> I saw Dean on Sunday and the campaign really is all about the supporters.
> The event was poorly stage-managed and Dean desperately needs speech writers
> but the crowd was unbelievably enthusiastic (especially for a Seattle
> crowd). Everybody hears Dean moving away from the left a bit ("moderating")
> and nobody cares. Right now the supporters are simply looking to Dean for
> core commitments, fire and spark. They want to take on two-issue Bush
> directly and credibly and came away even more sure that this is their guy.
> He's certainly the only Democrat I would consider voting for and possibly
> the only major-party candidate for whom I will cast a vote for any office.
I saw Dean on Tuesday and he gave a rousing speech to 3,000 supporters in downtown Chicago. It's amazing that he got so many people to come because he was scheduled to speak at 11 a.m. at a location (rooftop of Navy Pier)and time that was not convenient to workers in the Loop (downtown area). The location however afforded some commanding pictures of Dean, as it was a narrow venue, so that in the pictures, he was surrounded by sign holders, with the famous Chicago skyline behind and framing the candidate. I thought the stage management on this one was first class and the volunteers were very well organized, as well. (I had helped flyer for the event earlier in the day.)
He gave a rousing speech, without notes, with an emphasis on health care reform and budget reform. While the New York Times reported that there were no union members in the audience, they were, in fact, wrong. Hundreds of members of the CWA who were having a conference in the same building showed up to here him speak again. That's right, again, because he had spoken to them earlier in the day, talking for about an hour, I was given to understand.
It was wonderful to hear Dean say all the things, out loud, that I had hoped so many in the Democratic leadership would say earlier in the year. He was critical of the tax cuts, pointing out that middle Americans are paying more in state taxes, sales taxes and property taxes because of the cuts in federal funding to the states, net result, not tax cut. He strongly opposed the war in Iraq, but committed to not leaving Iraq in a mess and involving the UN. I wish he would have said something about reparations, though. He made sense on health care and social services. My sister and I cheered until we were hoarse, as did the rest of the crowd.
Dean had relatives and friends working the crowd, schmoozing with everyone, talking them up, finding out their concerns about the campaign, saying how much they thought of Dean, sounding us out.
> The campaign itself is no juggernaut. They've got the anti-Bush
> supporters and the candidate. Other than that, the campaign needs a lot of
> help.
In the Chicago area, the Democrats involved in the campaign are not just anti-bush types, but center leftists, who I've admired for quite awhile.
David Wilhelm and Kevin Conlon (who I have voted for several times as township supervisor) are running the Illinois campaign. Dean, on the other hand, didn't mind tapping into the anger about the rapid decline of both the economy and our stock of goodwill around the world. I didn't see one pair of birkenstocks in the crowd, although his supporters have been portrayed that way by the New York Times. Of course, Illinois is one of the last states to vote, so we don't matter as much as those early birds.
I encourage any of you who have been involved with Democratic party
> politics in the past to make inquiries and see if you can help kick this
> campaign free of the quivering mass of clinging liberal and neo-liberal
> algae that is the Democratic party. You can't push the candidate to the
> left but perhaps you can make him smarter, faster, better than before.
Just go to Meetup.com. It's not that hard to get involved in the campaign. It's laughably easy. I have to say, though, that two regulars from the Democratic party here have told me that the *usual suspects* aren't involved in this campaign. Dean, in Chicago, at any rate, seems to appeal to those who aren't usually involved, and gets them to volunteer. People power.
-joan
> peace,
>
> boddi
>
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