Re-Building the Democratic Party (Pacific Views blog)

[Jim Sagle]

because democrats have more fun ;)

September 25, 2003

Kos has a post up this morning that talks about the difference between the campaign styles of Clark and Dean. Ever since Clark entered the race, it looked like his campaign crew and big-pocket backers were much more concerned about "controlling" the message. Watching the Clark campaign shutdown its netroots because they aren't "authorized" reminds me about what I really like about Dean's campaign.

Dean's campaign is all about rebuilding an activist party, one where people are not just Democrats at the polling booths, but proud Democrats who are excited about the political process. I think it would be a real shame to lose that sense of people power that Dean's campaign has nurtured.

It comes down to who "owns" the candidate. In Dean's case, there is so much money coming from small donors, there is a sense that Dean can afford to listen to the voices of the little guys, rather than having his campaign owned and run by the big time contributors. It will free Dean from having to sell his soul for the next million dollars and it provides him an army of people who are willing to work on his campaign. And the passion of Dean's supporters could prove to be the critical edge when going against the huge campaign chest that Bush will have.

I want to see the Democratic party become less ossified and more confidently for the little guys. Dean's campaign does that and right now it looks like Clark's will not. I hope that some of those DNC'ers are reading Kos and thinking about what he said about the process being as important as the candidate for the future of the Democratic party.

Posted by Mary at September 25, 2003 10:52 AM

http://www.pacificviews.org/archives/000214.html