It sounds about as fair a way to do it as I could imagine. The meeting to pull it all together was moved from this month to December. I have watched us here bouncing off the walls, yet actually there is so much being done.
Since the meeting was cancelled because of the hurricane, they have already begun reforming committees to get ready for the meeting.
Jenny Greenleaf, a DNC member, has the blog American Street. She was with Howard when he spent some time recently in Montana. Her write up gives a good picture of his goals.
http://www.reachm.com/amstreet/archives/2005/06/04/dean-at-the-dnc-meeting/June 4, 2005
Dean at the DNC meeting
Howard Dean arrived after lunch. The crowd greeted him warmly. A fair number
of non-DNC people filled the room.
He talked about his travel schedule–leaving me wondering how he can look and
sound so fresh. Not only did he come to speak in Montana…he’s hanging around
to go on a sight-seeing boat trip to the Gates of the Mountains with us.
Dean reiterated that he expects the state parties to provide a few
things…and soon. He has asked state parties to put together lists of home
emails for all Dem party elected officials, from governors on down to
precinct people. The idea is that the list can be used to send out messages
so everyone can be on the same page with the same talking points.
He also asked state parties to get together with elected officials to put
together documents describing what issues are best to run on for each state.
At the DNC meeting in Phoenix in September, they’ll be combined, and then
things will be subtracted from the platform so it’s clear what the 3-4
things are that all Democrats can run on. He doesn’t want everyone to run on
exactly the same message–he says it must be tailored for specific
locality–but that we all agree on principles. He went on to say that it must
be succinct and not a laundry list.
He praised the state party efforts, noting that the first states are hiring
people now and that 13 have been funded. The DNC will train them and pay the
new hires, although they’re chosen by the states. In return, the states must
work to build strong organizations at the county and precinct level. He says
that he trusts the state parties to do what works in their states; the DNC
will make sure they have the training and resources necessary. “We don’t
believe in a cookie-cutter operation.”
He hit a lot of familiar themes, saying we will be running on fiscal
responsibility and small government. (Small government in this case means
making your own private decisions instead of letting Tom Delay make them.)
Local communities should run local schools, not the federal government. He
mentioned that the Bush administration, not content with going after Social
Security, is now after private pensions. “That money doesn’t belong to
United Airlines; it belongs to the workers who contracted to work for it.”
He wants to make pensions portable.
He repeated his familiar line about the US being the last industrialized
nation without health insurance for all. On national defense, he said the
Democrats have to convince Americans that we’re “tough enough to pull the
trigger.” (Note: that makes me cringe, but he’s right.) He said that the
current administration has sent 135,000 troops to Iraq while doing nothing
about Iran and Korea and that they “can’t tell the difference between a
threat and a nuisance.”
He wants to turn the DNC into looking outward, not inward. He said that too
many resources were devoted to reaching out to people already in the party
and that we need to do outreach to those who aren’t in the party. Chris Owen
from the AFL-CIO is heading up a new outreach program concentrating on
African-Americans, Latinos, and women. Dean said we are not going to show up
in African-American communities four weeks before the election; we’re going
to show up now.
Since values are a hot topic, Dean reiterated Democratic values: no child
goes to bed hungry, an education system with opportunity for all, not
leaving debt to your children, treating everyone with dignity, caring for
the poor. He quoted Jim Wallis as saying “the Bible mentions caring for the
poor 3,000 times; it doesn’t mention gay marriage at all.”
He said that as he travels, he makes himself available for small press
operations, such as constituency papers and weeklies.
All of this went down well with the DNC members. He seems really well liked
by the crowd, which is interesting as many of these folks were not initially
happy about him winning the chairmanship.
By Jenny Greenleaf 3:07 pm Party Process: Dems
3.. G Newman Says:
June 4th, 2005 at 7:25 pm
All this sounds real familiar to the Dean For America people. It’s similar
to what the Dean people did in late 2003, but *smarter*.
I think Howard has drawn two lessons from his 2003-2004 run for president.
First, he was out-maneuvered on the ground in Iowa because his campaign
failed to cultivate enough *local* people. Dean’s “Iowa Perfect Storm” were
great at bringing in enthusiasts from out-of-state, but these strangers
lacked credibility with local voters. Hence, his message TODAY about states
running their own campaigns, but expanding that national DNC mailing list
down down to the precinct level, just like Trippi’s internet operation did.
That would give us a quick-response to bullshit memes like the Swift Boat
ads. WOW!
Second, Howard obviously feels the party needs a national message of no
more than 3 points that get repeated and repeated and repeated, so that you
know what it stands for. Neither Kerry nor Gore did that. (If you think they
did, tell me, in one sentence, what each man’s campaign stood for. OK, now
tell me what Bush’s campaign stood for.
I say this, in frustration, as a former Dean delegate and current
Democratic precinct co-chair. Guys, I am tired of fuckin’ losing).
Jenny, what you wrote is the BEST THING I HAVE READ IN YEARS. It has
brought a smile to my face. Someone among the Democrats gets it! YES!!!
4.. Jenny Greenleaf Says:
June 4th, 2005 at 8:25 pm
Anne, I was paraphrasing there.
Dean’s trying real hard to build the messages from the bottom up, and he
fully expects them to get customized for locale. I don’t read this as a
top-down thing.
The boat trip was great. Dean cracked me up–I didn’t get the picture, but
someone caught one of him hugging a tree.
5.. S.W. Anderson Says:
June 4th, 2005 at 9:22 pm
It appears Dean gets something I’ve been harping on since at least 2000.
Democrats should try to avoid being like the relative, “friend” or
neighbor who only ever calls or shows up when he/she needs or wants to
borrow something, or get some other kind of favor. Democrats need boots on
the ground, handshakes at the doorstep and speakers criss-crossing the
country NOW. Meet ‘n’ greet, make some friends, soften some skeptics up a
little, hopefully.
In the full heat of campaign season, if you’re just starting to show up
and speak up, with every other paragraph being, “Need your money, need your
vote,” it usually ends up being too little too late.
7.. Jim in Chicago Says:
June 5th, 2005 at 10:57 am
Great line:
“Can’t tell the difference between a threat and a nuisance.”
Howard has a way of putting things so succinctly that it really resonates
in your gut. This is what attracted so many people to him early in the
campaign before the Beltway insiders threatened by his truly grassroots
campaign began tearing him down.
8.. Mary Says:
June 5th, 2005 at 11:11 am
This is a great report, Jenny. I’m so glad that you are not only working
with the DNC, but that you also let us know what is going on. And boy, am I
glad that Dr. Dean is applying his energies to this cause.
9.. Jason Says:
June 5th, 2005 at 1:53 pm
I hope Years from now we look back on Howard Dean as the Newt Gingrich of
the Democratic party.Newt is famous because his agenda in 1994 helped add 54
republicans to the house, 9 to the senate and 10 to governorships. We have
to ability to do this with are party in 2006 because we are in better shape.
We need to LEARN FROM Newt gingrich, tom delay,and karl rove and it looks
like Dean is doing that. The conservative movement is dying Nixon won
re-election in 1972 by 23 points, Reagan won re-election in 1984 by 18
points and bush only won by 3 points the smallest win for an incumbent in
history. Remember MoveOn.org has more people in it than the christian
coalition (which only has 1.2 million members). The great silent majority is
dying off.
And a nice note from Donnie Fowler
11.. Donnie Fowler Says:
June 5th, 2005 at 11:06 pm
Chairman/Governor/Doctor Dean is really off to a good start! And, even
more, he is keeping the commitments to state parties and to grassroots
messaging that he advocated while running for our Party’s leader. No wonder
so many folks in DC still have heartburn over Chairman Dean. He’s changing
the way our Party talks to voters … and that’s how progressives will retake
the majority.
12.. Debra in Kansas Says:
June 6th, 2005 at 8:29 pm
I’m so glad that the Dean’s DNC doesn’t plan to write off the “red states”!
Last year, many courageous, articulate Democrats running for Congress in
“red states” were ignored by the DNC, regardless of their qualifications.
2004 was demoralizing for “red state” Democrats. Some of us are just
beginning to speak up, and it’s great to know that the national party will
work with us.
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