FORMER DEAN STAFF LAUNCH DEANIACSFOREDWARDS.COM
NEW YORK -- Seeking to immediately make further impact on the 2004 Presidential campaign via the grassroots, a group of former staff and volunteers for Governor Howard Dean's campaign are today launching www.deaniacsforedwards.com - a website that will act as a coordination hub for the grassroots infrastructure for Governor Dean's campaign to support the candidacy of Senator John Edwards.
The aim of the site, which is not officially affiliated with the Dean or Edwards campaigns, is to bring enough core supporters of Governor Dean to Senator Edwards to put him over-the-top in March 2nd primary votes, and beyond.
Said the website's coordinator, former Dean New York Press Secretary and Deputy Director Eric Schmeltzer, in the first post on the new website, "John Edwards gives us the strongest chance to beat George Bush, and a candidate who I believe is most closely aligned with the principles Governor Dean articulated in his campaign. John Edwards is plain-spoken, committed to fighting for the little guy, has a clean record, and has had a pretty consistent message. Call me crazy, but when I was press secretary for Dean, that's what I always said it would take to beat George W. Bush. And it wasn't any spin, it was the TRUTH."
"If I thought there was a realistic chance that Governor Dean would meet the 15% threshold in any of the states (or Congressional Districts) coming up to send delegates to the convention, I would be pushing for that... But, if we can shift the 8%, or so, of voters who are hard-core Deaniacs to give their all to John Edwards -- without marching orders from Burlington -- we can put him over the top and keep this debate going. But more importantly, Dean supporters will be given the credit in the media for putting John Edwards over the top, sending the clear and strong signal to the party that we are a political force to be respected and listened to THIS CYCLE," he added.
The website will utilize the DeanSpace technology, developed by Dean for America, which was instrumental at coordinating the grassroots.
At the website, Dean supporters will find many of the same tools they had available to them at Deanforamerica.com. Visitors will be encouraged to take a close look at Senator Edwards, and sign up for email updates, contribute to him via the web, sign up for MeetUps, send emails to friends to get them to sign up, and advertise local campaign events set up by the grassroots, and most notably, read and comment on a Blog. Schmeltzer warned that there is no guarantee such a huge shift could be achieved in a matter of days, but if it is, Governor Dean and his movement had the most to benefit.
"Not only will this help John Edwards, the most electable candidate left in this race, it will help our cause, because it will give Governor Dean a powerful bargaining tool in his efforts to lead a movement to change this party. He will have solid evidence that this grassroots movement can work beyond his candidacy," he said.
Instrumental in building and maintaining the website are: Aaron Welch, a former head programmer for Dean for America, John Arcesi, Director of Research for New York State, and Ben Schaffer, Director of Online Operations, New York State.
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FIRST BLOG ENTRY ON SITE Welcome to DeaniacsforEdwards.com Submitted by Eric Schmeltzer <http://www.idontwatchtv.com/user/view/3> on 02/21/2004 - 09:29 Hi all, and welcome to DeaniacsForEdwards.com
I'm not an expert Blogger or anything, so excuse any lack of protocol here as I write to you all. I guess some explaining is in order -- why am I here and WHO am I.
I'm Eric Schmeltzer, and I was Governor Dean's campaign press secretary and Deputy Director in New York State (though recently unemployed and not affiliated with the former campaign chairs, etc., anymore). Simply put, I started this site because I believe that this race for the Democratic nomination is not over, and I believe NOW is the time for the supporters of Governor Dean to show that we do, indeed, have the power to change things. Governor Dean said all along that he would endorse and work for whoever comes out of this with the nomination, and I think we all feel the same way - beating George W. Bush is our ultimate concern. However, that doesn't mean the fight is over yet! There are still primaries to be fought, and voters must know that they still have a choice.
The last thing I thought I would be doing a few days ago is starting a website trying to mobilize Dean supporters to come out in force for Senator John Edwards. In my heart, I felt we would win Wisconsin, and I would be spending late nights in the office preparing for a raucous March 2 primary in New York.
Well, things didn't turn out as I thought, but I'm still getting ready for a big primary day here in New York, just in a smaller way. And I ask all of you to join together in that cause, on a national level. More on that in a second.
First, I want to make a few things clear. I am not being paid by Senator Edwards, nor have I ever talked with any of the people on his campaign. In fact, I think they're probably as surprised to see this site as my old coworkers, as I'm not coordinating with the Dean campaign either. I am not looking for a job with Sen. Edwards. I am not going to make money off of this site. If bandwidth gets too high, I might ask for donations to keep it running, but that's it.
I am not in this for me. I am in it because I still think we have a chance to take our country back. I think John Edwards gives us the best chance to do that. This is no knock on Senator Kerry, and if you're here because he beat Howard Dean and you don't like him, you're in the wrong place. John Edwards, however, gives us the strongest chance to beat George Bush, and a candidate who I believe is most closely aligned with the principles Governor Dean articulated in his campaign (and believe me, I've had more time than I'd like to listen to all the candidates, ad nauseum). Is he Howard Dean? No. No one can or will ever be "Howard Dean." But John Edwards is plain-spoken, committed to fighting for the little guy, has a clean record, and has had a pretty consistent message. Call me crazy, but when I was press secretary for Dean, that's what I always said it would take to beat George W. Bush. And it wasn't any spin, it was the TRUTH.
We can still get that kind of candidate AND get him to respect and listen to Howard Dean's special interest -- you.
And here's how...
In the next few days, the Dean grassroots, if you like what you see in John Edwards, needs to shift their time, their energy, and their money to his campaign. NO, I am not saying abandon Governor Dean or Dean for America, its subsequent movement, or the cause. I am proposing that, temporarily, we shift to John Edwards and work hard for him, because out of the major candidates left, he gives us the best chance to beat Bush AND bring some of the values articulated by Governor Dean to the White House. Let me be clear on this, if I thought there was a realistic chance that Governor Dean would meet the 15% threshold in any of the states (or CDs) coming up to send delegates to the convention, I would be pushing for that. But I honestly don't see that happening (Governor Dean was at 12% in Ohio, for example, while still in the race, and was at 10% in New York in a poll that was taken partly when he was still in the race). Therefore, voting for Dean as a protest vote will most likely not result in any Dean delegates going to Boston, though I applaud the efforts of the committed grassroots who are choosing to continue that fight. However, I do think there are about 8%, or so, of voters in each state that still are thinking about voting for Governor Dean. That 8% could potentially play a huge role, in another way.
March 2, Super Tuesday, will be the test case as to whether we can do this on such short notice and without a formal infrastructure. Look, I'll be honest, I don't know if it's going to happen or not. It's going to be a gargantuan undertaking here. But, if we can shift the 8%, or so, of voters who are hard-core Deaniacs to give their all to John Edwards -- without marching orders from Burlington -- we can put him over the top and keep this debate going. But more importantly, the Dean supporters will be given the credit in the media for putting John Edwards over the top, sending the clear and strong signal to the party that we are a political force to be respected and listened to THIS CYCLE. Right now!
Not only will this help John Edwards, it will help our cause, because it will give Governor Dean a powerful bargaining tool in his efforts to lead a movement to change this party. He will have solid evidence that this grassroots movement can work beyond his candidacy.
So what do we need to do? A few things:
1) Sign up to receive email updates from this site, and use the postcard tool <http://www.deaniacsforedwards.com/postcardcenter> to promote it to all your friends (but especially the ones who are Dean supporters)
2) IMMEDIATELY sign up for an Edwards 2004 MeetUp
<http://edwards2004.meetup.com> for Tuesday (Edwards2004.Meetup.com), and if you were a Dean MeetUp coordinator please contact the Edwards MeetUp person to offer help.
3) Contact your local Edwards coordinator
<http://www.winwithedwards.com> and offer your services
4) CONTRIBUTE <https://secure.ga3.org/03/EdwardsForPresident> $10, $15, $20, or whatever you can afford to Senator Edwards
5) Sign up to the website to be able to promote any individual events in your area for Edwards
6) If you have a site that runs on DeanSpace, consider syndicating a little with us
Again, no one realizes more than the staff alumni at Dean For America how hard you worked, and we did change this debate, we did change this party to a good degree. But now is the time to show those who say, "Oh, these people will never do anything meaningful again" that we ARE still going to be a force of change!
The power, after all, is STILL in your hands!
-Eric
P.S. MONGO thanks to former DFA Staffers, Aaron Welch, John Arceci, Ben Schaffer, and Adam Mordecai for setting this site up, as I'm an idiot when it comes to technology. They really made me feel like an old man trying to program a VCR clock....