Dean Supporters : Numbers To Be Proud Of!

[helleborient]

As of this morning, according to http://www.deanforamerica.com


491,243 overall Dean supporters signed up!

130,000+ members of Dean Meetups!

40,483 handwritten letters to voters in Iowa and New Hampshire!

33,586 individuals have pledged to support Howard Dean in their state's primaries and caucuses!

1,649 individuals have volunteered to travel to Iowa or New Hampshire to campaign!

72 days until Iowa! 80 until New Hampshire!

Also, one great thing I've noticed that the Dean campaign has put online - grassroots organizing school!

Go to school.deanforamerica.com and learn more about grassroots organizing - for the Dean campaign - or any campaign you're involved in!

[Padraig18]

1. I just finished 10 letters!

Hello, all you IA Dems! :hi:

[RevolutionStartsNow]

2. The number of letters written

is astounding. I've written several myself, and have more to go. By all accounts this is an effective strategy; people working in NH and IA say that many people have signed up after getting the letters.

Also, change that number of individuals going to IA or NH to 1,650, because I'm going!

[LuminousX]

4. I have to say I though the letter idea was lame

But the more and more I hear about it and really think about it, it has to be effective. I know how my mind works. As sick as it sounds, the opinions and views of a handful of unknown people here carry more weight with me than so many pundits and talking heads in the media. They shouldn't but they do.

Thus, I can imagine getting a letter from someone simply explaining why he or she supports a candidate would mean quite a bit. It wouldn't switch my position, but it might encourage me, much like a passionate post by JohnKleeb encouraged me to dig deeper into Kucinich, to take a longer look at the candidate.

It is just impressive and in some ways, awe inspiring.

[Pavlovs DiOgie]

5. It seemed a bit goofy to me at first

But the fact is that after the first batch of letters went out to Iowa, Dean's numbers improved. The same happened when supporters wrote letters to NH. This time around, I finally decided that it wasn't a wasted effort, and enjoyed writing 10 letters to Iowans. It's been years since I've received a handwritten letter, and I'd be excited to get one today! I can only hope that the people I wrote will take a look at Dean and decide for themselves.

[helleborient]

6. It is awe inspiring...

To see a group of 10 people around a table writing the letters, joking about writer's cramp, but still eagerly finishing them and mailing them off.

[Egnever]

3. Numbers to be proud of indeed

I am trying to decide on whether I can make it to Iowa myself.

If we can win both of these primaries the writing will be on the wall.I know there are a lot of people out there ready to do what it takes to wrest the white house back from chimp.

Our numbers are proving it.

[Cocoa]

7. ah there's that Dean idealism

I don't remember the last time I heard anyone talk about what Dean stands for.

It's now only about how soundly Dean is thumping his enemies, or how jealous the other canidates are.

The turning point here at DU I think is a thread entitled "It's not about the issues" started by a Dean supporter after Dean flip-flopped on some issue or other.

[helleborient]

8. This thread is about what we, Dean supporters, are doing...

In participatory democracy.

And we are celebrating it!

Thank you all fellow Dean supporters!

[Cocoa]

9. that's fine

but lately this seems to be all Dean is about.

I thought that Dean was supposed to be a different kind of candidate, a candidate about principles, unlike all the "Washington" candidates.

Now it's all about polls and $$$$$, it seems.

[Pavlovs DiOgie]

10. Wow, you must be reading a different political board then

First of all, because of the stupid CF attacks, Deanies have been busy explaining that Dean stands for bringing low income voters back to the democratic side.

But you must have missed the thousands of posts in the last few months on Dean's opposition to the war, on his health care position and how in VT he helped get every child insured and lowered child abuse by 50%. You must have missed the threads on Dean wanting to repeal NCLB and give local districts back their deserved power in educating its children.

[Cocoa]

11. but see, that contradicts Dean's original claim

when I first heard about Dean, he was supposed to be about standing for the Democratic base. He had that famous line about the "Democratic wing of the democratic party."

If he is now about reaching out to people that have been voting republican, that's great, but it seems to me it doesn't agree with what he stood for in the beginning.

[helleborient]

12. You win elections by expanding that base...

If you don't win the election, you don't get to govern.