Tom Vilsack to announce presidential run Thursday. . .

[kevinbgoode]

Ok. . .now I know very little about this Democratic candidate, but he is apparently getting the show on the road with a campaign announcement in Mt. Pleasant Iowa this Thursday. Can any of our Iowans tell us something about him? I've been getting some email updates, and I can provide this link to the announcement:

http://www.tomvilsack08.com/pages/announcement_event_tour

Here is the text of the latest email I've received from the campaign - looks like they are ready to start a grassroots effort.

Dear Friend,

The first time I brought Tom to Iowa was in 1970.


We arrived from his hometown of Pittsburgh to a potluck dinner hosted by friends and family. It wasn't long until we decided to make Mt. Pleasant home.

Tomorrow, nearly 36 years later, hundreds of our friends and family in Mt. Pleasant will host another classic community potluck dinner. This time we'll be welcoming press and camera crews who are in town for a very special event on Thursday morning.

Yes, the cameras and satellite trucks are on their way to Mt. Pleasant, Iowa -- population 8,767!

Tomorrow night's potluck at Mt. Pleasant Middle School, where I taught for 15 years, will kick-off a week-long announcement tour for our campaign and you're invited to be part of it at every step of the way:

http://www.tomvilsack08.com/announcement

In just a few short weeks, over 30,000 Americans have joined our campaign -- representing all 50 states and thousands of hometowns just like Mt. Pleasant, big and small.

Now it's time to take our campaign on the road from Iowa to New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Nevada, and South Carolina. And while we may not be visiting your home state on this tour, you can still participate at every stop. Starting with Tom's formal announcement speech on Thursday morning, we'll be covering the entire campaign tour on our video blog.

But please do more than just watch online.

Do you know someone in one of these states -- New Hampshire, Nevada, Pennsylvania, or South Carolina? If so, please take a minute to help grow the campaign in these important early primary states.

Invite everyone you know to an announcement event in the days ahead:


http://www.tomvilsack08.com/announcement

Just as a potluck dinner only works when the entire community contributes something, our campaign will only succeed if all of us -- all 30,000 of us -- commit to making a difference today.

Thank you for everything you've done so far. We're humbled by your early support and are excited to share this special week with you -- online and off.

Sincerely,

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Yawn...

[kevinbgoode]

3. That bad? hahahaha.. . ..

I know he has already said he is running, but if this is the "official" announcement, it looks like some kind of grassroots campaign. I've had to listen to some of the youtube stuff just to get an idea about who he is. . .

[madfloridian]

2. He is chairman of this group.

From left to right: U.S. Sen. Tom Carper is vice chair of the DLC; U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is chair of the DLC's American Dream Initiative; Al From is founder and CEO of the DLC; Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack is chair of the DLC; (Not pictured: Bruce Reed is DLC president; Pennsylvania State Representative Jennifer Mann is chair of the DLC's State Legislative Advisory Board (SLAB); Columbus (OH) Mayor Michael Coleman is chair of the DLC's Local Elected Officials Network(LEON).)

[Jim Sagle]

6. Fuck'm.

[kevinbgoode]

8. Oh...I'm not a big fan of the DLC

Well, that burst my balloon. . .

[xxqqqzme]

4. another dlc drone

decides he deserves center stage - yea vilsack - oh yea, that's a winner name if I ever heard one! :sarcasm:

[wisteria]

5. He may be a front runner for Hillary.

Backing out at some point and throwing his support to her. It may be her way to win Iowa.

[Alexander]

7. President Vilsack?

:rofl:

I'd vote for him over the Republican neocon in a heartbeat. But there's no way he'll get anywhere past Iowa in the primaries. I will ingest the contents of an entire haberdashery if he proves me wrong.

Besides, I don't think he's running for president. I think he's running for '08 Convention kingmaker, so he can throw his Iowa delegates and whatever others he gets to whomever gives him the best deal when they get to Denver.

[Pirate Smile]

15. He won't even win the Iowa Caucuses. Any candidate that skips them

because of Vilsack would be very foolish.

[MannyGoldstein]

9. Expect An Attack From Carville,

or another Clinton proxy, any day now.

[skipos]

10. He could be FDR reincarnate and most DUers wouldn't like him because of 3 things

1. D
2. L
3. C

[Hissyspit]

14. If he was FDR reincarnate, he wouldn't be DLC.

[MannyGoldstein]

16. Doesn't This Sound Like The DLC?

Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men.

True they have tried, but their efforts have been cast in the pattern of an outworn tradition. Faced by failure of credit they have proposed only the lending of more money. Stripped of the lure of profit by which to induce our people to follow their false leadership, they have resorted to exhortations, pleading tearfully for restored confidence. They know only the rules of a generation of self-seekers. They have no vision, and when there is no vision the people perish. 5

The money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization. We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths. The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit.

-FDR, First Inaugural Address

[RB TexLa]

17. Yep

[samfishX]

11. Kerry has better odds again

Kerry has better odds of being the Democratic nominee that Vilsack winning.

Besides that, I'd say the DLC has worn out it's welcome with the base/primary voters. I sure as Hell don't want to see anymore friggin' Republican-lite candidates.

[Ignacio Upton]

12. Great, now the other candidates have an excuse to skip Iowa!

At least this will help make Nevada's caucus more interesting.

[Counciltucky]

13. Won't even win the Iowa Caucus.

He was a good Governor -- decent but unspectacular. Nobody in the state is really excited about a Vilsack run. Edwards and Obama have generated much more excitement in the state.

There is only one person who I've met who thinks that Tom Vilsack has a real chance of winning the Presidency. That person is Tom Vilsack.

[AlamoDemoc]

18. I wonder what the DLC wants from other presidential front runners when post candidates like Vilsack?

BTW,ever noticed when you do spelling-check on DU....DLC is like un-knows to DU spell-check system? :D

[BeyondGeography]

19. In addition to all the other serious objections

his name is too easily confused with Vlasic, the dill pickle people.