For people who DO want Dean as DNC chair--

[eridani]

--here is the contact list.

http://drafthoward.com/index.php?id=19

My letter--

I am writing to ask you to support Dr. Howard Dean for chair of the DNC. Since he ended his campaign for president, he has vigorously encouraged people not actively engaged in electoral politics to join the Democratic Party and to run for office at all levels. The
only other person I have heard being recommended for this job is Governor Vilsak of Iowa. He's a fine governor, I'm sure, but that is already a full-time job. Dr. Dean would be able to devote all of his time toward growing the party.

There has been a big influx of members into the party during the 2003 primary campaign season. In WA state, this has been due to the self-organized volunteer campaigns of Dean and Kucinich, and to a lesser extent Clark. The question before the DNC is this--do you
want this small army of doorbellers, phone canvassers and small amount donors to become permanent party activists, or not? If you do, selecting Dr. Dean as DNC chair sends a powerful message to that effect.

The alternative is for the party to continue turning its back on its old strength of base mobilization through shoe leather, leave that aspect of politics to the Republicans, and try to use advertising alone to overcome the Republican media noise machine. If the Enrons
and the Halliburtons of the Republican Party aren't too embarrassed to use people who think that they are going to be Raptured real soon now as their footsoldiers, surely the Democrats should not be embarrassed to similarly utilize their own crazy element, which merely wants universal health care, and end to unilaterally declared wars and something done about outsourcing and corporate fraud.

Additionally, Dr. Dean has been clearly addressing the need for fully transparent, accessible and auditable voting processes. Various statistical anomalies show that it is entirely
possible that vote suppression and fraud gave the election to Bush, but it will be completely impossible to prove it one way or another because private companies have stolen auditability from us. If the DNC remains unwilling to address this issue, the Democratic Party might as well resign itself to extinction, sooner rather than later.

[MoJoWorkin]

1. Great letter and persuasive arguments in Dean's favor

I hope you have better luck than I did trying to get thru to these ostrich dems. I worked as a volunteer in Sen. Carnahan's local office back before the Iraq Resolution vote. I tried my best to reason with her regarding the folly of voting for it, but, alas, she and other spineless dems voted to give their Constitutional power to declare war away to the Usurper. Needless to say, I resigned from her office following that debacle.
I wholeheartedly support Dean, if he truly wants the job, and will do what I can in that regard. He was my heart's choice for Pres--as he has backbone, and not afraid to tell it like it is. What an admirable human being!:thumbsup:

[aprillcm]

2. I think he would be a good Chair

I have said before he was not my choice for President, but the reasons why he was not my choice for President make him the Idea candidate for Democratic Party Chairman, he will energize and bring energy to the position and the party. That never hurts.
Not to mention the Republicans think he would be bad for the Party and hey I have to admit anything the Bush Repubs are for or against I am gonna run in the opposite direction. Dean For Party Chair!

[Dulcinea]

38. I would support him too.

He wasn't my preferred candidate either, but I do like his passion & energy. He'd be great in that position!

[Razorback_Democrat]

28. He'll Be great at fundraising

for the RNC

give them another target to hit

[eridani]

3. Kick for the URL n/t

[sandnsea]

4. How does this help?

"In WA state, this has been due to the self-organized volunteer campaigns of Dean and Kucinich, and to a lesser extent Clark."

The supporters of other candidates did nothing??? And why piss on Clark supporters? I just don't understand this egomania.

[eridani]

5. Are you from WA state?

If you are, then you know that all the people standing on street corners, going to community meetings, and doing pre-caucus canvassing on behalf of candidates were mainly doing so on behalf of Dean, Kucinich and Clark. Not pissing on Clark--he never visited the state (and people do appreciate being asked directly for their votes), and his organization was smaller. (To their credit, they did get something going for Clark with absolutely no help whatsoever from his national campaign.)

At our LD caucus candidates night, speakers were prearranged for these three candidates. No one was there for Kerry or Edwards. The chair managed to tap someone from the audience for Kerry, but not for Edwards. So yes, the supporters of the other candidates who were just plain Joe and Jane Does who had usually not gotten involved directly in Dem primaries did nothing. The higher-ups in the party of course were mainly Kerry, with some Edwards supporters who never said a single word about how his policies were better--every sentence out of their mouths was about the demographic we needed to appeal to with an Edwards candidacy.

Now, after Kerry won the nomination, most of those people put that energy into his campaign and mobilized many more people. But that's a different story.

[dorktv]

6. At my own local meetings for my LD we had a ton

of Dean people all the time, and one paid staffer for Kerry once in a while.

[Cheswick2.0]

9. how does your post help?

There was no insult... only the comment that there were grassroots for all three candidates mainly Dean and DK. Sounds like an observation to me.

[zulchzulu]

11. Precisely

I guess the hundreds of Kerry people I worked with in the primaries are chopped liver. Maybe we're not "pure" enough.

How freaking nauseating.

[Cheswick2.0]

12. lol

don't you have anything better to do but go around pissing on threads about Dean?

[zulchzulu]

13. Well...

If it's a nauseating statement that presumes bullshit, I'll call you on it.

That statement was meant to be some sort of divisive commentary, imo.

I guess you may as well start off nominating Dean for the DLC chair by being divisive, huh...makes a lot of sense.

[unfrigginreal]

18. "That statement was meant to be some sort of divisive commentary"

No, but you're doing your best to make it that.

[ScreamingMeemie]

14. I am being honest here when I say that I met not a Kerry "person"

while working on the campaign. Two Kucinich "people" working the office at all hours. Clark and Dean "people" on the streets...even a Lieberman "person" once. I guess they got too wrapped up in "playing chess".

[eridani]

31. I was talking about WA state

There were almost no grassroots Kerry people. I'm not trying to say that things were the same in Wisconsin.

[AntiCoup2K4]

15. Here's what the reality was in Washington state

Every sign, button and bumper sticker I saw in primary season was either Dean or Kucinich. Every person I personally talked to was for Dean or Kucinich, except my parents, who were Edwards fans. There was one Clarkie at my caucus. I actually thought they would do better. As I would have predicted, the 2 largest groups there - Dean & Kucinich.

Oh, and as for the Kerry group? It was pretty sizeable at the beginning of the caucus. But by the time the Dean and Kucinich camps totally diffused the "electability" bullshit, that group had shrunk considerably, with about half of those folks splitting evenly between the Dean & Kucinich camps. Kerry still came out a respectable third though :)

So there's no "pissing" and no "egomania" here, just the reality of who the Democrats in this state really wanted to see in the White House.

And I'm sure if you asked our state party about it, they would tell you that Kerry benefitted from the energy of those volunteers later on. So I fail to see any reason for objection.

[ScreamingMeemie]

16. Ahhhhh....Who are you going to believe? What they're telling you

happened,or your own lying eyes??? ;) :hi:

[sandnsea]

20. the truth

Dennis campaigned in every single town in Oregon for weeks. Every one. Even my little town of 7,000. Two people on the ballot, Kerry & Kucinich. He got 17%. Kerry got 81%. Granted this was May, but still. He got 3% in Washington, Dean got 18%, Kerry got 52%. Lying eyes? People are full of themselves and most Kerry people stopped talking about him on the ground to avoid arguments. Even during the regular campaign, the amount of misinformation that was left over from the primaries was astounding. In retrospect, I'm amazed we did as well as we did. And with this continued willingness to believe any horrible thing about mainstream Democrats, I don't see much hope for the future.

[zulchzulu]

22. Numbers are a b*%ch

Like you mentioned, those that voted in overwhelming numbers for Kerry are somehow to be seen as evil or not really what voters wanted to express. People voted. Call them idiots, sheeple...whatever...they still voted based on what they saw.

I like Kucinich. I like Dean. But I certainly remember during the primary season doing grassroots stuff for Kerry that the supporters for Dean (and sometimes Kucinich) somehow saw me as a warmonger or foolish. I had protested the war in the streets, but that aparently was not enough for some. I had done my homework on all the candidates and Kerry was the obvious choice for me.

However, some of the vile lies I would hear from some supporters of other candidates was as bad as dealing with delusional Bush supporters. Actually worse, really. Unlike others that would rather just let them spew and hopefully walk away, I would engage in a debate with them.

But as time went on and the choice was between Bush or Kerry, many became at least civil when I would run across them. And since the election has "ended", I have run into a few people who were big Dean fans who are disappointed in the results but not vengeful on Kerry. They learned about him and in some cases got to meet him.

There is hope and promise if we clean the slate and start focusing on 2006 and 2008. But if we keep bashing on old wounds, we will never get anywhere.

[ScreamingMeemie]

23. Lies at the top of the party are far worse...No one is speaking for us.n/t

[eridani]

33. Being a bandwagoneer isn't 'evil'

I am talking about serious commitment, which is entirely different. Dean and Kucinich had it, and Kerry didn't.

[eridani]

32. Excuse me, but Kucinich got 8% in the February caucuses in WA

By dint of a lot of hard work, he got over the 15% threshold at many of the LD caucuses, some of which were as high as 30% for Kucinich. That was at the end of April, when Dean had dropped out and Kerry was the apparent winner. The Kucinich volunteers were easily the most intense bunch in the state, with by far the least attrition of delegates. This was because of his platform, which was endorsed 90-100% by most of the other delegates who were more concerned about 'electability.'

[sandnsea]

19. Yeah that's how Kerry won WA

And how Kucinich only got 3%. Kerry had no support. Whatever.

[Atlant]

7. Kick... (NT)

[ScreamingMeemie]

8. Excllent letter! Thanks for sharing....

Ever since I saw the clinking of champagne glasses at the DNC I have sensed a disconnect between the "powers that be" and We the People. :hi:

[Cheswick2.0]

10. excellent letter

I got an e-mail from Eugene Hedlund today. Apparently Dean has not given up on the idea of being DNC chair. He is doing what he does so well, keeping his options open and being proactive at the same time. He is meeting with party representatives as is Vilsack and one other person I have never heard of.
I hope Dean gets it mostly because all the entrenched party operatives who have dragged us down so low want someone else.

[unfrigginreal]

17. I need to hear the Doc say that he wants it first

I have no doubt that he's considering it but he's probably considering other alternatives as well. He'll decide based on what's best for the country and the party and I'll strongly support him when he makes his plans clear.

[eridani]

34. Even if he eventually decides against it--

--we need to let the DNC know how we feel about Dean's approach to party building.

[w4rma]

21. I want him as vice-chair but I don't think our leadership knows how to

comprimise with their base like the Repug leaders do for their base.

They can comprimise with us in ways that are sort of under the radar since we are the ones paying attention, and they can do whatever they want above the radar.

[Teaser]

24. Dean asked people to hold off...

until he makes an announcement. So as not to bug people.

Of course, I had already started writing letters at that point. I wil hold off, though, until further instructions are received.

[janx]

25. When/where did this happen?

Though I'm not surprised.

[Razorback_Democrat]

26. He'll Be great at fundraising

for the RNC

give them another target

[NYCGirl]

29. Heaven forbid we offend the GOP!

Can't let that happen, now, can we?
:eyes:

[Dr Fate]

48. The DNC will get more money & volunteers w/ Dean...

...we need to stop gaging our behavior on whether the GOP/media will be "mean to us."

[Razorback_Democrat]

27. He'll Be great at fundraising

for the RNC

give them another target to hit

[Cha]

47. Quit spamming...we got your

message the first time.

[Miami Liberal]

30. Excellent!

Kick

[The Wielding Truth]

53. Wow! Great quote. That's what I like about the man. Dean should be

in the forefront of the Party. I supported Kerry when he won the Democratic nomination. He is a fine human being, I just always felt that he seldom showed the spark that inspires a nation to fight tyranny. Dean certainly has the spark and the unifying vision to move us. I'm not sure he is agile enough to be President.We need his strength to stop the bulldozer the right is riding.Remember he has guts and ethics two of the most important things we need to lead us now.

[Piperay]

35. THANKS

I signed the petition. :thumbsup:

[robbedvoter]

36. "and to a lesser extent, Clark" - way to get allies, guys!

I opened this thread to support it, but this "we're the only grass roots campaign" wouldn't die, would it. You need to diss us on your "model" letter, don'tcha? What was your point in doing so? Clark is not running for DNC chair, and them "lesser" Clarkies just organized to help you.

[BootinUp]

37. We're the lesser peons evidently?

:eyes:

[Cheswick2.0]

39. I worked in an ACT office to GOTV.. many volunteer joined us

The place was overrun with Dean and DK grassroots people, there were a couple of Clark people.
Just a statement of fact.

But in case you are wondering we figure Dean will run in 2008 after cleaning up the DNC.

[Crunchy Frog]

41. That sounds to me like a conflict of interest.

I have been leaning towards signing the petition and otherwise supporting Dean for DNC Chair, however, I need to have some level of confidence that it is about furthering the interests of the party in general rather than his own personal ambition.

I would also need to have confidence that he would have respect for the process of letting the voters choose the nominee in the primaries as opposed to what happened this year.

Your post does not reassure me on either count. By the way, just out of curiosity, who is "we"?

[janx]

43. I think Ches was being rascally, Crunchy.

;-)

The *only* quote I've seen from Dean so far is that he is undecided on this matter because if he took the position, the understanding is that he would have it for four years--which would preclude his running for president in 2008.

I do not know if that is a standard "term" for a DNC chair or if those in the party suggesting he run made the four-year-period some kind of stipulation...if you know what I mean.

That is the only actual quote I've seen from Dean on the subject, and I can't provide a link right now; I'd have to do a search. There are many articles on the subject, but only one contained a quote from Dean himself. The other articles all contained speculation and unsourced quotes (with the exception of Grossman, but that's another story).

But there's another thing to consider, one I'm very sure that Dean must care a lot about, and that's the future of Democracy for America. DFA has come so far in six months! It would be a fine little nest egg for the DNC to garner, but I'm not sure that Dean (or any of us concerned about or involved with DFA)wants to compromise it. It has done too well on its own. I wish more people at DU would support it. It has grown and placed a whole new crop of Dems into office all over the country, and it's only six months old. Imagine what it could do by 2006!

A lot of people want Dean in the DNC position for different political reasons. I don't really want to see him take it--not just because I want him to retain the option of running again, but because I've seen what DFA has done. I'm afraid that it might get folded into the DNC, D.C. ways of doing things, ways that clearly aren't working very well. With DFA, candidates are jumping in to serve in their home states, with the people around them making the decisions as to who would best represent them. (That is the way democracy is supposed to work, I think...) It would be a disaster if DFA wound up compromised or manipulated. So the very point you seem concerned about the most should be the one that bothers you least. That much I do know.

[Cheswick2.0]

46. lol

I have gotten such a kick out of people supporting Dean for DNC chair because they think it will take him out of contention for the Presidential nomination. To me it is way to early to think about 2008, but I sure am having fun watching some people start strategizing about candidates at this point.

[Crunchy Frog]

49. LOL!

That is not why I would be supporting Dean for DNC chair, believe it or not. It would be because I actually think we need someone in there who has balls, and would stand up and fight for core Democratic values, rather than giving away the store to the Republicans.

Just because I did not think he would make the best presidential candidate doesn't mean that I don't think he has alot to contribute to the party, and, believe it or not, many other Clark supporters feel the same way ~gasp~.

You can continue hating us and our candidate as much as you like, and it won't change the fact that many of us very much admire your candidate and have even ~gasp~ contributed money to DFA.

However, I very much believe that running for president right after chairing the DNC would be a conflict of interest. I would feel exactly the same way if it was Clark that we were talking about.

Oh, and I am not a Republican, I am not a DLC astroturfer, and I was not part of a planned invasion of Clarkies onto this board last year. If you want confirmation of that fact, just ask the other person who responded to my post.:)

[Cheswick2.0]

45. We.... Dean people who think he should be head of DNC

and it's not a conflict of interest as long as he doesn't do both at once.

[wellstone dem]

56. Here the only folks involved

in the Kerry meetup after he was selected in the primaries were Clark and Dean people. There were no Kerry people. There were no Edwards people. There were no Kucinich people.

[Tom Rinaldo]

40. I don't think it's a diss. It's true in context, but why that context?

"There has been a big influx of members into the party during the 2003 primary campaign season. In WA state, this has been due to the self-organized volunteer campaigns of Dean and Kucinich, and to a lesser extent Clark."

In Washington State Clark was not a major player. There was much more grass roots activism for Dean and Kucinich there than there was for Clark. That showed clearly in the caucus results. Clark never campaigned in Washington State and the Dean and Kucinich efforts there were far more active at every level, including at the grass roots.

I do wonder though what the point was of singling out Washington State to make a point about the overall influx of new members into the Party.? I assume the original poster might live there and is reflecting that experience. Still, Washington State was not representative of the whole nation. In that sense I am not sure it is helpful for the unity goal of this letter to use it as a model. I live in upstate New York and have been a nominal Democrat all my life but never lifted a finger for the Party beyond voting until Clark announced. Now I am quite active in the Democratic Club at my County level, and I spent four days in Scranton PA working to get Kerry elected. I would have to say that Wes Clark brought at least as many but likely more new people into the Democratic Party as Dennis did for sure.

[janx]

42. I agree with you, Tom.

It probably wasn't helpful to have one person from one state write the petition letter.

And I also agree that this wasn't a "dissing" of Clark; the writer of the letter was probably being factual as to the numbers as s/he saw them.

[eridani]

51. It wasn't intended as a general petition letter

It was a sample of what I wrote to DNC members from WA state only. I'm assuming that anyone else who wants to write letters will talk about local conditions in their state, and how Dean (or someone like him) will help the party grow there.

If Dean doesn't want to do it, we still need to advocate for that style of organization.

[janx]

54. Well that certainly explains it.

You did a good job.

[Cheswick2.0]

44. I live and work here and worked as staff for an office here

which was ultimately responsible for over 1000 volunteers...and I can tell you that DK and Dean supporters out numbered Clark supporters 15 to 1.
Of course I was here for more than 4 days. I was there everyday for a month.....12-14 hours seven days a week.

PS.. to be really fair, there were of course many people who supported Kerry and Edwards all along. But the most loyal people who showed up weekend after weekend were Dkers.

[eridani]

50. The reason for the emphasis on WA state was because--

--I only wrote to DNC members in WA state! I'm assuming that anyone else who writes letters will write only to their local DNC people and that their letters will reflect local reality.

[Tom Rinaldo]

52. That is a perfect explanation

And it makes full sense to me. Clark supporters were not a large force in Washington, though we were elsewhere. Your letter in the context you wrote it was quite accurate and very fair (in regards to the role Clark supporters played there. I wish you luck and I personally support your efforts

[thinksmart]

55. Go Dean

Its a shame he was vilified in the primaries. A strong leader.