Expats4Dean

"Howard Dean is right," declared the silver-haired Hollings, launching into a spirited defense of Dean's assertion that Americans are no safer now that Saddam Hussein has been captured. "Saddam wasn't causing anybody any problem. You have some little smart-aleck announcer on television asking, 'Do you think we're better off with Saddam gone?' What else is gone? We have 456 dead; 11,000 maimed for life, and I don't think it was worth it. I had intended to vote against that resolution [giving Bush the authority to wage war against Iraq], but Rummy and Condi Rice and Cheney said you can't wait until the smoking gun is a mushroom cloud. I thought they had some intelligence, that they knew something."

The Democratic candidates, the media and perhaps the Bush people seem to be ignoring what seems inarguable: Dean has been the candidate of change from the onset, and their attacks add emphasis to that status. He staked out clear positions where the voters were most angry: the rush to war, a tin-eared imperial presidency, a faltering economy, corrupt cronyism and an overall feeling of powerlessness. He stood up for something. In a climate of powerful models of voter frustration — most notably Arnold Schwarzenegger's election as governor of California — Dean captured the mantle of change, and he's just tightened his grip since then.

From its derisive treatment of allies to its rejection of important global agreements, this administration has favored a go-it-alone approach and a determination to use force as its weapon of first resort. Its approach has alienated friends and bolstered foes. Its agenda isolates the United States, placing responsibility for all the world's problems in our hands, and runs counter to America's traditions as a republic.

By contrast, my national security policy reflects the best of our mainstream tradition. I believe the United States must exercise leadership by working with allies and partners to advance common interests, rather than advancing our power unilaterally.

I was in Seoul when Koizumi's summit was announced, a day or two after John Bolton (the so-called 'Under-Secretary of State for Arms Control' in an Administration that has wrecked arms control) arrived to denounce Kim Jong Il personally and his regime more generally as evil, a menace to peace, the greatest security threat in the region etc. He did this again in the summer of 2003, as six-party talks on the North Korean problem were about to be held in Beijing. A brutal tyrant had North Korea in the grip of 'a hellish nightmare', he said, causing Armitage publicly to distance himself from Bolton's rhetoric. When a reporter from the Times asked Bolton what the Bush policy was towards the North, 'he strode over to a bookshelf, pulled off a volume and slapped it on the table. It was called The End of North Korea, and was by an American Enterprise Institute colleague. 'That,' he said, 'is our policy.''

The whole basis for opposing the war is the argument that Hussein did not pose an imminent threat to America.

If that's your view, why would -- why should -- that change with Hussein's capture?

Wouldn't Dean's opposition to the war be far shakier and far less sensible if he suddenly agreed that the main objective of the war bolstered American security, yet he still opposed the war?

On Dec 30, at 7:30PM, we'll gather at my pad in Arlington for a conference call with Governor Dean, and a celebration of 311 days to victory.

The goal is to raise $5000 at our humble house party, so please contribute what you can afford.

Mr. Bush's team, taking full advantage of its control of the Republican Party apparatus, has a more audacious goal: creating a seamless national political machine that subsumes existing state and local party operations and infuses them with new recruits, money, technology and discipline.

Bush campaign officials say they envision tens of thousands of volunteers, many armed with palmtop computers with access to a database of voters' names and the issues that move them, fanning out through just about every neighborhood in the country in the weeks leading up to Election Day.

If the situation on the ground in Iraq stabilizes, isn't that bad news for your campaign?

Of course not. That would be good news for the Iraqi people and for the world. If Iraq is stabilized and does not blow up into an actual threat to our national security--and our troops can come home sooner rather than later--we will all be happy. My campaign isn't based on the outcome of the war in Iraq but on a hopeful and idealistic alternative to our current political reality--not as a protest against the Iraq war.

What would you do to restore relations with our allies?

If I win, I'm going to go, before I am inaugurated, on a world tour of the countries we desperately need to repair our relations with. And not just in Europe, but also in Asia and in Latin America. We're talking a little presumptuously here because the votes haven't been cast in one primary yet. But I've thought about this a lot.

The cramped headquarters, with its coterie of dressed-down young staffers, feels like the sort of Internet start-up that Trippi once worked for in Silicon Valley. The senior advisers are so overwhelmed that Trippi has to keep changing his cell-phone number to limit press calls, and Enright and her tiny staff admit they cannot keep up with the hundreds of daily inquiries. And that doesn't even count the waves of foreign journalists the campaign has basically had to ignore.

In a disclaimer, the Dean04Worldwide website says it is not authorized by or affiliated with the Dean for America campaign, but is 'totally independent and free.'

The website urges 'all visitors and users...to observe FEC laws and CFR Regulations at all times...' It includes links to the official Dean website, Moveon.org, and the Federal Election Commission, among other websites.

In a 'Countries4Dean' section, the website urges readers to clickon the link 'corresponding to your country of residence below to find other Dean supporters near you, get organized beyond the Meetups, obtain the latest news from the Dean campaign, and make sure US expat [expatriate] votes count in 2004.'

I haven't seen such certainty about an incumbent party keeping the White House since September 2000, when I called George W. Bush 'toast.' I was overconfident then for the same reason others are overconfident now: We forget how quickly people forget. Problems, once solved, disappear. Voters take for granted what has been accomplished. Each success, initially framed by the president as an end in itself, is reframed by the challenger as a means to a further, unfulfilled end. Bush ought to know that this can be done to him in 2004. It's what he did to Al Gore in 2000.

For all Dean's talk about wanting to represent the truly 'Democratic wing of the Democratic Party,' the paradox is that he is a third-party candidate using modern technology to achieve a takeover of the Democratic Party. Other candidates -- Joseph Lieberman , John Kerry, John Edwards -- are competing to take control of the party's fundraising, organizational and media assets. But Dean is not interested in taking control of those depreciating assets. He is creating his own party, his own lists, his own money, his own organization. What he wants is the Democratic brand name and legacy, its last remaining asset of value, as part of his marketing strategy. Perhaps that's why former vice president Al Gore's endorsement of Dean last week felt so strange -- less like the traditional benediction of a fellow member of the party 'club' than a senior executive welcoming the successful leveraged buyout specialist. And if Dean can do it this time around, so can others in future campaigns.

Al Gore was in Tokyo on Friday and Howard Dean was in a van in Iowa, and for 45 minutes, their cellphone conversation was not particularly extraordinary, people close to both politicians said.

Dr. Dean had sent Mr. Gore a draft of a foreign policy speech that Dr. Dean was to deliver next week in California, and Mr. Gore was calling with a few suggestions. Then, at the end of their chat, Mr. Gore dropped the bombshell: "I've decided I want to endorse you," he told Dr. Dean.

All year the elves at his law firm, Baker Botts of Texas, have been working day and night to prevent the families of the victims of the 9/11 attack from seeking information from Saudi Arabia on the Kingdom's funding of Al Qaeda fronts.

It's tough work, but this week came the payoff when President Bush appointed Baker, the firm's senior partner, to restructure the debts of the nation of Iraq.

And who will net the big bucks under Jim Baker's plan? Answer: his client, Saudi Arabia, which claims $30.7 billion due from Iraq plus $12 billion in reparations from the First Gulf war.

Howard Dean's initial appeal has been to those Americans who always knew they were on the margins of George Bush's America. Not the socioeconomic margins, not the African American and Latino communities, but the political, cultural and existential margins -- the young, urban, white middle class in particular. Dean's are the people who were bowling alone -- not churchgoers, not union members. They shared a set of beliefs on which they'd never before had an opportunity to act collectively.

The secret of Dean's success has been twofold. Alone among the serious Democratic candidates he understood that the party was shirking its obligation to oppose -- indeed, that the grass roots was furious at the failure of its leaders to realize this. Second, his campaign became the real Meetup for millions of Americans who'd had no place to go to affect politics in the age of Bush. Dean's edge is that his campaign has provided thousands of young Deaniacs with a dimension of meaning that their hitherto disaggregated lives may have lacked. No other candidate is within light-years of offering that.

"'He was the only major candidate who made the correct judgment about the Iraq war,' Gore said. 'And he had the insight and the courage to say and do the right thing. And that's important because those judgments -- that basic common sense -- is what you want in a president.'

'Whether it is inspiring enthusiasm at the grassroots, and promising to remake the Democratic Party as a force for justice and progress and good in America, whether it is a domestic agenda that gets our nation back on track, or whether it is protecting us against terrorists and strengthening our nation in the world, I have come to the conclusion that one candidate clearly now stands out,' Gore said.

The Arab-American and the Pakistani communities which voted overwhelmingly for Bush in the last election, because it considered Al Gore too pro-Israel and was put off by his choice of an orthodox Jewish running mate, has now realised that it made a mistake. In the next election, both Arabs and Muslims are expected to vote for Democratic party candidate who, it is increasingly likely, is going to be Howard Dean. Some months ago, Dean triggered a storm of protest among America’s Jews when all he had said was that the United States should follow an “evenhanded policy” in the Middle East...

The chairman of Dean’s presidential campaign. Steve Grossman, is a Jew and a former president of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the most powerful Jewish and Israeli lobbying organisation in America. Grossman has said, “Even if the Jewish elites aren’t supporting Dean, the grassroots has been passionate about Howard Dean, and many are Jews.”

According to pollster John Zogby, an Arab-American, the majority of Jews is with the Democratic party, as is the majority of Arabs.

Dean seems in many ways to be the first Teflon-coated Democrat. Unable to make any charge stick, the other Democratic contenders and the press keep searching for that secret vulnerability. But there is no consistent theme to these challenges. One week Dean is portrayed as a dangerous left-winger who will lead the Democrats to McGovern-like defeat. The next week he is depicted as an insensitive Northerner who does not understand the hateful imagery embodied by the Confederate flag. The attacks are all over the ideological map, as critics can't decide whether Dean is a states-rights ally of the gun lobby or a kamikaze liberal.

Mr Karl Rove, the President's chief political strategist, said he regards Florida as 'ground zero' so far as next year's election is concerned.

He also said he hopes the Democrats select the liberal, anti-war, pro-gay union Dr Dean as their candidate. Yet his public glee appears to mask a private fear that countering Dr Dean will not be straightforward.

It will require the Republicans to go into early attack mode. And they will need to think out of the box to rebuff the doctor's boundless energy, astonishing fund-raising prowess and ability to generate headlines day after day.

First, of course, Dr Dean has to win the Democratic nomination.

Let me be perfectly clear. When I assumed office, I put my hand on the Bible and swore to uphold the Constitution. I did not put my hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible, the Torah or the Koran. The people of the Second District of Illinois did not elect me to be their pastor, priest, rabbi or imam for the purpose of shepherding their souls. They elected me to be their political representative and the guardian of their Constitutional rights.

"America has an obligation to ensure the health and wellbeing of women and girls around the world."

As President, I will seek to reestablish America's role as a moral leader in the international community. Critical to this mission will be investing in the health and well-being of women around the world. Such an investment would promote social development, economic growth, democracy, and international security.

The combination of poor educational prospects and early marriage forces too many girls around the world into poverty, exposure to HIV/AIDS, and often a life of prostitution. We must recognize the cultural differences in many developing countries that prevent girls from receiving equal treatment, and devise strategies to encourage change in harmful practices.

Dr. Dean, the former governor of Vermont seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, said he would also use tax credits so college graduates would never owe more than 10 percent of their annual income in loan payments and would retire their debt within 10 years. For students who become nurses, teachers, police officers or firefighters or otherwise pursue public service, the loan repayments would be capped at 7 percent of annual income.

In addition, Dr. Dean said he would quadruple AmeriCorps, the program that enlists young people for two years of domestic service, to 250,000 slots a year.

The only similarity was that at the beginning of their discussions, Dean was not on either union's list of likely endorsees. Last December, at one of their first meetings, Stern asked Dean if there was any way he could help him, thinking he could open some union doors to the little-known candidate. "He said, 'Well you can endorse me,' which I thought was a pretty bold, first opening comment," Stern said. "And I said, 'Well, we're a little far away from that,' and he said, 'Well, if you endorse me, I'm going to be president.' "

The SEIU offered all the candidates the same resources: a list of their local leadership and a warning that the route to the endorsement began not in Stern's fifth-floor office on L Street NW but through the rank and file. "Everybody got the same advice," an SEIU official said. "Howard Dean took it to heart." No other candidate came close to Dean's outreach. "Shockingly" not close, Stern said.

Republican officials said that if Dean becomes their opponent, his campaign-financing decision could dramatically change the landscape for Bush in the months between clinching the nomination and the Democratic National Convention in late July. Bush's strategists had assumed the Democratic nominee would be low on money, or broke, during that period and would have to rely on advertising by outside interest groups, which cannot legally coordinate their messages with the campaign.

Republican officials have said they expected to be able to use that time to run a flood of advertising -- with separate waves promoting Bush's record and bashing the Democrat, with little direct opposition on the air. Bush, who is pouring much of his money into elaborate get-out-the-vote operations, now faces the prospect of an ad war with a well-funded competitor through the spring and summer.

"Let us not be fooled by misguided conventional wisdom. [Howard] Dean is a threat and Republicans better not ignore him."

The latest press release from the "Dean for President" campaign? Fresh political insight from the lefties at The Nation magazine? Michael Moore or Al Franken's recent rantings?

No, this is the considered judgment of two respected Republican pollsters -- Bob Moore and Hans Kaiser -- from Portland's Moore Information. Their Oct. 6 memo should be a welcome read (www.moore-info.com) when Dean visits here Tuesday.

A few of you might have caught my recent comments posted on the O-blog about a Dean 2004 Blimp. Call me kooky but I think it's a good idea given that we need cost effective ways to engage in a national campaign. What do yo think? Imagine this flying over LA traffic for a week, the Superbowl, Nascar or Kentucky Derby. We could get some great photos of crowds at Dean rallys too :) The Dean Blimp
UPDATE 11.10.03, Added an online poll, pics, more links and news. Thanks goes out to DeanCore and DeanNation for featuring this front and center!

Dean has a slight edge in the East and South. In the West, Clark enjoys 22% compared to Dean's 17%. In the East, Dean (18%) is followed by Lieberman (15%) and Gephardt (11%), and Kerry trails with just 8%. Dean is the leader in the South with 13%, followed by an 8% tie of Edwards, Lieberman, and Sharpton. Gephardt has a slight lead on Dean in the Central-Great Lakes area, 16% - 15%.

...Paul Johnson, an independent voter from Nashua who supported John McCain in 2000 and has supported Dean since May, tells Dean that he's "deeply troubled" by the idea that his candidate is going to turn down federal matching funds and bust the caps on campaign spending. Politics is awash in too much money, Johnson says. Why not take the moral high ground and abide by the current system? That sounds like a great idea until Bush spends $200 million, Dean says. Well, then "challenge him to spend less," Johnson replies. Tell him you'll stay under the spending limits if he does, too. Dean's face lights up. "I'll do that at the press conference on Saturday," he says. "That's a great idea." (Saturday at noon is when Dean is scheduled to announce the results of the campaign vote on whether to abandon public financing.)

WE REALLY NEED EVERYBODY TO VOTE ON THIS!

Read this:
http://www.deanforamerica.com/decision

Then vote here:
http://ballot.deanforamerica.com/mailBallot.php

We need to get as many people to vote as possible, so that we can be sure that we're doing what our grassroots supporters want!

137,900 people, 820 locations, 50 states, 20 countries. What a night! The West coast Meetups are just getting warmed up, but early reports from the East Coast, Midwest, and European locations are all pointing toward another successful Meetup day.

Some in the Dean campaign had wanted to stick to today's script, an important announcement about letting supporters vote on whether to abandon the public-financing system.

Even an hour before his Cooper Union appearance, Dr. Dean said he was unsure how or when he would address the flag issue. In addition to President Carter, Dr. Dean consulted yesterday with the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, as well as several African-American labor leaders and elected officials.

Behind stage moments before noon, aides said, Dr. Dean scribbled down remarks on race, saying his gut told him to go ahead.

"You can blame the media or blame my opponents, but the fact is, I've got to own my own words," Dr. Dean explained yesterday evening in Manchester. "And that's what I decided at about 3 o'clock this morning."

Yesterday, Dean said he wants to create a biracial coalition in the South. 'For my fellow Democratic opponents to sink to this level is really tragic,' he said. 'The only way we're going to beat George Bush is if southern white working families and African American working families come together under the Democratic tent.' "

Do the ads live up to the hype? Hardly. In the New Hampshire ad, Dean says of Iraq, "The best my opponents can do is ask questions today that they should have asked before they supported the war." In the Iowa ad, he says of seniors' prescription drug costs, "Instead of fixing the problem, the best my opponents can do is talk about what was said eight years ago. … For years, the politicians in Washington have talked about health insurance and a prescription drug benefit, and all you got was talk. But in Vermont, we did it."

That's it. No names. All issues.

Pollster John Zogby: "This is stunning. Dean leads 43-20 among Democrats and 35 to 11 among Independents. He hits 40 among all age groups, union and non-union voters. His lead is 57-17 among self-described progressives, 50-20 among liberals, and 34-14 among moderates. Married voters give him a 38-13 edge and singles a 45-21 point lead. He holds huge leads among all education groups, among investors and non-investors, men and women. This qualifies as juggernaut status. Can he be stopped?"

Dean's supporters call this arrangement empowering. As many as 800 groups have formed around the candidate, a number rapidly on the rise. And this growth spurt defies easy labels. Dean followers now include self-described geeks, dykes, security moms, and expats, along with graphic designers, hackers, economists, and the unemployed. They call the campaign 'intoxicating' and 'electric,' and they treasure their autonomy. As long as supporters make clear that they aren't campaign staffers, they're free to organize as they like.

...Puerto Rico will have its first Dean Meetup on November 5th if enough people sign-up,

If you know anyone living in or near San Juan, ask them to join the Dean Meetup there today!

Or maybe it's time for you to take that vacation you've promised yourself... People have signed up for Dean Meetups in 43 foreign countries. Join the Americans meeting up for Dean in Paris, Tokyo, Berlin, Montreal, Stockholm, Sydney, or London.

Samuel L. Popkin, a political scientist at the University of California at San Diego, who has worked in a number of Democratic presidential campaigns, said win or lose, the Dean campaign may well prove to be significant. "New blood is important whether it wins right away or not. There are 'new blood' losers and bad losers," he said. Goldwater lost by a landslide in 1964, but he helped start the conservative revolution within the Republican Party that culminated in the election of Reagan in 1980, Popkin noted.

But when done right, as the Howard Dean campaign apparently is doing, the blog is a tool for building community. The trick is to turn the audience into the speaker. A well-structured blog inspires both reading and writing. And by getting the audience to type, candidates get the audience committed. Engagement replaces reception, which in turn leads to real space action. The life of the Dean campaign on the Internet is not really life on the Internet. It's the activity in real space that the Internet inspires.

None of this works unless the blog community is authentic. And that requires that members feel they own their gabbing space. A managed community works about as well as a managed economy. So the challenge is to find a way to build community without the community feeling built.

Dean is an intense and energetic 53 years old. Freyne's nickname for the governor, 'Ho-Ho,' does not refer to the dessert manufactured by Hostess ® (a chocolate cake rolled with creamy filling), but to Dean's energy and enthusiasm. Freyne explains that the name was coined by the late state Rep. Mary Everti in the early 80's. Upon seeing Dean, she remarked to Freyne, 'It's Ho-ho-ho!' because Dean was always on the go. Dean 'on the go' is still evident today."

• National House Call breaks the record


• Americans for Dean total just hundreds away from reaching goal of 450,000


• Third bat certain to crack by midnight

I sat in a room with Howard Dean a couple of months ago and heard him say he supports the death penalty "in certain cases." He probably believes he needs to say this to get elected. What he needs to hear from us are the facts about how many innocent people have been released from death row, people who were about to be executed. We need to show Gov. Dean the right way to address this issue -- by calling for a moratorium on the death penalty until, if ever, this problem of potentially executing the innocent can be solved...

...What I'm saying is, let's cut him some slack. He clearly has been against the war, even if he did fail to mention it (the #1 issue of the day) in his speech. We cannot be so quick to want to dismiss him or sink back into our cynicism of believing that all politicians suck. And when Dean says he wouldn't cut the Pentagon budget, he just needs to be educated. So the best way to support Dean right now is to let him know how you feel about these issues and that, if he wants your vote, he has to state clearly that he will cut the Pentagon budget and use that money for the things this country really needs.

Can I contribute from outside the US?

If you are an American citizen, you may contribute to the Dean campaign. To contribute from outside the US you will need to send in a completed contribution form (located online at the contribute page in PDF form) with your current address, a signed note saying that you are an American citizen, along with the address of the last place you lived in the USA. You can send all this in to:

Dean For America
P.O. Box 1228
Burlington, VT 05402
USA