Dean makes it official tomorrow

[newsguyatl]

...stay tuned for an announcement regarding his run for the DNC chair -- early afternoon.

:hi:

[pelagius]

1. Sources? n/t

[newsguyatl]

3. I'M the source

:D

[DancingBear]

5. Hell, I knew that!!

:D :D

[KittyWampus]

52. Newsguys THE SOURCE! Who Knew

:hug:

I had no idea it WASN'T official.

[Goldeneye]

2. yeah dean!

I hope he gets it...he could do so much good for the party.

[physioex]

4. I just have one thing to say.....

HEEEEEYYYYAWWWWWWWWW...... :smoke:

[Maat]

7. Go Dean!

I think he will make many good points, whether or not the Insiders elect him.

He'll stir up the Hornet's Nest in any case. It will be fun to see.

[mattclearing]

17. He'll win, or he will do what he wants with DFA.

I think the progressive half of the party is ready to go with Dean wherever he ends up.

[Maat]

25. Couldn't have said it better myself, Tasteblind.

Dr. Dean will be a leader in my eyes no matter what. I'll be a part of his group, and he can be Honorary Chairman (as he is now), or whatever. Or we can reshape the Democratic Party - all of us - together. Or maybe both. We'll have to see how things turn out.

[janx]

27. He must have gotten a very good reception in the South.

That was probably the clincher. I know that he did not want to take this thing on unless he thought he had a good chance of winning.

[Leilani]

47. That's what I think

He must have gotten good feedback.

He certainly got the most applause from the audience.

[Sterling]

33. If he does not win I hope he starts a new party.

Im in.

[Tom Rinaldo]

29. Go for it! This Party needs help. n/t

[wtmusic]

9. "Good" as in "bring back from the dead" n/t

[janx]

6. And he does it AGAIN!

Thanks, Newsguy! ;-)

[Clarkie1]

8. When is the voting for DNC chair? Who in the party votes?

[newsguyatl]

10. first week of feb

[Clarkie1]

12. Thanks, hope Dean gets it. I think he's best suited for the position n/t

[Orangepeel]

71. members of the DNC vote

Each state elects some people to the Democratic National Committee. Democratic elected officials at the federal level are also members, I believe.

States do it differently, but in Florida (the state I know), DNC members are elected by the state committeemen and state committeewomen. There is one of each from each county in Florida (they have weighted votes depending on a complex formula based on the number of registered Democrats in the county and the percentage of votes earned by the Democratic presidential and senatorial candidates). The state committeeman and state committeewoman are elected at the county level by precinct committeemen and women, who are elected by the registered Democrats in a precinct during the primary.

[janx]

11. YEEAAARRGGHHH!

[Pharaoh]

13. WOO HOO!

I hope this is true...........

tis the only way to save the party......:dem:

[CitySky]

14. Hooray!

He is the man for the job.

The Democratic wing of the Democratic party shall rise! :D No more "Pug Lite."

[captainslack]

15. Good luck Howard!

YYYYEEEAAAARRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!:yourock:

[Lizzie Borden]

16. Is there any way we can be of help to him?

[newsguyatl]

18. i'm sure after the announcement

there'll be a ton of stuff posted on the DFA blog site.

the movement starts again.

[janx]

24. This is GREAT news.

And if he gets it, yes, it won't just be a restarting of the movement--think of how much bigger it will be!

[janx]

19. YES. You can write letters to those DNC members in your state

who will vote on who will become DNC chair:

http://www.dkosopedia.com/index.php/Democr...onal_Commmittee

[Eloriel]

26. Yes, Lizzie

write polite letters to the Party members in your state (and your state alone, not others) who will be voting in early Feb -- elected officials, delegates, party officials.

[PassingFair]

39. Try signing this petition:

It allows you to plant a pithy post.

http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/deanfordnc

[graywarrior]

20. Goody. I hope he makes them squirm. I WANT TROUBLE!!!

[AntiCoup2K4]

21. I hope every voting member of the DNC saw that lame ass Roemer on Sunday..

....and realized what the DLC wants to force on us.

No thanks Timmy. Neocon appeasement is a cancer on this party and it's in desperate need of a DOCTOR!

YEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH!

[cags]

22. YEEEEAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[David Zephyr]

23. Give 'Em Hell, Howard.

This will be the acid test for the Democratic Pary.

[janx]

28. kickeroonie!

[Cheswick2.0]

30. see my sig line

nevermind sigs seem to be off. In any case Dean will be great at the job, he knows the party needs more grassroots up organization.

[newsguyatl]

32. err, we can't

:shrug:


:hi:

[janx]

70. Too much traffic...

;-)

[Cha]

31. Thanks Mr News Guy!

:hi:

[janx]

34. We can always count on Mr. News Guy. n/t

[ClarkUSA]

35. That's great news

Just wondered about this in another thread. Dare we hope?

[janx]

38. It's up to the DNC members who will vote.

The result will render a clear indication of the direction the Dem party wants to take.

[ClarkUSA]

60. Yes, that is clear. As per Eloriel's suggestion....

I will also contact my state representatives.

[janx]

63. cheers

:toast:

[AmerDem]

36. Thanks for the info

will be listening and watching.

[mandyky]

37. Hallelujah!

Now we're cooking with gas!

[sellitman]

40. I want a 2008 Statement

I want him to run again in 2008 and start the ball rolling now! Maybe that's what tomorrows announcement will actually do?

:)

[zulchzulu]

41. What should he say and what do you expect

I want to see what people think he should say and what they would expect would happen when he says what you think he will say...

Will he be seen as "divisive"? Will he be seen as "my way or the highway"? Will he want to be a uniter?

[sellitman]

42. I want him to

Take no prisoners. I want a full tilt to the left. Anyone who wants a Repug in Democratic cloths can leave now. We need to return to our roots. Dean can take us there.

[LittleClarkie]

43. I always wondered how that is figured

What are the roots?

[janx]

46. Check your PM, please! n/t

[janx]

45. As they say on political forums: BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

God, I love it.

See, my friends?

It's having an effect ALREADY!

[newsguyatl]

75. dude, could you be ANY more obvious?

too funny!

:freak: :freak: :freak:

[janx]

44. Zulch, he will be the greatest uniter in the Dem party that

people have seen in a very long time.

He's a populist and a reformer. You are going to LOVE this.

:toast:

[LittleClarkie]

48. I'd still like more details

What does that mean exactly. As a populist and a reformer, what is he going to do? What will be his core issues? What does he want to reform and how is he going to be a uniter?

[janx]

50. DFA believes in real democracy, which means more power

from the states, towns, and communities and less from D.C..

[LittleClarkie]

51. So he's a smaller government guy?

His he more for state's rights?

[janx]

53. In terms of voting and the direction of the party--

YOU BET.

No trickle-down on that, thanks. It's also the best way to clean up voting irregularities and fraud.

[madfloridian]

54. Give up, janx, they are starting the libertarian stuff with the rights.

It happens every now and then. I think that is happening now. Every time someone mentions letting the states decide someone pops up with libertarian.

[janx]

55. I like libertarians!

But I know what you mean. It's not a libertarian definition; it gets twisted into the "states rights" crap from the Klan, etc..

The bigots twisted "states' rights" business for a time throughout our history to serve their own purposes.

[madfloridian]

57. Yep that is what I meant.

:hi:

[mandyky]

72. Let me make a few guesses

There will be a 50 state effort, and not only on national elections. The DNC will be supporting local candidates on off years.

All 50 states will be encouraged to have blogs on their websites. And they'll be used to have dialogue with the troops in the field around the states, and be sent to the DC DNC.

If Dean heads the DNC, the grassroots will have more of a voice.
Reframing our language will be a big effort.

[Cha]

49. Dean really is a uniter..he has it in him

..because he wants to get common ground and bring people together without forfeiting our principles.

[zulchzulu]

58. How can Dean be a uniter and not forfeit "principles"?

Imagine a roomful of nagging children all wanting different things...and the things they want mean that others will have to give up their toys...how does one get all the nagging kids to shut up and all start giggling with joy?

That's what the DNC chair is all about.

I'm a victim...you're a victim...will the bigger victim please stand up...will the real victim PLEASE SIT DOWN!

I say that Dean is better off with using all his efforts with the DFA and let the DNC raise money to counter the money the Repugs will have in 2008.

Let the small print taketh what the big print giveth away.

[janx]

59. HA! Because he is precisely against any kind of victim mentality.

If you paid attention last night, he said that if he's elected, certain people would have to be held accountable, because that's what democracy is all about.

It's not about him, and it's not about victims.

It's about US. :scared:

[madfloridian]

61. Now that we agree on.

DFA is where many of us feel he would be best. I can not imagine anyone wanting to be the chair. It would be very painful.

But whatever...not my choice. :shrug:

[Cha]

62. I don't care whether Dean gets the chair or

Not! I said ..Dean is uniter and whatever capacity he's in ..he will continue with bringing people together.

And no victims for us!

[janx]

64. But...it's so comfortable...

:scared:

feeling this way!

[Cha]

65. I know you're being..

sarcastic! :hi:

[janx]

66. We all have to do that sometimes.

:scared:

Also, I just reconnected with a journalist--a very old friend from the South--I'm having such a great time!

I mean this was a childhood friend of mine who has been living and writing in Kentucky for a long time! Life is good.

[Cha]

67. Sounds like a wonderful life

connection, Janx! Good on ya!

[janx]

68. Yes. We used to get in trouble together...

;-)

Our parents knew each other, etc., although mine was Prot and hers Catholic...My mother went to school with her father...

All kinds of shenanigans. She said that she and her sisters were reminiscing about the past very recently...and thought of my family.

God...we had such great times in the midwest back then. The "evil times" were fairly innocent, beer and weed, but it was so funny! So funny! Most of the time we were out in the woods or in our parents' back yards.

One time she was not supposed to be at my house, and my mother knew damn well she was there. She jumped behind the sofa in my bedroom, and then she hid in the closet!

I will not tell you what happened when I was at her house. At one time, it is far too embarrassing to describe. But they had a beautiful and welcoming house with a trampoline, a treehouse, and a boxer named Suger-A. He was a sweet dog. I had some kind of connection to him.

[JNelson6563]

79. Here's how

And do try to read it with blinders off:

I'm Running

As I have traveled across our country, I have talked to thousands of people who are working for change in their own communities about the power of politics to make a difference in their own lives and in the lives of others. Every group I have spoken to, I encouraged them to stand up for what they believe and to get involved in the electoral process—because the only sure way to make difference is to step up and run for office yourself.

Today, I'm announcing my candidacy for the Chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee.

The Democratic Party needs a vibrant, forward-thinking, long-term presence in every single state and we must be willing to contest every race at every level. We will only win when we show up and fight for the issues important to all of us.

Another integral part of our strategy must be cultivating the party's grassroots. Our long term success depends on all of us taking an active role in our party and in the political process, by volunteering, going door to door and taking the Democratic message into every community, and by organizing at the local level. After all, new ideas and new leaders don't come from consultants; they come from communities.

As important as organization is, it alone can no longer win us elections. Offering a new choice means making Democrats the party of reform—reforming America's financial situation, reforming our electoral process, reforming health care, reforming education and putting morality back in our foreign policy. The Democratic Party will not win elections or build a lasting majority solely by changing its rhetoric, nor will we win by adopting the other side?s positions. We must say what we mean—and mean real change when we say it.

But most of all, together, we have to rebuild the American community. We will never succeed by treating our nation as a collection of separate regions or separate groups. There are no red states or blues states, only American states. And we must talk to the people in all of these states as members of one community.

That word—'values'—has lately become a codeword for appeasement of the right-wing fringe. But when political calculations make us soften our opposition to bigotry, or sign on to policies that add to the burden of ordinary Americans, we have abandoned our true values.

We cannot let that happen. And we cannot just mouth the words. Our party must speak plainly and our agenda must clearly reflect the socially progressive, fiscally responsible values that bring our party—and the vast majority of Americans—together.

All of this will require both national perspective and local experience. I know what it's like to lead hands-on at the state level and I know what it?s like to run for national office.

With your help, this past election season, Democracy for America, already started creating the kind of organization the Democratic Party can be. This past election cycle, we endorsed over 100 candidates at all levels of government—from school board to U.S. Senate. We contributed almost a million dollars to nearly 750 candidates around the country and raised millions of dollars for many more candidates.

Together, we helped elect a Democratic governor in Montana, a Democratic mayor of Salt Lake County, Utah and an African American woman to the bench in Alabama. Fifteen of the candidates we endorsed had never run for office before—and won.

I also have experience building and managing a local party organization. My career started as Democratic Party chair in Chittenden County, Vermont. I then ran successful campaigns: for state legislature, lieutenant governor and then governor. In my 11-year tenure as governor, I balanced the state's budget every year.

I served as chair of both the National Governors' Association and the Democratic Governors' Association (DGA). And as chair of the DGA, I helped recruit nearly 20 governors that won—even in states like Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Mississippi.

All of these experiences have only reaffirmed what I know to be true. There is only one party that speaks to the hopes and dreams of all Americans. It is the party you have already given so much to. It is the Democratic Party.

We can win elections only by standing up for what we believe.

Thank you and I look forward to listening to your concerns in the weeks ahead.


http://www.democracyforamerica.com/features/2005/01/11/im_running.php

[madfloridian]

56. He will announce at the blog at 1:00 PM tomorrow.

[janx]

69. I and others will check in!

;-)

[Neshanic]

73. Good! He should visit the DNC offices and peek in doors and ask....

"Like your office?"....."Just asking."

[Vidar]

74. Hope he makes it.

[Eurobabe]

76. If Dean gets chair, I will officially join

Dem party, otherwise I will stay as an Independent. Under Howard's leadership I think we will see things change. GO good Doctor!

[janx]

77. kickeroo

[Sparkly]

78. AP Article just up now

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=703&e=2&u=/ap/20050111/ap_on_re_us/democrats_dean

Didn't know if I should start another thread for it...

[sonias]

80. Thank you Dr. Dean!

For standing up for America, for the Democratic party and for the average Americans that are the backbone of this country. I will stand right beside you and fight along side you.

I'm with you Howard, so lets get to work.

Sonia

[bigwillq]

81. Thanks for the heads up!

:hi: