2004 Elections: Democratic Party Contenders

"The repubs are broadcasting warnings about it..." I've missed a lot of stuff lately -- kindly elaborate!!

Looks like Gephart's getting scared:


From:
'The Inside Track'
by peter Freynes



"...Oh, yeah. The snoops are in town!

The other day a young woman stopped by Channel 17 on North

Winooski Avenue. That's our local government/public-access

station on Burlington-area cable TV. Monica Lesmerises went

through the station's computerized logs trolling for tapes

that included someone named "Howard Dean." According to

Channel Director Jess Wilson, there were 230 matches.

Monica carefully selected 33 she wanted copied and shipped

to her home in Washington, D.C.

Monday afternoon, every screen on every desk at Ch. 17 had

Ho-Ho's face on it as the copies were being run off. One

pair of screens showed the boyish grin of the young

governor debating Republican John McClaughry in 1992.

McClaughry was as stern and stonefaced as a drugstore

Indian. Howard just grinned. He simply couldn't take

McClaughry seriously. And neither did the voters. Dean

cruised to a landslide win with 75 percent to GOP Johnny

Think-Tanker's 23 percent.

Ah! The good old days.

Naturally, Ms. Wilson was curious about the blonde scouring

the Dean files. The obvious question was, who did Ms.

Lesmerises work for?

Monica refused to say.

In our brave new Internet world, folks, secrets are but

illusions.

As soon as Blonde Monica left, Director Jess typed her name

into Google, the knower of all things knowable. In seconds

she learned that Ms. Monica is a senior member of Rep. Dick

Gephardt's presidential campaign staff.

Small world, isn't it?

Blonde Monica is Gephardt's "Research Director," and we're

not talking about finding a cure for cancer or Alzheimer's.

Monica, we've since learned, has a very good reputation as

an "opposition researcher," a digger of the dirt in an

enemy's past. And at the moment, Howard Dean is her

number-one enemy.

It's a position Dean secured two Sundays ago when the Des

Moines Register's Iowa Poll showed Little Howard in first

place in what once was Gephardt country. Hey, you gotta do

what you gotta do, right?..."


For the entire article go to:
http://www.sevendaysvt.com/insidetrack/

I don't wear T-shirts with logos and stuff on them -- ain't mah style. But I was given a "Vermonters for Howard Dean, The Doctor's In" T and wore it in Austin this morning while doing various errands. What a reaction! I was expecting some nasty remarks, but what I got was people opening doors, asking questions, shouting "Right On!" and (funniest of all) a teeny-bopper valley girl at a Petsmart checkout asking, Who's he? When I told her he was running for president, she responded that she'd vote for anyone who stopped the slaughter of the horses, and what is his stand on that issue please? Couldn't tell her.

Negative votes are very, very hard to override (if not impossible) and Bush is piling them up from the moderates, centrists, independents and Republicans not to mention the diehard Democrats. If the Dems can get out the vote, it is a shoe in

That's the key, Bill. To get out the vote. There are lots of us democrats - now we have to vote. And when we put our minds to it, we're better than the repubs. That, after all, is how Hillary Clinton won New York State. She went out and worked for it, and pulled out the vote. Door to door, word of mouth - whatever it takes.

Tartarin,

You ought to wear it to San Antonio Monday --they'd LOVE you!


The "People-Powered Howard" Sleepless Summer Tour is going to be there Monday at:


*** La Villita Assembly Hall at 418 La Villita Street, Riverwalk***

*** SAN ANTONIO TX MONDAY AUGUST 25, 07:30 PM ****


FOR MORE INFO GO TO: http://www.deanforamerica.com/


PS

I GOT TO MEET GOVERNOR DEAN LAST NIGHT at a Middletown R.I. house party-fund raiser. I, along with a half dozen others from 'Rhode Island for Dean', was working the registration table, signing people in and taking checks from attendees who had not yet paid. The Governor showed what a classy guy he is by going out of his way to come over to the registration table and shake all of our hands BEFORE anyone else.

Later, he got a laugh when he began his remarks by saying that there were a number of republicans in the crowd (of about three hundred) so he was going to: "...Take about five miles an hour off my fastball!.." (and) "...Not throw out some of the red meat I usually do!..."
In point of fact his speech was as tough on Bush and as 'Truman-esque' (my word) as he delivers anywhere else. His 'Fastball' was blazing...and there was LOTS of 'red meat'.

Another great line that the Governor got off concerned Myrth York and Sheldon Whitehouse, who were together at his side. They fought a bitter primary battle for the R.I. democratic gubernatorial nomination last year. (All the blood-letting undoubtedly helped the incumbent Republican to defeat York in the November election.)
The Governor's line, as York and Whitehouse stood side by side smiling like honeymooners: "Well, if we can bring Myrth and Sheldon together, solving the North Korea problem should be easy!" The crowd LOVED it.

Notwithstanding my pledge --ie. to be 'A Low-Maintenance Volunteer for Dean' I was ENERGIZED by the opportunity to meet him and I did get his autograph.

Today's Providence Journal had a nice article about the event (although I think they were way too low on their estimate of the number present)
http://www.projo.com/news/content/projo_20030822_dean22.844ed.html

This morning Rhode Island For Dean members, including moi, greeted commuters coming into Providence with signs banner etc on a highway overpass from 7-9a.m.
We got a lot of friendly waves and honks and only one thumbs down.
I was very interested to see that we got quite a few honks and waves from truckers.


-jjorge

Thanks, Jorge. I'm a "team member" and therefore on the list for both Austin and San Antonio (I live at equidistance from both)! The former is major Dean territory (judging from the meetings I've been to) and the latter will be interesting! Delighted you to meet the guy. They're trying to raise another million this weekend. I'm pretty much tapped out but will try to send a token...

That's great Tart! (now maybe I should call you 'Sweet Tart')


Well, I just did it again.

I had already signed up for a re-curring Dean contribution of $75.00 per month but I can't NOT chip in a little more for this million dollar 'Sleepless Summer Tour'* challenge. So-o-o-o I just did another one-timer of $50.
What the h*ll, I'll just postpone that tatoo I want to get. :-) Give till it hurts they say, besides, it hurts less than a tatoo!

Oooops! gotta go, my smoke alarm just went off!

Oh! ......not to worry, it's just my credit card that's smoking!

That's OK though As of 8 PM, 4,897 people have raised $260,198.!


P.S.
I just got my Sleepless summer tee-shirt in yesterday's mail ....Love it!

I have not kept count of how much I've sent to Dean, total. It's nowhere near $2000.... yet... but my smoking credit card believes it may get there. So I hope those guys are really keeping track. Not drinking beer isn't doing me any harm....

Hey, I didn't get a Sleepless Summer Tee-Shirt! Did one have to be there? I have an earlier Tee...

Tartarin,

I bought my 'sleepless Summer Tour' tee-shirt at the demstore ($16. plus shipping)
http://www.demstore.com/cgi-local/SoftCart.exe/scstore/Dean/tshirt.html?L+scstore+mrxg2468ff769c76+1061613828




Here's a great article about Dean by Bill Press:

Democrats dumb to dump on Dean

By Bill Press

Posted: August 22, 2003
1:00 a.m. Eastern



BREAKING NEWS!

There is still a race for president of the United States

underway. Contrary to what you see and hear in the media,

the campaign for president has not been suspended until

after completion of the California recall on Oct. 7.

But if, due to some satellite breakdown, you accidentally

happen upon any coverage of the presidential campaign these

days, be forewarned. What you see will not be pretty. It's

a replay of the Donner Party: Democrats, about to enter the

promised land, eating each other. And the one they're

feasting on most is former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean.

The Democratic Leadership Council took the first bite. DLC

Founder Al From, who recruited Bill Clinton to bring the

Democratic Party back from ruin, warned that Dean belonged

to the party's "McGovern-Mondale wing" and would repeat

their sad history by winning only two states.

Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh, DLC President, dismissed Dean's

criticism of President Bush with the taunt: "Do we want to

vent or to govern?" Connecticut's Joe Lieberman, last

year's DLC President, called Dean "a ticket to nowhere."

And, like rats following Pied Piper, most political pundits

agree, insisting that Dean is simply too liberal to beat

George W. Bush.

They are all dead wrong. They underestimate the anger that

most Democrats, and a growing number of Americans, feel

toward this administration. Besides, Dean is not the

wild-eyed liberal they paint him to be. And he definitely

has what it takes to beat George W. Bush.

As the evil Richard Nixon once said, let me make myself

perfectly clear: Dean's not the only one. In my view, John

Kerry and Dick Gephardt also have the right stuff. I

haven't endorsed anyone in the Democratic primary and, as a

practicing journalist, I won't. But Howard Dean is getting

a bum rap.

Look at his record in Vermont. Dean governed as a genuine

middle-of-the-roader.

He refused to raise income taxes. He opposed gun control,

for which he received an "A" rating from the NRA. He

supported the death penalty. And even though it was not

constitutionally required, he balanced the budget every one

of his 11 years as governor - and then set aside a

"rainy-day" fund for fiscal emergencies.

Dean, in fact, governed as such a moderate and fiscal

tightwad that in 1996, the DLC - the same organization

which now denounces him as some neo-Vladimir Lenin - hailed

re-election of "the centrist Gov. Howard Dean" as evidence

of growing "New Democratic leadership...."

For the whole article go to:
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/printer-friendly.asp?ARTICLE_ID=34218

Well, the DLC (Clinton to the contrary notwithstanding) belongs in the loony bin. Those guys have been asleep, have woken up to find they've grown long white beards and no one knows them.

Tart - I don't think they're sleeping. I would guess they see that Dean is here for real, and they have no control. And this is probably a very scary thing to them. Been reading a little about Dean's lack of charisma. Well, if that's something he lacks, how do they explain all those people joining with him - more and more? And most of this has to do with the meet - ups, in which Dean actually is face to face with fairly small groups, and they obviously like him?

The DLC is running scared, too, because there's a candidate out there who's not following their rules. Lieberman, poor thing, did.

Incidentally, re Lieberman. I had wondered why Al Gore never publicly supported him? Now I like Gore. Think he's smarter than many others, with an understanding of many things. I had expected him to back Lieberman. But Gore had never suggested anything like that. It was Lieberman who said all the nicey nice things, like he wouldn't run if Gore was considering it.

Also, something in my local paper about Bush out west. They mentioned the fact that several thousand protesters were on hand, but inside the building where Bush gave his little speech, a crowd of two hundred gave him polite applause. In some places, the tone of the reporting is changing.

Very informative, current piece on Dean.

Looking good for the Dean campaign, at present. The article does bring up the transition that is taking place. He now has to attract the Centrists, moderates, et al. Funny to see how even Dean talks about having to change his style.

Anyway, there was an interesting excerpt I wanted to share.
--------------
At the Rotary, Dean insisted he is tougher than Bush on national defense, even if he opposed the war in Iraq. He said he supported the first Persian Gulf War, the attack on Afghanistan and, unlike Bush, wants to confront Saudi Arabia over its ties to terrorist groups. "Our oil money goes to the Saudis, where it is recycled and some of it is recycled to Hamas and two fundamentalist schools which teach small children to hate Americans, Christians and Jews," Dean said. "This president will not confront the Saudis."
--------------
You know, I think Bush and Clinton talked about standing up to the Saudis--and then didn't. Anyone else remember this? Dean also commits to his opinion of madrasses, which seems to be viewed as politically incorrect by a large segment of his 'base'.

Still, he's seems to be sailing past Kerry (who?) and the rest of the pack.

The key is not to get out the vote. The key is to have one clear candidate not too badly smeared in the primaries. Not sure you guys can pull it off. Also, not sure whether that is a good thing or not.

Right, as usual, Rog. Nice to see you.

News from Kerry: Do as I say, not as I do.
Kerry Announces campaign from naval ship. Other Dems blast him.
<Probably because they couldn't get a ship!>

Should the next president be elected by Electoral College, or popular vote?

I don't like changing the Constitution. Those safeguards were put in place for a reason. I don't think we should give them up.

What are the reasons those safeguards were put in place?

Why am I giving all the answers?.......
Why do you think they were put in place?

Do you think the Electoral College should be left as it is, or changed? I would have probably been ill if my candidate won the popular vote, but lost the electoral--but to change the system because of one squeaker is knee-jerk to me.

...OK. Bedtime for me, so I'll answer.

I really believe opportunities for graft, corruption, and a serious division in the states would occur. Small states would lose the one man/one vote equality with voters in larger states, and some areas of the country could be avoided by politicians altogether.

I actually believe the states may not have survived as one unit, had the Electoral College not been in place.

Here is an article with some other reasons--

The Electoral College has ensured fair elections for the past 200 years. Abolishing it in favor of a national popular vote could have serious consequences. The Electoral College guarantees that presidential nominees have national support, protects the rights of minorities and safeguards against a monopoly of political power in a few states.

An important function of the Electoral College is to guarantee that the winning candidate has support throughout the entire country. The system is organized so that no single region possesses enough electoral votes to elect the president. In a direct popular vote, there is no mechanism for preventing a candidate from campaigning in one highly populated region to get a majority of votes, and thus win the overall election.With a close direct popular vote, candidates would be able to cite irregularities anywhere in the country and demand a national recount.