Sunday's NY Times "Fashion & Style" section covers Dem house parties

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House Parties Where No One Shrinks From Talking Politics


By JENNIFER 8. LEE
Published: October 19, 2003

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From beaches in Miami to lofts in Manhattan and parlors in rural Illinois, house parties for candidates like Dr. Dean, Mr. Kucinich, Representative Richard A. Gephardt and Senator John Kerry are blending politics and potluck, along with helpings of anti-Bush oratory.

So far, parties of this sort, coordinated on a national scale, are a purely Democratic phenomenon. In the re-election campaign for President Bush, who faces no Republican challengers, house parties are usually "closed to the press" fund-raisers held at private homes where guests pay hundreds if not thousands of dollars to rub elbows with Mr. Bush himself. Regional offices of the Bush campaign have also held a few dozen smaller parties in people's homes for "networking" purposes.

For the President's Democratic challengers, house parties are modest affairs with suggested minimum donations of $20 or $25. Since the candidates are hungry for attention, the press is welcome. "These kind of parties are informal, social and easy," said Anthony Rapp, the Broadway actor who starred in "Rent" and who held a house party for about 40 at his NoHo loft that raised about $1,000 for Dr. Dean. "It seems to have given access to people who ordinarily couldn't afford to be at a fund-raiser."

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Some 300 house parties were held for Mr. Gephardt on Sept. 30, at the end of the fund-raising quarter, and Kucinich supporters held over 1,000 parties on International Peace Day, Sept. 21. On Sept. 29, Dr. Dean's campaign had guests at 1,500 house parties across the country get on the phone in an effort to set a Guinness World Record for the largest conference call. Over 3,000 telephones were joined that night, with many supporters dialing in on cellphones from the parties to increase the figure, and the Dean campaign raised $300,000. The Dean Web site tells supporters that on Halloween, they should plan a "How-How-Howlin' Howard Dean Halloween party," where they will get "Treats and Truth, not Tricks!"

"Participatory democracy is a message that gets reinforced in these house parties in a very intimate way," said Bruce Taub, a Boston-area Kucinich supporter who attended a house party in Cambridge, Mass., last week. "It's about being personally engaged in the campaign."

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http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/19/fashion/19HOUS.html?ex=1067140800&en=156363c1737c5b6f&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE