Dean strategy keeps his rivals off balance

[Rose Siding]

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- Senator John F. Kerry knew it could be one of the biggest arrows in his preprimary quiver, so he spent months courting Jeanne Shaheen to be his national campaign chairwoman, eager to tap the former New Hampshire governor's popularity and political skills both in her early-voting home state and before audiences across the country.

So what day did the Massachusetts Democrat decide to let fly with his announcement and stand in the spotlight with his prize catch? Unfortunately, he chose Sept. 23, the day Howard Dean invaded Boston for a "Beantown is Deantown" rally attended by 2,500 people at Copley Square.

snip>

In addition, all political campaigns must identify potential supporters and get them to the polls on Election Day. Last month, the Dean campaign gathered about 2,000 New Hampshire residents at 12 sites for what it termed regional organizing conventions. The agenda was dominated by plans for politicking in the final three months of the primary campaign. "We anticipate that this will be the largest meeting of organizers in the history of New Hampshire presidential politics," Karen Hicks, Dean's state campaign director, said in a news release.

Steve Grossman, a longtime Democratic activist in Massachusetts who is Dean's national campaign chairman, said the campaign has found success by creating a new paradigm in politics. While traditional campaigns such as Kerry's have a pyramid-shaped structure running from the campaign manager on down, Dean's campaign is more comparable to concentric circles, with independent spheres across the country overlapping with Dean and the senior staff at headquarters in Burlington, Vt.

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/president/dean/articles/2003/11/11/dean_strategy_keeps_his_rivals_off_balance?mode=PF

[blm]

1. All about process, and little about real policy.

http://www.time.com/time/election2004/columnist/klein/article/0,18471,538907,00.html

[sfecap]

2. Watching Kerry's campaign impode is interesting, though.

n/t

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

4. More BS. Repeating it ad nauseum doesn't make it true.

Think about it: Apart from his early stand against the war in Iraq, what has distinguished Dean's candidacy from that of the other Democrats?

Guns.
Taxes.
Healthcare.
Values.



From the John Kerry campaign:

But the most noteworthy change is the all-out attack on Dean, from his positions on taxes, healthcare and guns to, yes, his "values."
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2003/11/11/kerry/index2.html


Kerry sees that Dean is more than just the anti-Iraq War candidate. Why can't you and Joe Klein see it?

[tsipple]

5. "Apart from his early stand against the war in Iraq..."

That one's kind of important, don't you think? You know, dying and killing and national security and all that stuff?

[Northwind]

8. Which is working

Which is ALL that matters. nothing matters in a campaign but getting the votes. The process in a campaign is EVERYTHING. You and your candidate do not GET that, and that is why his campaign in dead.

[KittyWampus]

3. Why Rivals- In Plural?

I really don't see Clark as "off balance" he's just about hitting his stride.
Even if the mass media has him on ignore.

Stuff that Clark and his campaign have accomplished in the last 2 weeks:

New community website that kicks ass
Wes Cam- Real Time version of the War Room
Quick Response Team that's been on top of things for last 2 weeks
Some great soundbites - Leave No Veteran Behind
Detailed Policy Speeches which have found their way into Junior & other candidates & Democrats speeches
Prodigious amounts of fundraising
Clarkapolooza in the works

[DianeK]

6. just by virtue of your comment

illustrates that clark must be doing something very wrong because he obviously is not getting his message out, he is having some trouble energizing his base not only with the desire to support him with money but in their organizational strategy...i find this to be true of not just clark but most all of these candidates besides of course, the obvious one who shall remain nameless as i do not want to be accused of bashing..and i am not bashing..i am just curious why, if you support one of the candidates, why are you doing everything in your power to help that candidate get his or her message out in whatever way you can..could it be that you have not been invited to do that? the beauty of the dean campaign is truly that the people are running it..it is a campaign that runs from the bottom up

[KittyWampus]

7. What Are You Talking About?

Seriously!

Have you even READ DemocraticUnderground? There are a NUMBER of posts every day listing what Clark has accomplished before entering the race and SINCE entering the race.

There are numerous threads about his speeches, his books, his apperances....

There are people actively campaigning across the country for Clark.

His new Community Website is lightyears ahead of Dean's or any other candidate running. It is run exclusively by Clark supporters. See here: http://www.forclark.com

Clark is getting GREAT press in smaller papers. Unfortunately the major media has largely put him on ignore... except for hit pieces.

Clark is apparently raising quite a large sum of money... the only reason he hasn't got as much as Dean is only because Dean started at least one year earlier.

What ARE you talking about?

[KaraokeKarlton]

9. It's not that Clark is doing "bad"

He just waited too long to get in and Dean is better at getting the media to pay attention. Dean doesn't slow down a bit when he campaigns. He just continues to build up speed. It really doesn't matter how well Clark does, he's not going to be able to catch up and pass Dean. He'll come the closest to the others, for sure, but he got in too late to cut the mustard against Dean. I still think he'd make a good VP or head of the military, though.

[FrenchieCat]

10. Pluease!!!

If Dean gets himself some foreign policy experience before the election, I might vote for him.

BushCo. wants Dean......not Clark. That's why the tape praising Bush's foreign policy (hoping they would hold the line in EUROPE) came out via Drudge...that's why Shelton (Repug) is working on the Edwards campaign, and that's why Andrew Sullivan and New Post keep doing smear jobs on Clark..... and that's why the corporate whores are featuring and pushing Dean big time.

If one bothers to connect the dots, one can get a clear picture.

Clark discussed PNAC yesterday with Chris Matthews on a TV interview. Of course, that's not going to generate media....I wonder why?....mmm....mmmm....mmmm....

CNN has not mentioned Clark's name in over 4 weeks (Bush probably has seeked the SEC on AOL Time Warner again). They are all saying he's going to fade...while he continues to be the best at beating Bush in the Newsweek polls from yesterday. Had to write and ask for a correction though...initially they had Dean doing the best at beating Bush. Problem is their poll stats didn't jive with that. Took quite a few Clarkie letters to get it corrected. It's corrected on the link I am providing. Problem is that the hard copy went out with the wrong info. Wonder why?...mmm...mmm...mmm...

http://www.msnbc.com/news/990895.asp?0cv=KB20