Dean urges party to step up efforts to reach all voters....Oregon.

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/114931257122770.xml&coll=7



He said Democrats had weakened their future by depending on so few states.



He said the party would continue to support abortion rights, but begin the discussion by "talking about ways to reduce the number of abortions, something he said almost everyone could agree on."

He also made it clear they would continue to reach out to the socially conservative Christians who had not been voting for us. A training session was held there on this issue, but I have been unable to find anything more about it.

Today he spoke to the Stonewall Democrats in Philadelphia, along with Governor Rendell and Patrick Murphy. He went after Bush for using this issue as an election wedge, and there is a petition up at the DNC.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20060603/pl_usnw/dnc_chairman_howard_dean_addresses_stonewall_democrats_conference108_xml

This is not a bad article overall. The last 4 paragraphs really show the intent.

How to Grow a Democratic Majority

"Republicans did not emerge from the minority by trying to win a bare majority in the House or Senate. They put their organization to work for them and discovered that party building bred more party building.

This seems to be precisely what Howard Dean is trying to do. By developing an organizational structure now, Mr. Dean hopes that the Democrats will have something sturdy to rely on if, and when, they win back the White House.

It's uncertain whether Mr. Dean will succeed. After all, Mr. Emanuel makes a persuasive argument for his approach. Why should the Democrats trade a chance to win the House now for an uncertain future?

The answer? Because a victory now will most likely be short-term. As the Republicans have shown, creating a durable electoral majority requires a firm organizational foundation, something the Democrats don't have. But if Mr. Dean can hold fast to his plan, they just might be on the way to getting one."

Daniel Galvin, a doctoral candidate in political science at Yale, will be an assistant professor of political science at Northwestern University this fall.

I agree. Some of us realize that Dean is taking a big risk, but that it is worth it for the future.

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

Really appreciated. That is what happens here whenever someone posts decent stuff.

You just screwed up this thread, dirtying it up for anyone who might appreciate it.

with an open mind. I think he said a lot of good things, and I am frankly appalled you would post such spiteful stuff.

Reminds me of another post on the topic:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=1159708#1159804

And here's what I posted then:



I am new at this game, although I volunteered in '04 and worked my butt off then with a young, inexperienced, frantic, disorganized staff. This time around, with Dean's plan for grassroots efforts, I perceive a better focus and much more "ownership" of my efforts.

I've had some setbacks, with getting some doors slammed in my face, people hanging up on me, or, for example, throwing a house party for a local candidate (last night) and having only 10 people show up -- when we mailed out 53 invites and had over 20 RSVP's. But, I keep going. I have to. Like you said in a thread below, this door to door, grassroots, may be the only way.

Dean is taking a lot of shit for his methods. But, as a volunteer in the trenches, his methods are working. Since I made that post above on that Begalia thread, for my District Team (covering about 12,500 voters), we have added 2 more Section Leaders, and about 6 more Precinct workers. Our goal is to have a 1:100 voter contact ratio with these teams we are building. Dean's plans have allowed us to have a full-time Field Operator with two part-time staffers, and they are holding trainings for volunteers every week -- and the trainings are full -- and it's all by word of mouth and by calling and door knocking. We simply can't do this type of team building -- without these paid staffers. And without this approach, we wouldn't have been able to start so early either. I will not be in the position I was in in 2004 with our last minute get out the vote efforts (we were a targeted battle ground state -- NV-- and we had tons of volunteers pouring in from CA and elsewhere, but our Party staffers were way in over their heads!)

Aside from the organization and team building, Dean and his people are also providing us with key talking points that keep us on message and that is funneling down to our volunteers at the very grassroots level. An example of this is our door hanger that we have been using to get our message out to the voters: http://www.democrats.org/a/2006/03/print_your_own.php

We first used them on April 29th, when we did the National Canvassing Day. In our city, more than 200 volunteers showed up on that Saturday and we knocked on a lot of doors.


madfloridian, thanks for the update and for the info you posted. I don't really know all the arguments against Dean (I usually ignore that stuff or occasionally read the various messages) but, all I can say is that if it weren't for his decision to hire paid staffers early on, I wouldn't have the team I have today and I'd be trying to do what I'm doing now in September or October like I did on '04 -- too little, too late. We'll be ready for this election, '08 and beyond.

Thanks. We need to hear more success stories than we do. The problem is that DU is already becoming territorial about the 08 election. We are not yet over 04 either, and that is very unfortunate. Dean won't be running, but somehow the fact he ran in 04 still riles a lot here.

He is doing some good things for the party, but it is not popular to post them here. I am not sure of all the whys and wherefores, I just keep on posting and not worrying about it. I think it is important. Post more about your area when you get a chance.

:hi:

"Douches".

That was so uncalled for.

The ghost of Winston Churchill... Nevertheless, it just seems obvious that we have to oppose them everywhere--we have no media, so without direct confrontation in regional races (no matter the odds), our message won't be heard by Republicans by and large. And isn't it obvious that faced with the absence of any opposing message, the people under such conditions will cling to the one platform the do hear? As in, if Democrats don't believe in their message strongly enough to present it everywhere, they're likely to be perceived as half-hearted, weak, dispassionate? So, it's great that we're presenting a both a challenge and an alternative even in the darkest of red places!

since we can't get our message heard, we are going to knock on doors to do it. I guess spreading it locally is all we have left.

to get around the corporate fascist media..Dean will do IT!

When I read this I get so heartened by the myriad of ways that Dean is applying what he's learned from the last three fraudulent election cycles we've had.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12580289/

(about 6.30 minutes in is the Norah silliness part)

"O'DONNELL: Let's be honest. I mean, we just had the NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll come out. And I know you probably took a look at that, and it shows that Congress's approval ratings are lower than the Republicans in Congress, lower than what the Democrats were in 1994. And of course they lost control, so that might signal of course that Democrats might do well if the midterm elections.

But we also found in our polling that Americans out there don't think that the Democratic Party is much better. Why can't you come up with a 10-point plan, put it on a web site, advertise it here on this program here today that shows the American people how you would do something differently?

DEAN: Well, other than advertising on this program here today, we actually have a six-point plan. It is on our web site, and we have one million households that are going to have their doors knocked on, on Saturday. We have a million doors going to be knocked on with a million flyers and the agenda is very clear.

O'DONNELL: And what's that knocking on doors supposed to do?

DEAN: It's supposed to show people what our message is, since we seem to have trouble getting it out. It is very clear. We want honesty and openness back in our government. We want real security and a real strong defense based on telling the truth to our soldiers and our citizens."

o'donnell's agenda is. I've read polls on DU that say the public supports Democrats over republicons in Congress. I'm thinking nora makes up shite as she goes along.

Some day, some way there's gotta be a change in corporate news. It can't always be a mouthpiece for the bushistas.

Dean is amazing at being civil to mediawhores and staying on message. Yo Dean..:toast:

In 1998, George W. Bush appeared on my television set in a campaign commercial and said QUOTE: "Having a child outside of wedlock is wrong."

I thought about my own single motherhood. I thought about how this man had just told me my beautiful child was wrong. I thought about how he said that to the hundreds of thousands of single mothers across my state. I thought about how he had beat Anne Richards four years before and how I was partly responsible because I DIDN'T VOTE IN 1994.

I realized that even though a Texas Governor had as much power as a desklamp, I would be damned if I would let that son of bitch win a second term.

I began to support and follow the campaign of his Democratic opponent, Gary Mauro. I monitored for Mauro campaign ads on my local 3 network stations. Not one single ad aired for Gary Mauro. I waited for Mr. Mauro to come somewhere, anywhere near my town. My town had a population of 200,000. It wasn't like we were podunk. No Mauro in person, or on television. If there were ads for him in my local newspaper, I sure didn't see them.

Finally, I called the Mauro campaign headquarters. I asked them if Mr. Mauro was going to come to our town or area. I asked them why there were no Mauro ads running in my area. I told them that there are people here that don't even know Bush has an opposing candidate, much less that his name is Gary Mauro.

The campaign person told me that my area will vote for Bush no matter what and there was no point in spending money on ads or appearances in my particular part of Texas.

I didn't vote in 1998 either.

Go Howard. Go to the people. Knock on doors. Shake hands. Talk. Look in some eyes. Listen to the citizens. I'm with you.

edit: spelling n sutff

One is pretty aware of how things have been there. She is very much a Democrat, the only other one in the whole family besides us. Well, one in Iowa is sort of. But the Democrat in Texas felt totally hopeless during the elections, like there was no one around like her.

But another in Texas became so right wing before we knew it. He has been Republican, that son has, but he became a regular war hawk before we knew it. He was surrounded at work by them, and there was no party to counter balance.

There is hope in people everywhere. I am thankful Dean is willing to risk himself and his political future on this issue. It is a risk well worth taking.

backstory, blogslut! How dare bush get up and talk about anyone's morals when he doesn't have any!! That has rove written all over it. And we all know how popular he is about now, especially with the prosecutor's office.

"The campaign person told me that my area will vote for Bush no matter what and there was no point in spending money on ads or appearances in my particular part of Texas."

Dean is totally revolutionizing the process that needs it..he instills
fear into the dinos who want business as usual.

http://www.registerguard.com/news/2006/06/03/a1.demconvention.0603.p1.php?section=cityregion

"With a war going badly, a deficit that's doubled and voters' distrust of the party in charge, the head of the Democratic National Committee told a Eugene audience Friday that the time is right for his party to return to power.

Dean, the headline speaker at the first night of the Democratic Party of Oregon's state convention, said more than ever, Democrats have the chance to make the case to disillusioned voters that they represent Americans' values - and that Republicans don't.

"The Republican Party has put the interests of their party before the interests of the country. We will not do that," he said to a standing ovation from 500 party faithful at the Hilton Eugene. "America is desperately wanting leadership. We will provide it in the Democratic Party."

"Dean said he was well aware of the criticism that his party doesn't have an agenda to offer as an alternative to the Republicans. He disagreed, describing a Democratic message that emphasized restoring openness and honesty in government and fostering a strong defense "that depends on telling the truth" to the public and the military. Dean also called for Democrats to campaign for a health-care system "that works for every American," an education system that returns opportunity and optimism, and safeguards for workers' pensions and Social Security income.

"I think that's a decent start," he said. "We can sell this everywhere. And that's what we need."



Howard Dean signs an autograph for Judy Sugnet of Salem, as Gov. Ted Kulongoski (right) looks in and U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden shakes hands.

This Time article, which may or may not be made up...there may not be a house dem who said that...implies that standing up is not on their agenda.

This is of a lot of concern.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1200740,00.html

"A constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage is scheduled for a vote in the Senate this week, and congressional Democrats are mostly downplaying the issue, saying the country has bigger problems to worry about. Dean, however, issued a proclamation saluting Pride Month for "lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals" and lionizing the early gay advocates who stood up for themselves in June 1969 at the Stonewall Inn. On Friday and Saturday, gay-rights messages took up much of the valuable real estate of the Democratic National Committee's home page, which warned Republicans, "Don't Trample on LGBT Americans for Partisan Gain." "Wow!" exclaimed a shocked House Democratic official. "That's way off our message."

Here's the DNC link. I am glad they have these articles and that petition posted, and if a Democrat did say that they should be found out. Hard to know what is truth anymore.

www.democrats.org