Gov. Dean's meeting with Democracy for TN. Describes the DFT role.

He suggests that the DFA remain separate for more local training of candidates, but to work with the DEC. That is what we do here.
This is a nice write-up. I found out more from this than some of the news articles. I also looked for a write-up and pictures at the TN Democratic Party site, but I did not see any yet.

http://democracyfortennessee.smartcampaigns.com/index.php?q=node/view/261

SNIP..."The newly-minted Chairman of the DNC was in town to participate in Vanderbilt's annual IMPACT Symposium, where he wowed the crowd with his passionate prescription for what ails the Democratic Party.

Democracy for Tennessee got a slot in Governor Dean's political tour of Nashville as our Steering Committee delegation sat down with Dean on Tuesday morning for his first meeting in town."

SNIP..."The first question posed to Governor Dean was.. the DNC and DFA differ and how are they similar. His answer was that he thinks that DFA should remain a separate entity from the Democratic Party but that they should also work together to help elect progressive candidates to local offices like School Board and County Commissioner. He also felt that local groups like DFA had a unique role to play in training and grooming local candidates for local office.(That has been our understanding as well...DFA is equipped to do more things at a very local level)

The next question our group asked was that how could we use local, non-partisan issues to help elect progressive candidates. His answer was that we definitely need to inform ourselves on local, non partisan issues. By doing this, we then could partner with groups such as the Republicans or the Chamber of Commerce. They may agree with us on this issue and may be willing to vote Democrat if they feel strongly about it. He also mentioned that we could sponsor ballot initiatives such as Voter Verification or a Minimum Wage Increase by getting our state Senators to create amendments that the state would vote on. This would get more progressive voters to the polls. This could be a way to counteract proposed state amendments like the upcoming ban on Gay Marriage....."

I found one that says it is, but the site looks like is no longer valid...

I know there is one, I saw it the other day. The one I find tonight has those annoying little red x's all over it, like the site is not functioning.

The other one looked just like it except the boxes were filled with red x's.

I was looking for a mention of the rally Dean had there with the party. I don't see anything.

I live in Tn and know a few friends that were there... I'll see if they have anything.

I know the talk at Vandervilt went well. Don't expect to hear from U of TN because it was in Roy Neel's class. Heard the rally was good that morning at Dem HQ, but that is all we have heard.

A letter from our DEC shows that they are planning to run candidates for local races, something that has not happened here in years. It is a good thing.

http://www.tndp.org/

Speaks about moral values, not going to listen to lectures from the Republicans about moral values when they made deals with Halliburton...we ought not to be afraid to come into states and debate them about moral values. Jesus said love thy neighbor, never said we got to pick the neighbors to love.

About a minute, 25 seconds.

I love Dean. He's doing a wonderful job. My Mom and I wanted to go see him then but found out about it too late. Hopefully he'll be back here in Tennessee sometime later this year.

The video was short, but made his points. I see today he is promising a big fight in PA against Santorum. It hurts to see that they just all assume the choice is made who to run against him.

I guess I have to accept that is part of politics, but I hate to see the only choice being one who does not support women's rights. We figured Dean would be supportive of Casey, as he thinks he thinks he would oppose the extremist judges Bush is pushing.

It is good they are going to fight big for PA. I just wish they did not put our rights on the table. I hope Dean is right about Casey, since he is apparently the choice already.