started. Then, I read Daily Kos, DU and especially the Kerry blog -- posting just a few observations about the GE in my NJ county.
I had been political since I was young -- and the pattern had always been to look at all the primary candidates and determine which I liked. Mine usually lost to more conservative Democrats. Once there was a nominee, I read what I could - found a list of good things done and tried to at least influence friends and neighbors - doing canvasing and phone banking in years where I could.
In most years, after seeing the puff piece biography, done for all major party nominees - except Kerry) and reading the hyped campaign bio, I was at least moderately comfortable with the nominee. In several years, notably 1992, I needed to ignore a lot that I did not like - some that became more obvious as the campaign progressed, but I was still invested in a Democratic win.
2004 was different. As I said, I really liked both Kerry and Dean. My family had come to VT for a week or two every summer since my youngest was born in 1990. Kerry, I of course, remembered as the eloquent, brave man willing to speak against the war at a time when the country was even more divided than now. I had also seen him as a very articulate Democrat on the Sunday morning shows. What was so different in 2004 was that where in all other years the "packaging" was better than the real human inside, the more I learned Of Kerry as a person of deep values and integrity, of his willingness to fight the corruption he saw as not our values - whether it was campaign finance where he wrote with Wellstone a better bill than McCain/Feingold or speaking against the very popular Reagan's illegal arming of the Contras - at a time where many Democrats bought the geopolitical need to back the right wing Contras. I can honestly say that over the last 11 years of spending a large amount of time on DU, going to DU JK first, I really think he is far better than I ever thought in 2004. He is the best statesman of my generation -- even though he will never be President.
On the day of the election, I went to the county seat of my county and made calls and put doorhanger notices on doors of people who were our yeses. We all heard the exit poll leaks and as the sun set, there was a feeling of true euphoria ... Bush would be gone .. Kerry would get the tough job of righting the world .. and Teresa would be an awesome first lady. Then, we know what happened -- and we remember that that was the last year we ever saw the previously ubiquitous exit poll results. Then the media and even some Democrats spoke of this being for the better. ( I shocked a relative whose face had brightened and who then said, but " it's not all bad -- Hillary "... I didn't really hear the end of the sentence and I didn't even try to explain that I far preferred Bush out immediately and a President Kerry. Coming too DU, I found most people - not yearning for HRC, but more angry at Kerry than respecting that he likely would have won had the Democratic party done its job -- and had strong state parties -- strong enough that they would have gotten more voting machines in the inner cities for the general election - rather than fewer leading to up to 10 hour lines. (It made me happy that Dean took on that difficult task as head of the DNC in late 2004)
Seeing the anger and seeing it misfocused (in my opinion), I almost left. Then I found the wonderful people of DU JK --- I think we became a virtual support group ... and as many of us were wonks anyway - people who knew how taught the rest of us to get stuff from the Congressional record etc and we watched the Senate together when there were important things happening. Sure, our focus was Kerry centric -- but nothing wrong with that.
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