Howard Dean for President

Sep 26 05:14 UTC 2003

Okay I'm officially doing work now for the Howard Dean campaign.  Dean--
the former five term governor of Vermont and a physician by trade who 
shares a medical practice with his wife, Dr. Judith Steinberg-- has 
developed an enormous grassroots campaign via the internet, having 
signed up over 400,000 people nationwide.  There is a clear and vital 
energy to his campaign.  I was at a big rally for Dean that took place 
today in downtown manhattan, prior to the candidates debate which aired 
on CNBC/MSNBC.  Most of the candidates had no visible supporters 
outside the event location, although there were two or three Wesley 
Clark supporters and a few Sharpton guys (he's from Brooklyn)  But 
there were maybe five hundred Dean supporters out there in force, 
waving signs and shouting.  Dean is a tremendous speaker and gave a 
real fire and brimstone speech in which he repeatedly ripped what he 
called the Bush/Scalia/Kenneth Lay (scandalized head of Enron) right 
wing power bloc.  He vowed to repeal ALL of Bush's tax cuts and accused 
Bush of being beholden to special interests and irresponsible to the 
working class by running up the national defecit so his rich buddies 
like Kenneth Lay can get tax breaks.  

Dean talked about how he wants to empower the people and, and have a 
government where people feel a part of what is going on.  Which all to 
often most people DON'T feel a part of what goes on these days.  He 
specifically asked everyone in the crowd who hadn't already to give his 
campaign workers their email addresses, because they are putting 
together giant mailing lists and forums and the idea is for everyone to 
feel connected in one way or another, and that he wants everyone to be 
able to use the internet to share their input and their ideas with the 
campaign.  

Howard Dean is doing something special with his campaign, he is 
spreading a populist message, a message of inclusion.  And I see no 
other candidate doing that.  Most of the other candidates are looking 
for votes and support in the usual, time honored manners.  Union 
endorsements, local party machines .etc  Dean is taking the non 
traditional approach.  He is reaching out directly to people who 
haven't been involved in the process before, independents and others 
normally disenfranchised and ignored.  He is building a massive support 
base from the ground up.

Every month, on the first Wednesday of every month, in cities and towns 
across the country, there are Dean campaign sponsored Meetups at local 
bars or taverns, where you can meet other people who either support him 
or want to learn more about him.  I went to the September meetup, there 
were eleven different bars/clubs/taverns in the NYC area alone hosting 
Dean meetings that night.  There I met some people who had never been 
involved in campaigns before, they had connected with the Dean campaign 
through the internet, through various forums and chat rooms the 
campaign has.  Or they gave their email address at one place or 
another, and were contacted.  There is no fundraising at these 
meetings, the idea is just to get people to meet other people, with the 
hope that ideas will be discussed and people will want to get 
involved.  

The next Howard Dean campaign National Meet Up Day is next Wednesday, 
October 1st at 7 p.m.  Since I know many of you live in the Ann Arbor 
area, I thought I'd list the meeting sites in that area.  There are 
three of them, and you can expect big crowds at each location:

Espresso Royale Cafe, 324 S. State St., Ann Arbor, MI 

Crazy Wisdom Bookstore & Tea, 114 S Main St, Ann Arbor, MI   

Ann Arbor Comedy Showcase, 314 East Liberty Street, Ann Arbor, MI 


You can go to any of these locations and meet other people concerned 
about the future of this country, and who want to exchange ideas and 
maybe work together toward a good, common cause.

If you live elsewhere, you can check http://dean2004.meetup.com to sign 
up and find the location of the meeting or meetings in your area.  
There are no other campaigns doing anything like this.  It is a true 
populist effort.  Dean is ahead in Iowa right now and well ahead in New 
Hampshire in the latest polls 

I encourage everyone who's interested to come to one of these 
meetings.  Even if you don't support Dean, you'll meet a lot of good 
people and you'll get a good, positive feeling for the potential to 
change the political trends in this country.

response 2 of 536:

Sep 26 12:34 UTC 2003

Howard Dean is cool.
A friend of his, David Rome, from Vermont, joined us coast to coasters 
for a week on our cycling tour.
At first we all thought he was merely bluffing being at first name 
basis with mr. Dean. As time progressed I learned a lot about Howard 
Dean. David considered Howard dean not to be just yet made of Bill 
Clinton caliber, but with huge potential.
Real proof of his friendship with Howard Dean was the letter I received 
from Howard Dean himself, in which he thanked me, German guy and my 
friend Martin for 'pulling' David against the headwinds of South 
Dakota. 
I can only say wow!, to that.
Besides that David promised us coast to coasters to have a video night 
at the White House if mr. Dean gets elected.
I can't wait!
Hoeward Dean! Howard Dean! Howard Dean!

response 4 of 536:

Sep 26 13:50 UTC 2003

Not really, considering that at least two of the three recipients of that 
letter are ineligible to vote in US elections.

response 6 of 536:

Sep 26 16:21 UTC 2003

Go How-weird!

response 10 of 536:

Sep 26 17:15 UTC 2003

(jp2 is being technical - the elections of senators, representatives and the
president and vice president are done by the People in the States. 
However he does slip up in not recognizing that the whole process is
"sponsored" by the Constitution of the US, so it is the US that is
"sponsoring" these elections.)

response 16 of 536:

Sep 27 01:28 UTC 2003

'populist'... sounds too lefty for me.

response 18 of 536:

Sep 27 03:44 UTC 2003

I was thinking the other way around.

response 20 of 536:

Sep 27 14:46 UTC 2003

Oh my dog!  A CENTRIST?!  ;)

response 22 of 536:

Sep 27 18:21 UTC 2003

I like to think I'm pretty well informed, and yet, I know just about nothing
about Clark, other than that he's currently leading in the polls.  I'm
assuming that means most of those who claim to be his supporters are going
entirely on name recognition.

Dean scares me somehow.  I agree with his positions a lot more than I agree
with Bush's, but he doesn't strike me as giving his positions a lot of
thought.  I'm tempted to call him a liberal Bush, although that's probably
unfair.  Maybe I'll warm up to him at some point.

I found this New York Times column interesting:
http://www.iht.com/articles/109920.html

I think just based on what the candidates have to say, I'm far more impressed
with John Kerry than anybody else at this point.  But if the most basic
qualification to be President is being able to get elected, he doesn't look
like he's doing so well in that regard.

response 24 of 536:

Sep 27 20:50 UTC 2003

as opposed to a retard like dubyuh?

lol