Indians enamored of Dean despite his refusal to pander to them

[pruner]

…While candidates Dennis Kucinich and Wesley Clark made their appearances Monday and were politely applauded for their pro-sovereignty and pro-veteran stances, Indians couldn't seem to get enough of Dr. Dean.

<snip>

What was most interesting about Dean was his refusal, even in the midst of 3,000 American Indians, to carve out positions tailored only to Indian voters.

He's done this before. In September, when he came to Albuquerque for the first televised debate, he declined to go too far into Hispanic voter appeals.

"I think Hispanics want what everyone else wants," he told me then.

He said essentially the same things to Indians Wednesday.

"The problems that you have as Native Americans are the same problems that everyone else has," Dean said. "The truth is, we all share a common agenda. Every American needs health care. Every American needs economic determination."

It's an extremely portable campaign philosophy, but you might think it could get you into trouble. A group gathers, invites you to its event, and waits for you to tailor your presentation, to say what its members want to hear. Not necessarily so with Dean.

But if it hurt him, it hardly seemed evident Wednesday.

http://www.abqtrib.com/archives/news03/112203_news_shea.shtml

[madfloridian]

1. Another: "Howard Dean's New Mexico Love-In"

Here is another excellent article on this topic.
Howard Dean's New Mexico Love-In
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/11/20/politics/main584711.shtml

SNIP:..."But yesterday, appearing before reporters with Dean after a private meeting, Richardson paid the highest of compliments to the doctor turned politician.

"Gov. Dean has an impressive array of endorsements from New Mexico from Hispanic and Native American leaders," Richardson said. "Literally, my organization's endorsed him."

His organization?

When Richardson's office was pressed for an explanation on just what the governor meant by his "organization," the response was simply "his coalition of supporters." Richardson's choice of words, however, seemed intentional....."

Not really an endorsement. Good story. Great picture.

[Scott Lee]

2. Proof positive, again, that Howard Dean is pure evil

I'm so glad I know about this stuff. They ran out of duct tape at the Walmart and now I'm worrying about the day that Dean rises up from the lava pits and declares a thousand year reign on earth.

[slinkerwink]

3. oh no!!!!!

He lives in lava pits? That must explain why he always look tanned....

[retyred]

5. Trust me that's not a tan!

retyred in fla
“good night paul, wherever you are”
read the book

[madfloridian]

4. A little boost.

:kick:

[quaker bill]

6. Why does it work?

Because it is genuine. Natives should understand hollow promises better than almost any other group.

I have seen him do it. He tells the group that he basically respects them and therefore is not going to waste their time with the usual batch of empty promises.

Then he goes into "here is what I am going to do to fix the country for everyone" implying that if he gets these things done all will benefit.

It fits in well with the "I am tired of being divided by race, gender, and sexual orientation" line.

The approach has actual philosophical merit. It also seems well integrated in that the various positions mesh well into a common theme. An integrated campaign has the much desired tone of integrity.

[madfloridian]

7. Genuine is a good word.

I get the feeling that he knows he can't fix it all, but that he cares about the issues that are important to me. I like that he is not so afraid of making a mistake that he forgets to speak out. I think the others need to take more chances.