As the time nears for him to leave as chairman, I realize how very easy it will be to ignore two of the basic goals he wanted to accomplish. He often talked of the party needing to have a "permanent campaign" that went on every day for four years, not just before the election.
He also wanted to concentrate on small donors. Unfortunately, that was not accomplished as fully as he would have wished because so many progressives chose not to donate to the DNC because of the actions of Congress...or should I say lack thereof. Not fair, but it's how things work.
I remembered this segment from BlueBus blog from a long while ago...about how he had a hard time with traditional large donors because he wanted to concentrate on getting one million to donate 20 dollars a month.
Dean and large donors clash initiallyWhile The Hill, in reporting that three DNC fundraisers quit on Dean because of his focus on cultivating small donors, said:
“Democratic fundraisers say that there is growing concern over what they call Dean's lack of attention to major donors and that donors are much less likely to give money if they don't have sufficient opportunity to meet with the party's leadership.”
All LiberalOasis can say to that is: Halley-Frickin-Loo-Yah.
Dean is attempting to fully put the party in the hands of the people and minimize the influence of corporate interests.
And the big money guys don't like it.
He learned his lesson, and hired fundraisers to work with the larger donors.
His "permanent campaign" may or may not be continued. It is at the heart of the 50 State Strategy. I find myself thinking that things will most likely go back to what they were before.
From July 2004 while he was still working with DFA.
Dean's Permanent CampaignInterviewer: Do you have any specific things in mind to do yourself in the campaign?
DEAN: This battle does not end on November 2, even if we win. We’ve got to reconstitute the Democratic Party. We haven’t paid attention to small donors. We haven’t paid attention to grassroots activists. We need to get people enthusiastic, and that has to be done with the same kind of discipline that the right wing used to take over the Supreme Court, the Congress and the presidency.
Interviewer: What do you see Democracy for America doing?
DEAN: What we do is mainly grassroots intensive support for candidates. And the other thing we do that most people don’t do in the Democratic Party is we work in areas where we don’t have any party organization left. I’m going to be in Mississippi and Texas, because if we’re not willing to spread progressive messages elsewhere, nobody’s ever going to change their mind, because they’re never going to hear our message.
I would like to find a way after the election not to lay off the 4,000 grassroots activists that we are going to be putting in the field in Ohio, but to be ready to keep them on so we can start pushing issues like health insurance. Another thing is building constituencies and issues-based organizations, so when the next election cycle comes along you don’t have to retrain a whole grassroots corps to go out and sell your message. This needs to be a permanent campaign.
He started it and has done well in spite of much opposition from DC insiders and being ignored by the grassroots he depended on for funding. They never really understood what was possible.
It will be someone else's decision whether it continues that way or goes back to old comfortable ways of the smoke-filled back rooms.
Oh, Howard, BTW, there's a place waiting for you at DFA. Dare we hope?