2004 Elections: Democratic Party Contenders

I was particularly interested in two facets of the long, front page NYTimes article on Dean yesterday: 1) the description (accurate!) of Dean's successes as a movement, with the flavor of protest, rather than simply a series of political rallies; and 2) the description (troubling) of the make-up of that movement -- aging hippies, new hippies with tongue-studs, etc. Dean is working to correct this impression, to make his support from a wider group more visible.

I have had a problem with the Dean organizations in my area. They are led by the youthful and are (unwittingly, of course) made difficult for the older, more preoccupied, less mobile supporters. I have two (slight) problems which have now ruled out attending rallies in Austin. It's a pity, because even though a see-through camera would put me in the aging hippie group, an actual camera would see an independent rural worker. I wonder how many more of us Dean team members and contributors are not seen by the media for similar reasons.

Tartarin,
I spotted that right away too.

I thought it was an inaccurate over-generalization. --the kind you would expect from a journalist who's looking for an easy cliche', or perhaps a journalist who is seeking to demean or diminish the movement.

Unfortunately, journalists seem to LOVE perpetuating each others cliches!

Here's an article and a view of the Dean campaign that I like a whole lot better than the NYT article:

http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=11304&highlight=

Look how long it took for the Times to get Dean on the front page; to even say he was a front runner without some kind of disclaimer. Kerry was the pick, and what's happeneing now is discouraging to some pet opinions.

And back when Clinton ran - he didn't have a wide group supporting him. I don't mean to sound pollyanna about this - but not one candidate has a wide-open-arm following yet. And there will be more and more back-stabbing, until we have a candidate. Look, these guys aren't running out of altruism. They're all there because of their ambitions. IF the bring along some good stuff, then that's a bonus.

Meanwhile, watch for the Christian Coalitions's moves. The have several groups, including a PAC, and they seem to have kicked off with a particularly nasty message against Senator Arlen Specter, republican Senator from PA, who's far too liberal for them. They are endoesing another person, Patrick Tomby (not sure of last name), who's very conservative. This is their march. Not sure what we can do about it, except watch and write letters, but they are now conducting bad inter-party campaigns. Sounds like a real split there.

Goody -- the more infighting (inevitable) the better among the righties! The right is a coalition of resentment and anger. That'll get you through a campaign, but not necessarily four years of administrative realities, ach detail of which offers an opportunity for bitter argument.

The Times behaves badly about Dem candidates -- and possibly Republican ones. It has for some time. I still agree with whichever wise person it was who pointed out (I believe this was during the Clinton/Bush 1 campaign) that the Times wishes there were just one party and not much fuss. I got the feeling in the Dean article (and some others about candidates -- sometimes in the magazine) that the Times looks down on all this silly stuff, feels it has to detach itself from any close observation, the possibility of Getting A Little Excited... It Is Up To Each Candidate to Win the Times' Approval, Win the Privilege of Being Observed From A Careful Distance by THE NEW YORK TIMES.

I kind of applaud dean for appealing to the twenty-somethings. Perhaps my place in academia makes me enjoy their company (even if their music affects me the way mine did my parents ( this year's freshman class was born the year I graduated from High School! )), and it is far better than the apathetic crowd I and my fellow 1980s classmates were.

I feel the same way, Hobit. They're smart -- they're smart in a different way from the ways we were smart at their age. If Dean is bridging both gaps: to college kids, twenty-somethings, middle-class liberals, and aging female ranchers, he's gotta be doing something right. My only problem is that the media is seeing something it wants to AND not all Dean supporters are at rallies, appear on video...

...Wesley K. Clark, the retired four-star general who has been contemplating a run for president, has told close friends that he wants to join the Democratic race and is delaying a final decision only until he feels he has a legitimate chance of winning the nomination.
"It's safe to say he wants to run" said a longtime friend who has had frequent political conversations with General Clark. "But he approaches this like a military man. He wants to know, Can I win the battle? He doesn't want to have a situation where he could embarrass himself, but I'm absolutely certain he wants to run."...
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/28/politics/28CLAR.html

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Howard Dean and Dick Gephardt are tied for the lead in the Democratic presidential race in Iowa, according to a poll of likely caucus voters.
Dean, former governor of Vermont, was at 25 percent and Gephardt, the Missouri congressman, was at 21 percent. The poll was conducted by Research 2000 for KCCI-TV of Des Moines and KIMT-TV of Mason City.
The difference between the two was within the error margin of plus or minus 5 percentage points.
Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts was at 16 percent, and Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut was at 12 percent. The rest of the field was in single digits. Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina was at 6 percent; retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark, who is considering a presidential run, was at 3 percent; and Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio and Sen. Bob Graham of Florida were at 1 percent. Carol Moseley Braun and Al Sharpton were at 0 percent....
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Iowa-Poll.html

I was at a Dean visibility event tonight. A handful of us from Rhode Island for Dean were stationed with our signs outside the Providence (R.I.) Convention Center from 5;30 till about 7:15pm.

About a thousand people were going inside to a big awards dinner for the annual 'Best of Providence' competition. (ie. everything from 'Best Italian Restaurant,' to 'Best Night club' etc etc)

Anyway, we got waves and thumbs up and beeps from a pretty diverse looking group, including Bus drivers, several well-dressed middle age folks from a nearby hotel, etc.

A number of them went out of their way to come over and talk to us, a forty-something female union member from the nearby Providence Journal, A male Verizon worker from NYC
of about forty-five who said he was a republican but wanted 'That Clown Bush out of there.'

The one that impressed me the most though was a distinguished-looking guy of about sixty in his big new Lincoln automobile (he looked like a business exec. or possibly a doctor) who gave us a big, big wave, a honk and a 'thumbs up.'

Don't believe it if anyone tells you that Deans support is all kids and aging hippies.

PS I'm sixty one myself.

Dean in Seattle:The Stranger

FLYING HIGH
by Sandeep Kaushik


Howard Dean has gone from nobody to the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination. Now he's a political rock star, and he just went on a coast-to-coast tour to prove it. The Stranger tagged along for the ride.

In downtown Seattle, 8,000 screaming, hooting, Bush-hating liberals gather on a Sunday afternoon to cheer on the man they hope will save America from George W. Bush. If it is not obvious before the "People-Powered Howard Sleepless Summer Tour"--10 cities in under four days--arrives in the Emerald City, there is no doubt by the end of the evening: Former Vermont governor Howard Dean will once and for all prove that Seattle is an impregnable Dean bastion.

The crowd at Westlake Center overflows across Pine Street and spills out onto the streets around the park as people wait for the arrival of the compact bull terrier of a man who has won their allegiance by expressing their fears about the direction of the country. Everywhere you look you see nothing but Seattleites waving blue "Dean for America" signs.

The candidate is late arriving from a fundraiser at a nearby hotel, and the crowd is restless. People begin chanting for Dean, at times drowning out the introductory speakers. The minutes pass, and the crowd's impatience mushrooms. It feels as if there might be a riot if Dean fails to appear.

But Howard Dean is not about to miss this moment. He strides onto the stage, 45 minutes late. He marvels at the size of the roaring crowd as he stands before a huge "Jobs for America" backdrop. "Holy cow!" he exclaims. "This is the biggest rally Dean for America has ever seen."

The previous record for a Dean rally was set only hours before, when Dean spit his partisan fire to about 4,000 raucous supporters in Portland, Oregon. Facing a crowd that is easily twice the size in Seattle, Dean pauses for a moment, grinning the mischievous grin of a teenage boy who has just pulled one over on the adults in authority--like the other, more established, and formerly better-known candidates for the Democratic nomination. These other Democrats--what were their names again?--might as well write off Seattle; in his surging liberal revivalist crusade to claim the American presidency, Dean long ago locked up this city.

Dean's speech gets off to a low-key start--at least by Dean standards. Perhaps the candidate is worn out from a lack of sleep. Seattle is the fifth stop on Dean's 10-city Sleepless Summer Tour, and, having been along for every leg of the trip so far, I know I'm feeling exhausted, dirty, and hot. The president is destroying the economy with his tax cuts--Dean tells the crowd this as he begins his speech--losing jobs and starving desperately needed social programs. The Bush administration, he contends, slowly revving up, is ignoring the debacle that is American health care, and ignoring the growing ranks of the uninsured. The thousands of formerly self-doubting liberals spread out before him roars its approval.

When he begins to tick off a list of the untruths the Bush administration used to justify the Iraq invasion, each time beginning with, "The president told us...," the crowd goes crazy. There was no link between the Iraqi regime and al Qaeda, he says, despite what the president told us. There were no uranium purchases from Niger. Iraq was not on the verge of developing nuclear weapons, he says. Our government falsely claimed to know where the weapons of mass destruction were, he says. "Lies," the crowd shouts. Dean derisively refers to President Bush as the "tough fella defending America" who cut veterans' health care and service members' pay, who skimps on homeland security, and who stands idly by as North Korea moves toward stockpiling nuclear arms. "The president is all hat and no cattle when it comes to defense," he asserts, and the cutting aggression in his voice--not to mention his metaphorical jab at the rancher-in-chief--lets the crowd know who the real tough guy will be in a match-up between George and Howard.

Dean doesn't end his speech on Iraq, despite it being the clear crowd-pleaser. He touts his forthcoming economic plan, which he says will be geared toward boosting small businesses rather than large corporations, since small businesses won't export jobs overseas. And as he has throughout this campaign, Dean lays into the Democratic Party--and by not-so-subtle inference, his inside-the-Beltway rivals for the nomination--for abandoning its principles in a failed quest for greater electoral success. "I'll make you proud to vote Democrat again.... You have the power to take this party back and make it stand for something again," he tells the cheering throng. "We're going to take our country back."

* * *

Hobitbob,

Thanks! Nice article.

Looks like Hillary doesn't like the Dean choice.

She's meeting with advisors this weekend to discuss running.

Hillary who?

Now we're talking about the next President of the USA - if only...........

I think this primary stuff is fascinating ... and its only just beginning!

I mean - public rallies! 8,000 people on the street to listen to a politician on the stump! That's so ... nostalgically nineteenth century somehow! I love it. In my country, when it's election times, the main politicians might go for a stroll on the market, shaking a few hands while a caravanserai of photographers and cameramen follows them around. And minor politicians will still do their townhall, community center tour to speech to their party faithful around provincial Holland. But open-air public rallies, and thousands of people turning out? 'T happens in Germany, too - I thought it was something old-fashioned - ours just focus on TV, appearing in an endless sequence of chat-shows, lifestyle programmes, comic celebrity shows and all the current affairs and debate programmes. Bloody inescapable. Every evening some two party leaders will be debating each other or a TV host live.

Thats the only thing I have with the American elections - I'm afraid I might get bored too quickly. I mean, cause theres only a few people, you know? And the season lasts so long! In the primary season at least one of the races will feature a handful politicians thatll get publicity, and from then onwards its really just the two. I'm used to elections involving some 10 or so parties vying to keep or expand their number of seats, plus always a handful of new parties too ... the main debates nowadays have the four or six main party leaders in a plenary debate and respective one-against-one's. (A seventh leader was so angry he wasnt invited last time, he bought the commercial bloc in the break). And all these six or seven have sidekicks to do the minor shows ... I'm afraid I might just be sick of hearing about Dean (well, probably not ;-) or Lieberman in six months' time ...!

OK, I felt like just chattin' ... ;-)

And the season is just starting - January is first primary, everything usually decided by March when on a few states are over - What is it in March? - SuperTuesday, or some such. Big dropoff of candidates after Iowa/New Hampshire.....

And it keeps starting earlier and earlier

Great thread. I'm another aging woman who is all for Dean. Maybe someday the press will get it right. HAH.
Nothing to add to the excellent posts; just wanted to check in to assure getting updates.

Was this article linked in yet? Its a bit boring, but its got a good Dean line:



Party Favor

---John Kerry, in announcing his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for President

Now this is the kind of talk I want to hear from a Democrat.

I don't care who gets nominated, as long as he takes on these lying, thieving bastards who lost an election they tried to steal, appointed themselves anyway and have acted ever since like they won a landslide mandate.

I'm tired of Democrats who are unable or unwilling to fight back.

I'm sick of it.

If a prospective nominee made no other campaign promise than to kick a Republican in the balls every day from now until November 2004, I'd declare my support, give my money and get out there with him and swing my leg, too.

I had a different take on Kerry's speech, PDiddie. (Heard it only in part, as I was taking out the garbage -- no intended symbolic connection). He seemed to be adopting Dean lingo and content and manner, even as he was pounding the podium about "leadership." A little voice in my head sang "No John no, you are a follower."

On the other hand, I would also enjoy spending the next thirteen months watching at least one Repub a day bending over in agony and protesting in a high squeak...