Howard Dean - "We are your party"

DNC Chairman Howard Dean tells fellow democrats why Barack Obama is their choice for President:

The Color Purple

Barack Obama continues to run the table via Howard Dean's 50 state strategy:

Barack Obama’s general election plan calls for broadening the electoral map by challenging Senator John McCain in typically Republican states — from North Carolina to Missouri to Montana — as Mr. Obama seeks to take advantage of voter turnout operations built in nearly 50 states in the long Democratic nomination battle, aides said.

On Monday, Mr. Obama will travel to North Carolina — a state that has not voted for a Democratic presidential candidate in 32 years — to start a two-week tour of speeches, town hall forums and other appearances intended to highlight differences with Mr. McCain on the economy. From there, he heads to Missouri, which last voted for a Democrat in 1996. His first campaign swing after securing the Democratic presidential nomination last week was to Virginia, which last voted Democratic in 1964.

This is going to be one of the most interesting presidential elections in recent history. Hang on and enjoy the ride!

The Realized Dream of Howard Dean

2008 finds the true progressive members of the Democratic Party finally in the driver's seat. This is the culmination of a strategy envisioned by Howard Dean; a strategy that was scoffed at and laughed off by the DLC crowd; a strategy that, most importantly, was employed by the insightful Barack Obama to the dismay of "the chosen one". The wheels came off of the Clinton bus because Barack started on the ground in ALL FIFTY STATES, per Dean's idea, and he had offices in each state by LAST SUMMER.

The once formidable Clinton machine, filled with people such as the longtime Clinton aide and Democratic strategist Paul Begala, who said of Howard Dean's plan "What he has spent it on, apparently, is just hiring a bunch of staff people to wander around Utah and Mississippi and pick their nose", was felled by Team Dean. Unbeknownst to Begala was that there were votes in Dem dere noses! People in states that had never even seen campaign offices opened, let alone DEMOCRATIC ONES, became politically involved and excited for the first time in their lives. And they voted. For the candidate who empowered them. Barack Obama.

Barack thanked Mr.Dean today by symbolically endorsing his efforts, and declaring that Dean would remain party chairman heading into the general election. He likely would have been ousted by a Clinton nomination. That would have resulted in the loss of so much that we've already gained and are still wresting away from the conservatives. Down ticket candidates in many states will undoubtedly win their races as a direct result of every state being put into play. The opposition will be forced to compete and, more importantly, spend resources in states that they've taken for granted for far too long.

The grass roots progressive machine is rolling across our great land. . .what a wonderful time to be a progressive Democrat!

No. . .more. . .lobbyists. . .EVER!

It's been less than two days since he crossed the delegate threshold to become the Democratic presidential nominee and Sen. Barack Obama's mark on the party is already being felt.

On Good Morning America Thursday, ABC News' Chief Washington Correspondent George Stephanopoulos reported "the Democratic National Committee will no longer accept contributions from federal lobbyists, will no longer take contributions from PACs" in keeping with Obama's well-publicized policy.

From a DNC statement issued earlier today:

"The DNC and the Obama Campaign are unified and working together to elect Barack Obama as the next president of the United States. Our presumptive nominee has pledged not to take donations from Washington lobbyists and from today going forward the DNC makes that pledge as well," said Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean. "Senator Obama has promised to change the way things are done in Washington and this step is a sure sign of his commitment. The American people's priorities will set the agenda in an Obama Administration, not the special interests."

Dean's 50-state strategy proven by Obama

"The Obama campaign is what all of us hoped Dean for President would become"

An excellent read from Ari Berman of The Nation points out what the Clintons would like to summarily dismiss: Banking your hopes on a few key swing states and several large donors every four years is no way to win elections. Targeting every state and building from the ground up IS. We never got to view the results of Dean's efforts in 2004, but Barack Obama has followed his playbook to outstanding success, leaving the Clinton camp to wonder why they didn't have it "put away by Feb.5".

On November 7, 2006, all the top Democrats graced the stage of the Hyatt Regency ballroom in Washington for a big election-night victory party. All of them, that is, except Howard Dean, chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). The party leadership had accused Dean of spending too much money on rebuilding moribund parties in red states and not enough on key Congressional races where Democratic pickups could strengthen their narrow majority.

The results that night, as Democrats recaptured Congress, seemed to settle the argument in Dean's favor. But key Democrats, including Representative Rahm Emanuel, a former senior adviser to President Clinton, weren't satisfied, and Dean opted to stay away from the celebration, doing TV interviews instead. A week later, Democratic strategist James Carville, another prominent Clintonite, labeled the DNC leadership "Rumsfeldian in its competence," and called on Dean to resign. He floated the name of Harold Ford Jr., now chair of the right-leaning Democratic Leadership Council, as a replacement. There was rampant speculation inside the Beltway that Carville wasn't offering an unsolicited opinion but rather carrying water for the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton.

Early last year, Obama began placing resources and satellite offices in red states like Idaho, Alaska and Alabama, where he won handily. These were the sort of places in which Dean has heavily invested . For any progressive who wants to see Democrats compete in all fifty states, and believes in the Dean Strategy, you'd have to give the nod to Obama, who wisely hit places where the party had barely existed years before. "They told me there weren't any Democrats in Idaho," Obama told a raucous crowd of 14,000 in Boise. "I didn't believe them." On Super Tuesday Obama won fifteen of Idaho's eighteen delegates and virtually swept the Midwest and Mountain West. As Howard would say:

4 Years Ago

Four years ago this evening: