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It all began in February of this year. I had dropped Senator Kerry as my candidate over the war vote. I’ll admit I did live in denial, I even remember trying to justify his vote to correlate with his 2002 election; I was delusional and heart broken that the man I had so passionately backed basically turned his back on me and many Democratic voters. I had really thought Kerry was the bright light that would stampede over Bush in the 2004 general election, but I knew that I could never support someone that supported the Iraq war. I left the Kerry camp in October and found myself searching for a new candidate. That takes us back to February, where I began hearing word about Howard Brush Dean – word that he opposed the Iraq war. I’ll admit, that was the first thing that drew me to the governor, but today, it’s only one issue of many that strongly puts me in the governor’s corner.
So here it was, February 2003 and I had made up my mind to support Dean for president. I started the first Utah 4 Dean Yahoo! group and began pushing support to family and friends. A few listened, most gawked, but I persisted.
I found his official website and I began looking at his agenda and the more I read, the more I found myself nodding in agreement. I couldn’t really believe that this guy was running for president. While most Democrats were lining up behind President Bush for photo-ops, Dean was attacking him. He was attacking his unilateral foreign policy, he was attacking his divisiveness, and he didn’t care what the polls said. Dean started winning me over as I read speeches. I’ll admit, at this point Dean was not getting ANY media attention and I actually had never even heard his voice. But I knew that his words were strong and filled with true conviction, and that is all I wanted.
In March of 2003 I attended my first Dean meetup and was SHOCKED to hear that Howard Dean would be making a small stop in Salt Lake City – where he’d hold a fundraiser and a give a small speech. Of course this was my first chance to EVER to hear the governor speak, so I couldn’t pass it up. Dean would be making his speech in May and I could hardly wait.
April passed and Dean still stood at about 2% in national polls. I remember talking with my mom about the numbers and even confiding in her that I didn’t believe he could do it. That I was backing the wrong candidate and that I should abandon him for someone atop the ranks. Of course, I even entertained the thought of going back to Kerry, but deep down I knew I had to stick with Dean – not because he could win, but because he instilled a passion I had never felt. So I stuck it out and continued my support for Dean.
On May 21st I talked my aunt into going with me down to the Alta Club in downtown Salt Lake City to the Dean speech. She was not committed to any candidate, though was leaning toward Kerry. So we headed down to the Alta Club and for the first time ever I’d hear Dean ACTUALLY speak. I have never met a candidate for anything higher than governor. It was a deep honor to even be standing in the same building with the person I hoped would be the next president of the United States. I remember that day vividly; I had gotten there about a half-hour earlier and found my way into the scattered crowd. Only about 10 were there at the time, but as the minutes pressed on, the crowd grew. 10 minutes before the scheduled speech and there were about 60 people packed into this small room, located in a club that was run by predominately while, male Republican Mormons.
I scanned the crowd to get a better feel for the demographics of the people. Most there were older, white of course and they looked to be middle to upper class. The room buzzed with anticipation as we all waited for Dean to arrive. His plane was late getting into Salt Lake City and he was coming straight from the airport. After about 20 minutes of a wait, a small roar floated from the halls into the main room. People eagerly began standing on their tippy toes as a small head bobbed up and down in the mass of people. I remember my aunt looking over at me and saying that he was small. I smiled and said yeah. She replied back that it wasn’t a good trait for a president. But then he spoke.
He didn’t read from cards, or a paper. He looked at the crowd with a passionate eye and clearly spoke about the problems facing our country today. He talked about the tax cut, the war in Iraq, civil unions, No Child Left Behind and other issues that day, each time receiving a strong clap from the crowd of 60. We all hanged on ever word – he truly was amazing. You could SEE the passion in his face, hear it in his voice. He was angry, but angry for all the right reasons. Then he was done – the speech over. I could only stand in awe, this was the first time I heard him speak and it sent chills down my spine. I looked over to my aunt, who just stood there and smiled. She then pushed me up front, right through a crowd of people – she told me this could possibly be the last time I EVER got to shake his hand, because if he won the nomination secret service would be all over the place. As I waited for him to come down the crowded line, I thought about him winning the nomination, I thought back to the polls which said he was at a small 2% nationally and I knew that America was missing out on something big. I was snapped out of it when a hand jolted mine. I looked up and was met eye to eye with Howard Dean. We both stood about the same height and I couldn’t believe that I was shaking the hand of Dean. I went to speak, but only air came out – finally I said some clichéd thing about how he’s brining the youth back to politics. He smiled, said thank you and went on to the next person. I continued to stand in awe for a few seconds, taking in the whole scene. It truly was a great day for me, hell for democracy!
As my aunt and I left I asked her what she thought. There was no mention of his shortness, probably because his words made him seem so mighty, so tall. She had nothing but praise for him – he won her over that day.
Months passed and the Dean sensation slowly grew. First it started slowly, with a few bits on TV here and there. Then it expanded to full shows and full articles. He pushed up in the polls, 2% went to 8% and 8% to 20%. I sat back and watched a man go from the bottom of the race to the top. I watched as people continually said he had peaked, only to be proven wrong by an updated poll. I watched people continually say that Dean’s misstep would cost him the election, only to be proven wrong by updated polls. I watched people continually say that his temper was an issue and that it’d cost him the election, only to be proven wrong by updated polls. I watched people continually say he was too liberal to win the nomination and that if they elected him, he’d only doom the party; only to be proven wrong by updated polls. I watched this man go from a long shot at best, to front runner status and I kept thinking back to that night when I questioned my support. I also went back to that day when my aunt told me that if Dean won the nomination, it’d be harder to get a hand shake because of the secret service. And here he was, so close to doing just that – winning the nomination.
Today when I heard that Gore supported Dean, I paused and thought back to all the times the Dean campaign had been pegged dead. Here is this supposedly dead candidate getting an endorsement by the past VP of the United States. That truly brought me back to day one, when I began supporting Dean. I went from thinking it’d never happen, to feeling it was going to happen.
This is where my hope stems from today. People state Dean can’t beat Bush. Well these same people stated he had no chance at winning the nomination. Dean has proven that with grassroots anything is possible. He came from the bottom of the Democratic field and took control and it left a lot of people in awe. Most of them were his supporters. It’s hard to describe the feeling of seeing your candidate go from nothing to something in just a little less than a year. I FIRMLY believe that IF Dean continues and wins the nomination; he will only continue to roll because he has what it takes. When I listened to Dean back in May, I knew we had a winner. I knew he had what it took to take the party back from the conservatives; I knew he had what it took to take the country back from the conservatives. This isn’t just a movement; it’s a revolution, a revolution that will end in January of 2004 when Dean is inaugurated to the presidency of the United States.
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