Democratic front-runner Howard Dean won the primary in his home state of Vermont on Tuesday even though he quit the presidential race last month. CNN and Fox projected the former Vermont governor as the winner in the state, beating front-runner John Kerry. The delegate campaign rolls onwards - check CNN's summary page for latest numbers. I predict delegate gains in California and Massachusetts! I also predict that Edwards' only chance of picking up delegates is in Georgia - and that's too close to call .

Are there any artists out there who are interested in putting together quick sketches? I'm thinking either along the lines of political cartoons, or just images to accompany posts. All schedules and availabilty (at need and regularly) welcome. If so, please contact me at prgrssvntn@yahoo.com. Thanks!

Zephyr at the o-blog reminds us that today is also Vermont Town Meeting Day - the epitome of small-d democracy, in the fine New England Tradition. I also hear that there are some delegates being assigned today - unfortunately Texas is not part of Super Tues because of a Delay. Tom Delay, to be precise. But our duty is clear. As the essay from the Burlington Free Press says: The ancient Greeks and the American founders believed that a community reflects the character and virtues of its members. By fostering close human relations, politics in a democracy enables individuals to transcend selfish interests and consider the community's well-being. Whether all that goes on in a typical Vermont town meeting is another issue, but it is a reminder of the potential intimacy of local democracy compared with the alienating remoteness of large-scale politics. Town meeting participation can be personally transforming. Many people discover new self-confidence when speaking their min...

I was seriously considering voting for Sen. John Edwards today. If for nothing more than trying to extend the primary. But when I walked in the voting booth and stared at the names before me, I knew I had to vote for Gov. Dean. Walking to my car... I knew I did the right thing. Happy Super Tuesday.

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