jjorge's Dean Diary

'VISIBILITY'


I went to my second Dean meet-up tonight.

My first was four weeks ago. In that four weeks the Dean campaign has become my other life!

At tonight's meet-up a local couple was introduced who are having a Dean fundraiser/house party next week. I ended up signing on as a 'sponsor'. I also volunteered to go early and help with the setting-up.

This month's meet-up was much like last month's - ie. about eighty people, most of them already decided on Dean
but looking for ways to help. As before the energy, and commitment of the attendees was EXTRAORDINARY.

I'll say it again...this Dean campaign is a HISTORIC event. Years from now those who have been involved will look back proudly and tell their grandchildren about it.

I used $100.00 of my own money to buy 100 Dean buttons and 100 Dean bumper stickers. I let the people at the meet-up know that I was offering them at my cost -- ie. 2 for a dollar.(ie. two of either or one of each).

Recently someone said, "make yourself a billboard for Dean!' I told the meet-up folks that that's what I was trying to do but my Dean button and bumper sticker are a little lonely and They are craving to see more of their own kind out there.

In the end, the approx. 80 meet-up participants left with 75 buttons and 48 bumper stickers. One woman bought 10 buttons for herself and insisted on leaving another five dollars saying, "you can give away ten more buttons for me."
I gave them to a group of college students who had come for the first time.

Didn't go, unfortunately. Early morning on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and with the lack of parking in Boulder,I wouldn't have made it home via RTD until 11:00. I'm going to try and go to one in Denver in October.

Just to give you an idea of the energy and passion of Dean supporters here are a few comments (of hundreds) on the Dean blog about last night's nation-wide 'meet-up':


"We had 2 meetups in Kansas City tonight. The one I was at
had about 150 people, about 20% were first timers. I
haven't heard from the other venue yet. We had arranged for
a nice venue with plenty of seats, tables and no one there but us.
We kept the speeches and announcments short, and had tables
set up off to the side wiht various topics:
Dean Info
Dean Mart
Volunteers
Writing Letters to the editor
Outreach for Dean

I was running around signing people in and pointing the
reporter toward good people to talk to, so I didn't have a
chance to talk to many people myself, but i think it went
really well."

*********************

"I went to my first Meetup tonight. When I sat there, I
felt proud to be American. This was what its all about. The
freedom to associate, congregate, and participate in
democracy. For me, it's not Howard's stance on the issues,
I know where he stands, I know where I stand, and there are
a few differences. Its about people. Its about making
democracy participatory. Thank you Dean, thank you
bloggers, thank you volunteers. Lets make this happen."

*********************

I just came back from my first meetup, and apparently the
ones in Fort Collins are growing -- 60 people tonight. Two

things impressed me:

1. Many of the people present really appreciate the
conversations. I think it's time for us to all take
responsibility for all of what happens. The reason George
Bush is president is that I didn't work hard enough to
defeat him last time. It's on me. So this time I'm going to
do more. And there is a person in the race that I'm
actually PROUD to support. Howard Dean.

2. Someone showed a tape of some of Governor Dean's
remarks. And the biggest applause was when he talked about
how angry many of us are with the Washington, D.C.
Democrats and the Democratic Party Establishment. So I
think Howard Dean is right on target when he says exactly what he believes without pulling punches -- not in a
belligerent way, but in a very straightforward truthful
way. I believe that there is great power in the truth. We
need to all be telling the truth in these days.
Great meetup! Let's keep practicing our democracy, creating
our democracy.

*********************

Great meetup tonight!
After drifting away with worries I was just to angry or
cynical to do the campaign much good, I was drawn back
because I realized that I would never forgive myself if
Dean lost a close one after so much early promise and I did
nothing. Signed up to register voters and got my enthusiasm
back just watching the diversity and sputtering renewal of
the great national conversation (or whatever) emerging.
We can do this and I am proud to be a part of it! Its not
so much taking back america as re-igniting it.

***********************

I am sitting here wondering if maybe we are using up all of
our good ideas. i mean, what can we possible do to top this
amazing energy, incredible ideas, fantastic organization in
2008 for Dean's reelection campaign. i mean we are setting
the bar pretty high here, aren't we.



************************


"I'll be brief! Good energy, good materials, and of course
that feeling that I'm among friends. Best line of the ight: "When I'm wearing my DEAN t-shirt, I'm a better
person. Really! Because I know I kind of have to be my best
self when I'm going around advertising the campaign . . ."
We all laughed, and several people said they also drive a
lot more politely, knowing that the person behind them is
looking at a DEAN bumper sticker.
Great night!"

***************************

"We had a magnificent meetup in Sacramento!
I'm sure someone will report some "official" attendance numbers, but
it had to be near 100. The conversation around the tables
idea worked extemely well, and we didn't even want to quit
when it was over."

***************************

"Great meet-up in Philly. Fewer people (50) than last time
but we expanded from 3 sites in Philly area to 6 now. Other
sites reported good attendance. Half of participants were
new. Our local leader is well organized, came with notes,
action, camera and ready to roll. We had samll group
discussion sheets and pre assigned group leaders. Exciting
listing to small groups talk about ways they can cahnge the
direction of the country. Great seeing people I had met
last month and work on outreach activities with during the
month. We are excited in Philly! "

*****************************

Flagstaff Arizona
Thanks to hosts..Erin you were great! I had wonderful time
drinking coffee and watching the NY rally and then "blues
time"--some people didnt know the Doctor played the
harmonica! I have the mp3 and it was great to see in person
when the Doctor yelled "You have the power"!! very very
nice. I had great conversation with two diverse people; one
my age who remembered Bobby and the other the GenDean
(Young Democrats?) person. He is doing a great job..we
talked about a visibility project..maybe a street cleanup
or visiting a senior senator--more to come by email. Erin
had a great idea about drive thru voter registration at a
localpark !! mmmm..could we pair that with a Dean Car
Wash?? Seems a shame to waste all the GenDean Energy!!
Anyway it was way fun..I got a great t-shirt and committed
to providing bumper sticker and buttons at the next
meetup!! Thanks to everyone for the great energy (I do
agree that having it at the coffee shop is a great way to
get drivebys--I think they all went home with a signup
sheet...lol.
*waves goodnite*

*****************************

"We got enough members to have our first official meetup in
Kalispell, Montana! The meetup site showed 7 confirmed, but
by meetup time we had at least 15. Word of mouth and
traditional networking are still effective. I'm pleased
that our momentum here has begun."

******************************

"I love this campaign"

******************************

120 PEOPLE IN PALM SPRINGS TONIGHT FOR THE DEAN MEETUP!!!!!

THE DESERT IS "HOT" FOR DEAN INDEED!

JUST WAIT UNTIL OCTOBER 1ST!!!!

*******************************

"Just got back from our MeetUp.... We asked people if this
was the first time people had been involved in politics.
About 2/3 raised their hands. Only two raised their hands
when asked if anyone had contributed to a campaign before.
More than half were new to MeetUp and new to Dean.
We had every flyer printed up and available and were pretty
much cleaned out at the end of the night. I'd even printed
up one Spanish language flyer. That one went too. All the
buttons and bumper stickers went. I had to give away my own
so right after this am making another order!
After our speaker we broke into two groups and had
wonderful, vigorous conversation. People really like to
talk. In my group a good percentage were just there to get
info so we practiced our Great American Conversation skills
on them. One guy in particular said he was torn between
Kerry and Dean. His particular concern was the environment.
We all did our best to communicate Dean's stand, but the
thing that got him was the little story about Dean snagging
cans out of the trash at campaign headquarters. He took
home a Dean bumper sticker at the end of the night.
We had one veteran, one active military (Air Force) and one
survivor of the Holocaust. There were amazingly emotional
stories from everyone. People didn't want to leave. It was
very cool."

*****************************

"We had a great meetup here in Falls Church, VA. First one
for this area, it was a split-off from the Herndon group.
We had 102 people attend!!!! There are a lot of excited
Democrats in No. VA..."

******************************


"You would think that the fact I got laid off today would
have me in a bad mood, but quite the contrary, because of
our great meetup.
Utah is almost as Republican as Faux News. However, more
and more Republicans like myself are turning to Dean.
We had more than 60 there, including someone from Seatlle,
WA (her father was having major surgury) who came to meetup
on the road since she couldn't at home.
We have a guy who was featured in our local alt-weekly
newspaper. He is walking the equivilent of Salt Lake to NH
to raise money and awareness for Dean. All this from
someone who works full-time for the US MIlitary. He was in
Kuwait, is home by a paperwork fluke, and has buddies from
his unit getting shot at in Bagdahd."

*********************************

'...I was talking with several new Meetup participants

outsdie the Scottsdale, Arizona venue. Said one of the new

participants, "I am finally feeling hope again."....'

**********************************

"I spend my summer in rural Eastern Oregon and therefore I
assumed no MeetUp was close enough. But Walla Walla,
Washington is meeting up, led by the Generation Dean
chapter a Whitman College. Next month I'll be in Corvallis
Oregon (I attend Oregon State University there) and I'm
sure there are functions there.
This was a great experience, especially because I dragged
mother and younger brother along. For the first time I saw
my younger brother really open up in conversation with
complete strangers and my mother was having a blast as well.
Our small group discussion was productive "practice" for
the real deal - converting fellow voters. I mentioned that
my long lost Republican friends might be able to come
around to our side. Instead of giving up, like I had in the
past, I feel that Dean - and this campaign in general - is
enough to convince any right minded person to at least ask,
"why not".
My mother - who has voted in every election since she
legally could - said Dean is the first candidate she wants
to vote "for", rather than voting against the other guy.

Good times."

*************************************

"
This thread is so, so full, but here's my story: At the end
of our Meetup (but does it ever really end?), one of our
hosts asked for a show of hands for who had been
'converted' and was signing on to the campaign. My
conversation buddy across from me at the table raised his
hand. There were cheers and applause -- I was so pleased to
make a connection!"

***************************************

"The Dayton Beach (FL) Meetup was incredible. Not only was
there a greater than expected turn-out, but we were also
graced with local media reps. Amazingly, we also had a
woman in attendance from Vermont (as if you didn't know, in
Florida we have several retirees from the Northeast) who
had meant Howard Dean at several engagements, and she had
nothing but good things to say to us and the media reps. So
now I have it on good authority that he's the real deal -
as genuine in person as on TV. After our welcome and
announcements we showed the San Fran speech from April,
which was very well received. At that point we kicked off
the Great American Conversation. It was refreshing to hear
that such a diverse group of Americans were united in their
hopes and beliefs. People didn't want to stop talking and
many of us stayed well past closing time (the Chow Wang
Buffet was very cool about it though). Now off to sign up
more volunteers. "

****************************************

"Went to one of the two meetups in Pasadena, Ca. last night
at Frank & Deans. My first meeting. Had a great time. Great
group of people. I think about 57 people signed up, but
there were 120-140 people there who came. I volunteered to
do some flyering and such. I am amazed at the size of this
volunteer network already. 100k with 5 months to go before
the first primary.
Bush may have the money, but we can overwhelm him with
blood, sweat, and tears."

******************************************

You can use the link below to register your preference for the presidency.
You can even vote for Bush if he's your guy.

Who do you think I voted for?

--jjorge


link to Newsday poll: http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-prez2004story,0,5467485.htmlstory?coll=ny-nationworld-nation-utility&vote8594962=1

Whew, Jorge. I voted for Dean but was surprised to find that my other choice, Kucinich, outpolls Dean 50% to 36%!

ditto

realistically, one has to infer that Kuciniches supporters have made a special effort to get their people to vote in the survey.

That's completely understandable but the resultant numbers are so far out of wack with Kuciniches poll standing, that it seems a little absurd.

The nine democratic presidential aspirants will debate tonight (8pm EST on most PBS stations)

NOTE: If you want to listen to the audio feed while doing other things on your 'puter (like A2K) you can get it at:

http://www.wnyc.org/asx/wnycam.asx

I have liked Kucinich too. I remember him from years ago, visiting my area of LA. We were in a tiny good little restaurant, the Warzawa - I think we were the only people in there, and as we were leaving in came Kucinich and a few other people, around eleven at night. I guess now I wish we engaged him in conversation, but we were circumspect re someone famous' private time.

edited for spelling!

I think you were nice and you were right, Osso!!

My Dean Day

Up at 6am so I can be at the overpass for 7:30.
(to wave our Dean signs at commuters)

"Oh No, every one of my four Dean tee-shirts is dirty!"

I put them in the washer, fed the dogs, took a shower, put the tees in the dryer, got dressed....hmmm tees not dry yet....oh well, running late so out I went wearing a semi-dry tee.

Twenty minutes later I Joined a handful of RIFD folks already on the overpass. As before, we got lots of friendly waves and beeps plus a few single digit salutes.

We continue to get quite a few friendly honks from truckers. That's interesting and encouraging.

We also get smiles and friendly greetings from most of the few pedestrians who pass by.

When we were done and walking to a little coffee house for a late breakfast we passed a fellow in a city of Providence water dept. truck.
He had been stopped watching us on the overpass for quite a while (? his coffee break?). He made a thumbs down gesture. One of our people said something to him, words went back and forth.

The city worker said, "You know they shot Kennedy!"

"What kind of American are you?" said Lance.

We got good honks from truckers when I was in the Women in Black...well, not all truckers.

yeah, body heat is good for drying tee shirts! You go, jjorge.

Osso,

Truckers are much more disposed to honk at women I think,...for that matter so am I. :wink:

Today I have on another fresh clean dean tee shirt. This one is my favorite. It has the usual 'Howard Dean for America' on the front but it also has the 'Sleepless Summer Tour' logo on the back....
....my daughter says I'm 'Out of control.'

I'm on my way out the door. Driving up to Beantown to see the Thomas Gainsborough exhibitition at the MFA. My brother and his wife are MFA members so I get in free.

Ciao, jjorge

Um, I'd be interested in what you think on the Gainsborough, saw some of his paintings at the Frick earlier in the year.
Back later.

Osso,

The Gainsborough exhibition was impressive (to this Philistine at least).
There were over a hundred paintings from fifty museums and private collections. I liked the portraits very much. He was really extraordinary at portraits although apparently it was landscapes that he really loved, even though there was little money to be made doing them.

Also, it was impossible for me to look at the portraits of all those 18th century English aristocrats without thinking about the social and political history of that era, including the misery and toil of countless people who made their oppulent lives possible. Come to think of it, I guess you could say the same about US vis a vis countless poor laborors around the world!

Gainsborough's landscapes didn't do too much for me. Actually, after leaving the gallery where the Gainsborough exhibition is, and walking through the gift shop, the very NEXT gallery is filled with French Impressionists --Renoir and Monet, number of Van Goghs and more ---THOSE are the landscapes that I REALLY love!

Oops! This is my Dean Diary....I'm REALLY digressing here!


PS
Here is a link you might like to look at.
http://www.mfa.org/exhibitions/gainsborough/

Bush Numbers Hit New Low; Dean Tops List of Democratic Presidential Contenders, New Zogby America Poll Reveals

http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=732

Man, this guys got cajones!

I've just gotta post this!:


Dean stumps for Davis in California

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) --Presidential candidate Howard Dean Saturday urged Californians to vote against the effort to oust Gov. Gray Davis, calling it part of a plan by right-wing Republicans to subvert democracy.

"I think this is the fourth attempt to undermine democracy in this country by the right wing of the Republican Party since the 2000 elections," said Dean.

Other examples, he said, were the refusal by the "conservative-dominated United States Supreme Court" to order a recount of the votes in Florida during the 2000 presidential election and separate GOP-led redistricting efforts in Colorado and Texas that could result in a loss of seats currently held by Democrats.

"I believe the right wing of the Republican Party is deliberately undermining the democratic underpinnings of this country," Dean told a news conference.

"I believe they do not care what Americans think and they do not accept the legitimacy of our elections and have now, for the fourth time in the fourth state, attempted to do what they can to remove democracy from America."

Davis expressed optimism that the voters would allow him to serve out his term.

"This recall is nothing more than an attempt by Republicans financed by the right wing to steal an election they could not win. They lost fair and square and, I believe, at the end of the day, voters will do the right thing."

Although Davis expressed gratitude for Dean's support, he did not reciprocate when asked whether he would support Dean's bid for the Democratic nomination for president.

"I'm taking one election at a time," he said.

Only after the October 7 recall vote will he decide whom to support for the Democratic presidential nomination, Davis said. But, he added about the former Vermont governor, "he has precisely the right experience to be president."

The recall effort picked up steam when, shortly after he was elected to a second term as governor last year, Californians were told they faced a $38 billion deficit.

Dean said it would be unfair to hold Davis wholly responsible for the state's budget deficit, which has since been pared to $8 billion.

"The deficit that was incurred last year is directly traceable to the president of the United States' extraordinary financial policy in which he managed to turn the largest surplus in the history of America into the largest deficit in the history of America in only two-and-a-half years," he said.

Davis said that since George W. Bush became president, the country has lost 3.3 million jobs, equivalent to 3,500 jobs per day. (Full story)

Asked whether his presidential bid might be adversely affected by his support for Davis, Dean responded, "I don't care. My trademark is I say what I think, for better or for worse."

He added, "I'm tired of having this country run by the right wing. That is not where most people are in this country, and I think we ought not to put up with this anymore."

Asked whether he believed the White House was involved in the effort to unseat Davis, Dean said, "Absolutely. I think [Bush chief political adviser] Karl Rove and George Bush have their hand in this."

The White House has said it is not involved in the race.

Although Dean is the first of the nine Democratic presidential candidates to stump for Davis, all have signed a letter opposing the recall effort and others will soon follow Dean's lead, Davis predicted. In addition, former President Clinton will travel to California in the next week to 10 days to speak in support of Davis, he said.

The recall cleared a significant legal hurdle this week when a three judge panel refused to block the election. (Full story)

A simple majority will decide October 7 whether Davis is recalled. If he is, a plurality of votes will determine his successor from 135 candidates whose names will appear on the ballot. The winner of that race will quickly become governor.
http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/09/06/dean.davis/index.html

This is good stuff, Jorge. It's not so much that he has cojones but that he is assisting the Democratic party in finding some cojones, real ones, not the ones manufactured by Lockheed and Exxon-Mobil that the Republicans dangle.

Two months ago I didn't know what a blog was, now I spend more time on the Howard Dean blog
( www.blogforamerica.com ) than I do on A2K!

Here's an interesting story from today's Boston Globe about the blog that has revolutionized Presidential politics and its chief architect:

POLITICAL PLAYER: THE CHIEF 'BLOGGER'
A hired gun who muses with fingertips
By Joanna Weiss, Globe Staff, 9/7/2003

"... There are proven ways to rise in a political campaign: years of loyal foot soldiering, working fund-raisers, holding signs. But when you are quite probably the first chief blogger in presidential politics, it stands to reason that your path will be less conventional...
...So it was that Mathew Gross, 31, former rock band drummer, Colorado River boatman, and environmental studies graduate student, became the blogmaster of the Howard Dean for President operation -- before the Dean campaign developed its tech-savvy reputation, before Dean's "Blog for America" even existed. A blog, shorthand for weblog, is an online bulletin board that includes personal thoughts and links to other sites.

Eight months ago, Gross was a prototypical early Dean fan, a tech-savvy liberal who lived a fairly low-tech life in Moab, Utah. He wrote freelance pieces and edited an anthology about Glen Canyon, a 170-mile stretch of Utah and Arizona that wound up in the bottom of a reservoir. He dabbled in Utah politics and flirted with a run for Grand County Council. And, on his own time, he blogged...."

For the whole article go to:

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2003/09/07/a_hired_gun_who_muses_with_fingertips/

Thanks, Jjorge, and sorry for the thread diversion before on
Gainsborough.