Texas folks, here is a summary of Dean's Austin rally today.

[madfloridian]

I found this at the blog by the lady who got to introduce him. I am sure she will not mind if I share some of it. I think this is part of the 21st Century Candidate training as well as for the campaign of Richard Morrison who is running against DeLay. David Van Os is running for a judgeship, and he only accepts donations of $10.

SNIP.."This has been the most amazing weekend! We've been asked to submit a blog post for tomorrow so there will be more details then. But let me just say this - the workshop was wonderful. I've never seen a group of people so pumped up as our group was today when they left. Our trainers were all great (or so I'm told 'cause I didn't get to actually see much of them in action). Tom Hughes was a particular hit. (Tom is the field director for DFA, previously with the Gore campaign).

The Governor's appearance today was nothing short of awesome. Over 1,000 people showed up in 95 degree weather and 95% humidity to hear him, along with Richard Morrison, David Van Os and a slew of local candidates. Of course, for me, the highlight was getting to introduce HD. He was so gracious in thanking me, and then he thanked our DFT steering committee members individually .....".

And boy, was he fired up! The Gov loves coming to Texas and we love having him. While he spent a lot of time talking the current campaign....... he also talked a lot about the future.

I have to say that we really lucky to have Tom Hughes here. In addition to being an incredibly nice guy who tells a good story, he took a look at how we were going to set up for the rally today and totally redesigned it for us. We learned a lot from Tom even outside of the workshop!

We're all exhausted here, but happy. You don't often get to see such hard work pay off in such a big way. And get see the Gov to boot!

Posted by Fran in Austin at August 23, 2004 12:10 AM

[madfloridian]

1. Video and article from Austin station. Very inspiring.

Dean is having a great impact in TX this year. I hope people will realize that this is not hurting Kerry, and it is helping the party so much toward getting congress back. It will take a while. This is a really good video from the news there, it is great publicity for Morrison and Van Os.
http://news8austin.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=117453

[madfloridian]

10. From the article: Not to give up on Texas.

SNIP..."The crux of Dean's message is that Democrats need to take back Texas by relying on grassroots organizing.

"We've been away from that too long, and I'm pretty optimistic. I don't want to give up on places like Texas," Dean said."

SNIP..." Dean said the Democratic political fervor in Texas is exciting, but it's still going to take every voter to turn the tide.

"American voters are pretty smart. They're much smarter than people in Washington give them credit for, and they basically sort this out themselves," Dean said. ..."

[faithnotgreed]

11. thats a great story. i dont know much of texas but i guess ann richards

tells me everything i need to know

i love ann richards and i love texan deaniacs for kerry

guess thats too long to fit on a tshirt...

best wishes to you there

[Erika]

2. I RESPECT Dean

He is the one person who should be given the most praise for awakening the democrats to unite and save their country from Bushco.

[Ishoutandscream]

17. Amen!

nt

[sonias]

3. Thanks for the links madfloridian

Than must have been Fran's blog entry. It was an awesome event. Good training and of course we love seeing the good Dr. Dean. We had over 400 people do the training weekend and we had at least the 1,000 come to the rally. Yee Haw!!!! We can say that in Texas.

Richard Morrison is the great candidate for Congress that is gonna kick Tom DeLay's ass for us all.

I taped two of the news casts tonight and they did great crowd shots and the segments were good. They even gave Dean some coverage of a press conference he held after wards, where he shot down the Swift Boat Bottom Feeders (my words on his). Basically Dean just put it quite clearly. SBVFT were lying, bu$hco had used this dirty campaign tactic before and that the man that hides behind these liars is not fit to be president of this country. Give 'em Hell Howard!!


Sonia

[madfloridian]

6. Wasn't the video great? It was good coverage.

Not snide, just good coverage. We Floridians are proud of you Texans. We have a daughter in Dallas, and she says the tide is turning a little there as well.

[sonias]

8. hell I'm so proud of us too

Anytime we get Glen Maxey and Howard Dean telling us we can win, we really start working like hell to make it come true. We had forgotten how to work grassroots in Texas, but we're working our way back. This is the first time I have seen this kind of energy, and it's not just in the large urban areas either. People from around the state were talking about meetups, and canvassing and doing all kinds of rebuilding efforts. We have achieved critical mass, we are at the tipping point.

All we needed was that early visit from Dr. Dean in the summer of '03 to put us on a plan to recovery. We are feeling bluer every day.

Sonia

[madfloridian]

9. That is why I get so upset when people here go after us and Dean.

It is so silly and so non-productive. It is the same ones all the time, and I would back off but I can't. What he is doing is too damn important for his efforts to go unnoticed by the party and by Democratic forums who marginalize him and us.

Things changed this year, they really did. The way the party works will have to change or there will be many independents. I am willing to work with DFA and other groups for changing it, but I am so upset about the party lately.

Heck, he is coming to Florida tomorrow for Betty Castor. What he does deserves recognition.

The whole video emphasized the Deaniacs for Kerry, and Kerry/Edwards signs were everywhere. Still people here have been after us all night.

[Placebo]

4. I LOVE Me Some Howard Dean!

I hope he gets a job in the Kerry Administration, as a secretary of health and human services or something like that. :)

[faithnotgreed]

7. there is no way dean should be the sec of h&hs

he must be the new head of the dnc
or
he must stay with dfa to keep the grassroots going strong
or uh

actually i wish he could be the head of about 3 different posts

anything he wants to be because he is awesome@!

[pacalo]

5. Great to hear!

[madfloridian]

12. Another nice article: "rare form mixing humor with polemical politics"

http://www.kvue.com/news/top/stories/082204ccjrkvuedean.a378e33e.html

SNIP...""There's nothing conservative about the people in Washington," Dean said. " balance a checkbook, if it turned into a piece of sausage and hit them on the head."

Dean didn't address the controversy surrounding Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's military service record from Vietnam.

"I think voters are pretty smart," he told KVUE News after the rally. " give them credit for ... this out themselves."

Sherri Bazan agreed.

"It's not what people are interested in hearing," she said. "If you ask them, they want to hear about the issues."

[madfloridian]

13. Good write-up from the Daily Texan.

http://tinyurl.com/6kcrn

SNIP..."Democrats lost in Texas because they spent too much time pretending to be Republicans, he said. He said Democrats cannot win on "guns, god and gays" but rather on four things: health insurance, jobs, public education and national security.

"Harry Truman once said that if you run a Republican against a Democrat that acts like a Republican the real Republican wins each time," he said. "The way to this election, and the way to win elections even here in Texas, is to go out and say what you believe."

[WI_DEM]

14. Dean is doing a great job as a surrogate campaigner

[DebinTx]

15. Richard Morrison REALLY needs our help.

Not only do we need Kerry in the WH, but Morrison's fight against DeLaid is critical to regaining Congress. I'm not in Morrison's district but I've been sending him money since last Sept. He's about to get ads on TV and really needs democratic support.

I even emailed him and told him not to let Texans forget for one second that DeLaid was the working force behind having 3 special sessions called to redistrict the state yet the republicans in Austin cannot bring themselves to call even 1 special session to figure out how to pay for education. He emailed me back and asked me to keep spreading the word.

[madfloridian]

16. Here is the new Morrison ad. It is good.

He could use a little help getting it out there.
http://www.morrisonfor22.com/intro/getRMonTV.php

He is a cute guy, very appealing when grins and talks about not being the most powerful man in government. :evilgrin:

[faithnotgreed]

18. that was a great point! good job and good luck!

[NoPasaran]

19. It was a great weekend

It was wonderful to be part of a group four hundred people---less than half from Austin---all anxious to get the tools which will help us take our country back.