Democrats and Dean: what might have been
Originally published Jun 9, 2004
Jules Witcover
opinion
FROM:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/bal-op.witcover09jun09,0,2765405.column?coll=bal-pe-opinionWASHINGTON - The slogan of Campaign for America's Future, the umbrella group of progressive political organizations that just concluded its election-year conference here, is "Take Back America."
A year ago, many of its members believed they had found their leader in that effort in former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean. He wowed the assemblage then with a rip-roaring speech against President Bush and his war in Iraq, pointedly criticizing the Democratic Party for not standing up to him with all oratorical guns blazing.
This time, Dr. Dean gave them a lusty encore, but as a vigorous supporter of the candidacy of the man who beat him for the party's presidential nomination, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts. He excoriated every leading member of the Bush administration from the president on down, on every issue from the war and the economy to corporate corruption and the environment.
"I'm going to do everything I can to get John Kerry elected president of the United States," he said, to thunderous cheers that the more low-key Mr. Kerry might not have generated here.
Dr. Dean touted his own new Internet-driven organization, Democracy for America, as a means of energizing the roughly half of eligible voters who don't bother to cast ballots.
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