Dean's press conference is up at C-SPAN now, about 45 minutes long

[madfloridian]

It is listed under recent interviews. We caught most of it, and it was very impressing. He gave credit where due to Rahm and Chuck in a very gracious way, took some for his plan...

For 45 minutes he just answered questions so sensibly...no hype, just common sense.

http://c-span.org/

There should be a conference on with Howad Dean and Governor Bill Richardson about 1:30. I don't see it scheduled yet. It is to discuss the governorships they won.

Also I found myself thinking that those Democratic Reunion rallies held throughout the country several times, had more effect that any realized.

A video from July....the Democratic Reunion in the 50 states...
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/577

[madfloridian]

1. He gave the blogosphere great kudos...transcribed at Firedoglake.

This was a great interview, glad FDL caught this...I recorded it but not had time to transcribe.

http://www.firedoglake.com/2006/11/08/dean-gets-it/#comments

Dean Gets It

From Howard Dean's briefing at the National Press Club this morning:

Question: What role did the liberal blogosphere play?

Howard Dean:

That’s a growing influence on politics in general. There is also a conservative blogosphere, not only the liberal blogosphere, of course.

The netroots community can be very proud. They’re playing a bigger role.

Without the blogs, Jerry McInerny and Carole Shay (NH-1), would not have won. Entirely grassroots effort, without support form the Party, including us.

A big deal.

Here’s an even bigger deal. As you know, robocalls, flyers, low-ball election techniques. We knew about that instantly because of the blogs. We are not sure (Repubs) did it more than in the past, but we knew about it faster. Updates every 10 minutes from people who called 1-888-DEM-VOTE. (or whatever). We were able to get lawyers to polling places immediately.

The instantaneousness of the blogs, of people who read the blogs, who get that information to us, is a huge improvement over 2004.

Dean also gave credit to the blogosphere in this video a few months ago.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/552

[GetTheRightVote]

2. You just have to love the guy, he has been there on the ground for us all

He is a great Democrat, I hope his party realizes it as much as we do.

:kick:

[madfloridian]

3. The interview should have had more coverage....outstanding.

He is right on the ball about all the crap that happened during the elections, knows the candidates, very sensible.

[NCarolinawoman]

4. The press was deferential.

They were sooo respectful and surrounded him at the end of the conference, wanting to ask more questions.

My feeling was-----Good. It's about time. He deserves this. He earned this. :thumbsup:

[hippiechick]

5. Not sure if it's because of traffic, but the link is dead ....

:( Boo. I wanted a dose of the Good Dr!! :)

[madfloridian]

6. Try this link....top video. Worth the time.

http://c-span.org/Search/basic.asp?BasicQueryText=howard+dean&SortBy=date

[Morgana LaFey]

7. Everyone should watch this -- at least the first several minutes

for a better appreciation of just what Dean at the DNC did. I've just gotten into it a bit and am even more impressed than I thought I'd be. WOW!!

[madfloridian]

8. The ads they put on evangelical radio made a difference.

This video gives a perfect picture of how he intends to handle things. If one does not see it, they won't see this side of the DNC and its chairman.

Says he is in it for the long term. Talks about how amazing last night was. We competed everywhere, he said he frankly did not expect it to this extent.

Says we picked up 6 governorships, mentions having a majority in state legislative houses.

[Morgana LaFey]

13. Something he said toward the end was incredible

He quoted someone (who?): Chance favors the prepared mind.

He went on to explain that it's his philosophy to do everything possible to be prepared for the surprises. Well, NO ONE expected quite the tsunami of voter revolt that happened yesterday (not one Dem lost his/her seat, btw!!), but the Democratic Party was absolutely prepared to take advantage of it, and that was Howard's doing.

[madfloridian]

9. Says he keeps tabs on the internet community...

But he says there were two races that they did not see coming, attributes them to grassroots...McNernery and Carol Shea-Porter.

[Morgana LaFey]

14. yep, in New Hampshire

[madfloridian]

10. Kick for the evening crowd. Worth a view.

:kick:

[Cha]

11. Thanks for this link to the c-span

interview. I got this in the e-mail today from Dean and the dnc on the 50-State Strategy..


Dear zidzi,

"This year will be remembered as another moment when Americans started another historic process -- one that will usher in a new sense of community and demands for a government that focuses on the common good.

That's the thing about America. Whenever our leaders have failed to meet the challenges of the day, whenever our government's priorities have narrowed to represent the few at the expense of the many, the American people have risen up as one and corrected our course.

It will also be remembered as the rebirth of a political party devoted to ensuring that ordinary people not only have a voice, but real power at all levels of government.

Just 21 months ago we began the long process of breathing new life into our party with a 50-state strategy. After years of watching the playing field of "competitive" races dwindle and our operation disappear in many parts of the country, ordinary Democrats across the country demanded a truly national party.

Since then we've built the field organizing, communications, technological and financial infrastructure of a party that can and will compete everywhere. We've done it by growing our operation from the ground-up and empowering Democrats to take our party and our democracy into their own hands.

Here are just a few examples of how that work impacted this election:

Kansas: Our 50-state strategy organizers helped transform the Democratic Party in Kansas under the leadership of Democratic Governor Kathleen Sebelius. Strong leadership from the Democratic Party created a wave of party-switchers -- moderate Republicans fed-up with the right-wing stranglehold on their party. The reinvigorated state party knocked on hundreds of thousands of doors and elected Democrats up and down the ballot, including new Democratic Congresswoman Nancy Boyda in the 2nd Congressional district and new Attorney General Paul Morrison, who beat his opponent by over 134,000 votes.

Minnesota: Four DNC field organizers in Minnesota have created an unprecedented field program. Republican Mark Kennedy was supposed to have a lock on the open Senate seat, but with new technology by the DNC and 1.6 million voters contacted, Amy Klobuchar defied expectations and handily won the race after thousands of unlikely voters came to the polls. We're not stopping here -- this work will continue apace as we position our party to take back a Senate seat in 2008.

Ohio: Our field organizers in Ohio expanded the state party's infrastructure, making inroads deep into what has long been considered "Bush Country." A DNC-funded field director, four field organizers, and a voter database manager all helped run voter contact operations in parts of the state that hadn't heard from the Democratic Party in years. Take Butler county, for example, where Democratic performance improved by nearly 50% on our 2004 results as we elected a new Democratic Senator, Democratic Governor, Democratic Secretary of State, and more Democrats up and down the ballot.

South Dakota: The Democratic Party in South Dakota is now a powerful political operation. In 2002, Democrats recruited only 66 legislative candidates. This year we recruited 90. Democratic Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth was re-elected, and South Dakotans rejected a radical measure that denies the basic right of women, in consultation with their families and doctors, to make their own decisions about their reproductive health.

New Hampshire: In this crucial state we re-elected our Democratic governor and picked up House seats. In the course of our work we laid a permanent foundation for the party -- including a research and tracking operation that helped elect Democrats this cycle and will be the foundation of a tracking operation to hold Republican presidential candidates accountable as they crisscross the state.

Indiana: Over a year ago, Democrats in Indiana started planning for Election Day. They focused on a strategy that initiated a new media campaign to hold Republicans accountable for their actions, and worked to drive the Democratic message using grassroots support. The state party was able to hire a communications director, and because the executive director no longer had to focus on working with the media, he was able to concentrate on fundraising - raising enough money to hire an organizer to work in the 2nd congressional district, another Democratic pickup, where Democrat Joe Donnelly gained more than 17,000 votes than the Democrat had in 2002.

And in other states, Democrats gained new majorities in eight state legislative chambers. We now have majorities in 55 state chambers - the largest shift since 1994.

Next week will mark one year of organizing for 2006 -- we began in earnest just a week after 2005 elections that yielded new Democratic governors in Virginia and New Jersey. Across the country, at over 1,000 venues in all 50 states, ordinary Democrats came together to organize for elections nearly a year away.

Those nationwide events built over time -- the 50-State Canvass, the Democratic Reunion, the 50-State Turnout Kickoff -- bringing more and more ordinary people into the Democratic operation in every state across the country.

That process will continue, and soon you're going to have more opportunities to participate meaningfully than ever before.

For the first time in a generation, after a national election our party operation will not disintegrate. Our growing party operation in the states will support newly elected Democrats and educate the public about the common sense solutions we'll be pursuing, and hold Republicans accountable for their corruption and continued failures of leadership.

A special group of people make that possible. Nearly 35,000 Americans have been invested in this victory for months -- many for over a year. They give a small amount every month in the form of a Democracy Bond. Democracy Bond holders are a community of people committed to providing the long-term financial backbone necessary to pursue this kind of 50-state operation.

You can commemorate these historic wins and lay the groundwork for a generation of victories ahead of us by joining the Democracy Bond community now:

http://www.democrats.org/2006victorybonds

It's been a big Election Day, and every Democrat has earned the right to celebrate today. We won elections up and down the ballot tonight because Democrats are ready to lead.

There's one more thing anyone watching the Democratic Party should know today:

We're only getting started.

Thank you.

Governor Howard Dean, M.D.

[Thrill]

12. This says it all