This blogger logs my interest in and support for Dr. Howard Dean's run for the Presidency in 2004.

Links

Dean For America (Official Campaign Site)
My picture at a recent Meetup (see http://dean2004.meetup.com). I'm on the left.
Howard Dean 2004 Portal

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Good sites/news articles if you are new to Dean:

Join other people interested in learning about Dean at a Meetup - see http://dean2004.meetup.com/.
"The Unlikely Rise of Howard Dean" - http://www.newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/politics/national/n_8376/.
"Why Dean is Still the Democrat to Watch" - http://www.msnbc.com/news/910162.asp?0cv=CB20&cp1=1.

posted by Real History Lisa Pease at 1:04 AM

 
There's a new wind blowing across the grassroots of the Democratic party. People who are frustrated with not only the actions of the Bush administration, but the cowardice of the Democratic Party and its failure to stand up to Bush on the Iraq war, have found a new hope. His name is Howard Dean.

Dean was, until recently, the governor of Vermont. A doctor by training (who blew through medical school in only three years instead of the usual four), Dean was serving as Lieutenant Governor in Vermont when suddenly he was thrust into the Governorship when that officeholder suddenly died. Dean successfully worked the state out of an inherited $70 million deficit. He brought health care to unprecedented numbers in his state. He cut income taxes and presided over two raises of the minimum wage. He helped protect lands from development while increasing the number of jobs in his state.

Most importantly, to many of his grassroots supporters, Dean was the lone voice on the Left challenging President Bush's decision to go to war without the support of the United Nations in Iraq. And after war began, when other Democrats were saying now was the time to support the President, Dean staunchly defended his anti-this-war stance.

Dean's campaign is leveraging the Internet in a way that hasn't been done before. Through a site called "Meetup.com", Dean supporters can hook up with others around the country. Meetup allows people to enter a ZIP code and then find events in their area. Members of this free service can then vote on a venue for an upcoming meeting. In Seattle this month, there were so many people signed up that two venues were proposed, and people had the choice of going to either. Once you sign up, you are notified a few days in advance that the meeting is about to occur, and asked to RSVP so the venues have an idea of how many people will be attending.

The beauty of meetups is that they are ultimately democratic. These are not hosted by the campaign, but rather hosted by supporters who want to help get the word out about the candidate.

Thousands of people attended meetups around the country last Wednesday. I attended a "meetup" at Piecora's Pizza on Capitol Hill, above downtown Seattle. In a large room that might normally hold restaurant overflow traffic, early Dean supporters and those interested in learning about Dean sat on chairs and the floor, or stood at the room's edges to hear a local leader and avid Dean supporter discuss Dean's positions on a variety of issues.

Here's a candidate that combines a host of interesting stances, defending them all fiercely, even though they don't fit into a nice little mold. For example, Dean is pro-choice, a traditionally Democratic stand. But he says gun control should be legislated at the state level. He's for the death penalty in certain cases, which will upset some on the Left. But he's got an excellent record on providing health care coverage to record numbers in Vermont. He cut income taxes in his state, something the Republicans are fond of doing. But he managed to add jobs in his state, something the Republicans can't seem to master. He's for civil rights for all, including the right of two people of the same sex to join together in a legally binding civil union, although he says this too should be decided on a state-by-state basis.

Most of the people drawn to Dean share one thing in common. In a day and age where most candidates offer equivocal responses that leave them free to maneuver between positions, Dean forthrightly states what he thinks and defends his positions in plain English. He's not afraid to state an unpopular viewpoint and hold to it. After war broke out in Iraq, many from the Left scrambled to say they supported the war. Not Dean. He even spoke out to correct a paper that had incorrectly claimed he had changed his position to support the war.

As the Democratic contenders vie for position, Dean is one to watch. His candidacy promises to uproot established norms and to bring healthy debate to the process.

posted by Real History Lisa Pease at 11:19 PM