Mousepads, Shoe Leather, and Hope

Back to New Hampshire

2004-01-05T10:24:00.000-05:00

Sorry about that unrelated rant before. Nathaniel told me last night that he had a $188 bill for the period ending December 15, which means that is just for the time he used his cell phone over thanksgiving, and does not include the 1-2 hours a day we have spent on the phone over winter break. So I am a bit pissed off about that this morning and I felt the need to alert other people so they don't end up in the same situation. But now back to New Hampshire.

Things have been getting a little easier. New interns have come in, so now they are at the bottom of the pack and I am less expendable than I was in the beginning. Plus, Steve and I confronted the volunteer coordinators and the "superinterns" about the way we were being treated, and they have made a conscious effort to make sure that we know we are appreciated. Steve was still having a hard time and decided to go home, so I brought him to the bus in Boston yesterday. But I am staying, and there is a part of me that really wishes I could stay until the primary. Even though I never planned to stay through the 27th because I have to get back to school, I feel like I am copping out early, and I want to stay to the end. But I know I can't - my mom said no way, since missing 2.5 weeks of school would mean I might have to take the semester off, and besides, Nathaniel is flying into Boston on Wednesday and I am his ride back to school! So I will just try to make the most of my time here and do as much as I can for the campaign while I am here.

Consumer Alert: A Completely Unrelated Rant

2004-01-05T10:16:00.000-05:00

This is completely OT, but if you are thinking about signing up for Cingular Wireless, don't. If you have the misfortune of having a Cingular cell phone, if you ever see the word "extend" on the screen, do not use it. This is Cingular's sneaky way of telling you that you are incurring roaming charges, if you do not have a nationwide plan. Before using your Cingular phone out of area, make sure you have a national plan. Otherwise, you will be charged at a rate of 79 cents a minute. In other words, don't be like Nathaniel and unknowingly rack up a cell phone bill that will probably be over $1,000 for using a DC cell phone in California thinking you have a nationwide plan!

Airport Craziness

2004-01-04T10:24:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was a crazy day. I had told Paky, one of the people I have termed "superwinterns," that I would be happy to pick up other winterns at the airport. So at 2:30 PM yesterday, he asked me to go pick up this girl named Eva at the Manchester Airport. He gave me her cell phone number, and picking her up went really smoothly, except for the fact that her luggage had not arrived on the same flight. But she said that it was not a big deal because her friend was coming in an hour later and she had left a message on her friend's cell phone to get her luggage.

Eva and I talked on the way back, and she is really cool. She is from Texas, and has worked for everyone who has run against George W. Bush, for governor and president. When I got back to the headquarters, I was talking to Nathaniel online, and he was angry about Ralph

Second update

2003-12-31T19:51:00.000-05:00

Sorry I have not been able to update this. I have been SO busy...I have come home so exhausted each night that I have not even had the energy to talk to Nathaniel on the phone or burn a CD for my car. But right now I have managed to avoid being given a list of people to bother on New Year's Eve to promote Friday's event, so I have a minute to post.

The first few days were really rough. I started crying on Sunday night because we had been there for 12 hours and they would not let us leave and I was unfocused and had not slept and I got really frustrated. Monday morning was a little better, and the afternoon was not too bad because I got to leave early to pick up Steve at the airport. Yesterday started out good, because I got an assignment to drive around delivering letters, but it ended up taking forever and I was alone driving around the unfamiliar backwoods of New Hampshire in the dark. Plus, I almost ran out of gas and had to try to find a station in the middle of nowhere. I was pretty close to quitting, but today was a much better day.

This morning we went flyering for the event Friday, and Teddi, one of the volunteer coordinators, told us that the order from above was to just stick them on cars. I feel strongly that it is better to hand the flyers to people, because making contact is likely to have more impact, some people get a favorable impression just from seeing young people get involved, and it is a chance to identify supporters. So I insisted that while the other three winterns who went put flyers on cars, I would hand them to people. In the process, I found five supporters and one person who was leaning toward Dean, which is more than we were able to identify from 3 hours of canvassing Monday morning. Gretchen, the regional director, was psyched, and Sam Simon, whose position I am not quite sure of, said "I would like to let it be known that i agreed with her the whole time that handing out the flyers was better." I felt really good about standing my ground and proving my case.

Then tonight we saw fireworks, which was really exciting. I almost did not go out to see them, because I was afraid that they would make me sad. But I have loved fireworks since I was a little kid, and there is no way I could not see them. I just forced myself to look at the sky and not the people, because I knew that if I saw one happy couple watching the fireworks together I would cry. I know, I probably sound ridiculous. But the good news is, Nathaniel is coming here in less than a week. His dad changed his flight yesterday so that he can fly into Boston and be here for a few days and then drive back to my house with Steve and me. Then my dad will take the three of us back to school. I have no idea how we will get all our stuff into my little Honda Accord, since Steve and Nathaniel both pack like girls. But we will figure it out.

After the fireworks, I and a few other winterns handed out flyers to the swarms of people passing through the street, and I got two more supporters identified. I think I have identified more supporters today than anyone has been able to do in one day, at least recently, since they thought all the easy ones were already identified. So I feel really good, and I am more confident that I will be able to survive the next week. I just wish the hours were not so long. I can't focus after a certain point, and I feel pretty useless after 4-5 PM, though we still have another 5 hours of work at least at that time. My mom is right - school will seem like a vacation after this!

First update from New Hampshire

2003-12-28T13:58:00.000-05:00

So I am here in the office in Nashua, NH. I only have a few minutes to blog, but I will try to say as much as I can before I have to get back to work.

I admit that all last week, I did not want to come. Leaving school was rough, and I miss Nathaniel terribly. I had finally adjusted to being back home, and I did not want to leave and come up here. For some reason, I have not been as focused on the campaign lately.

But now that I am here, I find myself getting back into the spirit. I arrived at the headquarters in Nashua around 9 PM last night, after spending almost 10 hours in the car. Everyone says it is supposed to take 6 hours to get to New Hampshire from home, but it has never taken me fewer than 9. Last night, I was really intimidated - they had the evening meeting and I had no idea what they were talking about, and I did not understand how the other winterns who had also arrived yesterday already seemed like experts. And another wintern in Salem had told me that the shortest day he worked was 14 hours, so that made me a little nervous.

This morning, we went out and assembled and posted these huge Dean signs that a volunteer had built. There were too many of us and I mostly felt useless, but I did get to use a hammer and a drill, and I must say that I did quite well with them. I will post pictures later.

Now I am updating the database of New Hampshire Democratic and independent voters based on their level of support for Dean. It is tedious, but also interesting, because I get to see how some people have changed their minds either for or against Dean. I have only done a few pages so far, but it looks like a lot of people are changing from supporting other candidates to undecided, and a few people have Dean as their second choice and support candidates who are floundering, so that is good news. I don't notice a lot of people switching to Dean, but like I said, I have only done a few pages, and I spend far more time deleting wrong numbers and marking refusals than changing people's support status, since most people hang up when you call.

Speaking of which, I was just told that I am needed to do phone-banking, so I will post more later.

Al Gore to Endorse Dean!

2003-12-08T18:39:00.000-05:00

Well, if it did not already look good for Dean, things just got a little better. I am really shocked...I did not think he would make an endorsement so soon and I certainly did not think that he would endorse an outsider like Dean. Then again, the party establishment turned on him, so I guess he is not as much of a Washington insider with an insider mentality as he used to be. This is great news...one of the biggest endorsements we could get, and I think this definitely puts Dean a step closer to getting the nomination.

I'm Back (Sort of)

2003-11-21T16:16:00.000-05:00

Argh! I have not blogged in so long...two weeks! I apologize for my absence...I have had a ton of papers and other stuff. I won't be able to blog much until after the semester ends in mid-December, but I will try to blog as much as possible before then. And then when I am in New Hampshire, I will try to keep this as up to date as possible, as often as I can access a computer.

Anyways, on Monday night I went to the birthday bash at the Capitol City brewery. It was awesome...I had not seen Dean speak in a long time, and it was great to go to another rally. I got a great spot sitting on a ledge, from which I could see the stage and take pictures. At one point I motioned to Dave Kinsey, the head of Generation Dean AU, to hold up a sign someone in our group had made that said "American University for Dean." I wanted him to hold it up so I could take a picture, but instead he passed it to me. I held it up when everyone was cheering and waving signs, and Dean looked right at me and grinned! It was really exciting...everyone in our group was so excited for me.

In other exciting news, Scott IM'ed me late last night and told me that I appear in the background in a new Iowa commercial. I looked, and sure enough, I could see a shot of myself at the Falls Church rally in August. I look really goofy, just like in the picture that I appeared in from that rally, but it was still really exciting.

Public Financing Vote

2003-11-07T13:23:00.000-05:00

So I voted to accept matching funds. I was really torn, but I decided that since I know that rejecting matching funds is going to pass overwhelmingly, that enables me to vote my conscience. Here is what I wrote in the comments section:

I know that rejecting the matching funds is going to win overwhelmingly, and I think it is probably a smart decision. But I feel very strongly about public financing, and I am afraid if Dean opts out other Democrats will follow and it will set a bad precedent for future elections. So while I understand why you want to opt out and I would probably do the same thing if I were in this position, I am going to vote my conscience and vote to stay within the system. But I appreciate your opening this decision up to grassroots supporters like me, and I will respect whatever decision is made and continue to be a diehard Dean supporter whatever the outcome. Just as long as you use the extra money that opting out will enable you to use to GIVE 'EM HELL!

Public Financing: The Big Question

2003-11-05T17:36:00.000-05:00

So the Dean campaign has decided to have its supporters vote on the dilemma of whether or not to forgo public financing. I am so torn about how to "vote." On the one hand, I strongly support public financing, and if neither party's candidate uses it in the primaries, then it could kill the system. On the other hand, if Dean can raise enough money on his own, why should he handicap himself by accepting a limit and letting Bush clobber him with a barrage of ads from March to July which he won't be able to respond to? I am really torn between my belief in public financing and the part of me that says do what it takes to win...this election is too important to throw.

Feel free to post comments with your opinions, because I really do not know what the right thing to do is.

New Jersey Legislative Races

2003-11-05T17:33:00.000-05:00

Woo-hoo! The Democrats in New Jersey have taken control of the state senate and increased their margin in the statehouse! I am in shock...the way McGreevey is polling, I was fully prepared to get trounced in both houses. Instead, we have picked up 1 state senate seat, breaking the 20-20 tie, and gained 5 additional seats in the Statehouse, bringing our majority to 46-34. According to NJ.com, this is the first time in 20 years that a governor's party in New Jersey has picked up seats in a midterm. Not bad for a governor who is polling in the low 40's on a good day! We even beat the Republican leader in the NJ Senate, John O. Bennett. Not a bad night!

Adorable Dean Teddy Bears

2003-11-03T02:39:00.000-05:00

Check these out. Aren't they adorable?

Mock Iowa Caucus

2003-11-01T17:23:00.000-05:00

So this morning I got up early (ugh) to go to a mock Iowa caucus put on by a weekend graduate course at the university (which I was supposed to take, until my advisor made me drop it because she said I was taking a spot from a grad student, although there were 7 spots open the day before the class began!). But the caucus part was open to the public, and so Nathaniel and I went. Unfortunately, we had not really publicized it because we were not sure if it was open to the student body and we did not want to tell people to get up before 9 AM only to find out it wasn't. So the Dean people consisted of two guys in the class, plus me, Neal and Nathaniel. The Gephardt and Clark people had organized and had big groups, and all the Republicans in the class were supporting Sharpton. So eventually the Gephardt people convinced us, the 7 Kerry people, and the 4 Edwards people to join them, promising us a delegate and convincing us that the important thing was beating the Republicans. This combined group had 3 delegates, 1 short of what it took to win. Then at the last minute, they convinced the Clark people to come over, and there was a huge cheer on our side. I got to be the delegate for the Dean people, and I said that I was a Dean supporter but was throwing my support to Gephardt because Democrats Unite! Everyone on our side cheered. I wish Generation Dean AU had been able to organize for this, because we could have overwhelmed all the groups there. But it was still a lot of fun...worth getting up at 8:30 AM on a Saturday for.

"Winternship" in New Hampshire

2003-10-29T18:13:00.000-05:00

Woo-hoo! Someone called me the campaign today and told me I had been selected for a winter internship in the New Hampshire office. I am so excited...I applied for an internship over the summer and did not get it, so I am really excited to have been selected this time. I leave for New Hampshire December 21, right after we visit my grandparents.

He said that I will be either working in the Manchester office assisting a more senior staff member, or I will work in a field office and have a little more responsibility but less contact with senior staff and the main operations. I told him either is good...I mentioned that I could help with Jewish outreach, although I am not sure how useful that is in New Hampshire, and that I have my own graphic design business and can do that kind of stuff. I am most likely going to be working in the Salem office, which is right near the Massachusetts border - aka Kerry Country. That must be an especially exciting place to work, because if we beat Kerry in Southern New Hampshire, which gets its media feed straight from Boston, then Kerry has no business staying in the race. It kind of sucks that Kerry is the one we have to knock out first, because after Dean I like him the best of all the candidates. But they are too ideologically and geographically similar - they are competing for the same base, and there just isn't room for both of them after New Hampshire.

Anyways, he said that they still need more people, so if you have not applied yet but want to, go here.

Screwy CNN Poll

2003-10-27T16:39:00.000-05:00

This CNN poll is really screwy. They have a lot of responses to the question of who stands the best chance of beating Bush, but it is unbelievably skewed. Wesley Clark has 92%, Dean has 8%, and all the other candidates have 0%. Seems slanted, and considering Clark is a former CNN analyst, it is a little fishy, but go vote in it and help get Dean a more sizeable percentage.

New National Poll

2003-10-26T14:15:00.000-05:00

Check out this poll. Dean is leading nationwide with 15%, with Clark in second at 12%. More importantly, Dean and Clark fare better against Bush than anyone else in this poll. This may be the first time that Dean did not trail Bush a few points more than his rivals. Dean and Clark are only 6 points behind in a poll with a four point margin of error, trailing Bush 49-43%. This is the closest margin Dean has ever gotten in a matchup poll, and it means that he and most of the Democrats running are almost there...just have to convince a few thousand more people or register a few thousand new voters and we are there.

Confusing Absentee Ballot

2003-10-24T23:36:00.000-04:00

I am having a lot of trouble with my absentee ballot. It has these confusing referrendum questions that I think are saying that more of our tax revenue will be dedicated to specific environmental projects, without specifying what programs will get less of our tax money as a result. Check these out:

PUBLIC QUESTION NO. 1
INCREASE IN BONDING AUTHORITY FOR STATE'S OPEN SPACE, FARMLAND, AND HISTORIC
PRESERVATION PROGRAMS

Shall the amendment to Article VIII, Section II, paragraph 7 of the Constitution of the State of New Jersey, agreed to by the Legislature, increasing, from an amount not to exceed $1,000,000,000 to an amount not to exceed $1,150,000,000, to aggregate principal amount of bonds, notes, or other obligations which may be issued by the Garden State Preservation Trust for open space, farmland, and historic preservation purposes and which are payable from the constitutional dedication through State fiscal year 2029 of up to $ 98 million annually in State revenue from the State tax imposed under the "Sales and Use Tax Act," be approved?

Interpretive Statement
Approval of this constitutional amendment would increase the cap on the total amount of bonds that may be issued by the Garden State Preservation Trust to raise revenue for open space, farmland, and historic preservation efforts in the State. The cap currently is $1 billion, and this measure, if approved, would increase it by $150 million, so that the new cap would be $1.15 billion. The Constitution dedicates for State fiscal years 2000 through 2009 the sum of $98 million annually, and for State fiscal years 2010 through 2029 the sum of up to $98 million annually, in State sales and use tax revenue to finance open space, farmland, and historic preservation, including the payment of any debt that may be incurred from the issuance of bonds for those purposes. This measure would make available $150 million more in bond funding for open space, farmland, and historic preservation but would not increase the amount of the constitutional dedication of up to $98 million annually in State sales and use tax revenue to be used for such purposes.

PUBLIC QUESTION NO. 2
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT TO EXPAND USES OF DEDICATED TAX REVENUE TO FUND
HAZARDOUS DISCHARGE CLEANUPS

Shall the amendment to Article VIII, Section II, paragraph 6 of the Constitution of the State of New Jersey, expanding the authorized uses of the constitutionally dedicated Corporation Business Tax revenue, to include funding the costs of the remediation of hazardous discharges, and funding the costs of a State underground storage tank inspection program, be approved?

Interpretive Statement
Approval of this constitutional amendment would expand the authorized uses of the constitutionally dedicated portion of the Corporation Business Tax revenues to allow funding, including the provision of loans or grants, for the costs of remediation of discharges of hazardous substances. Since 1996, 4% of the annual revenue from the Corporation Business Tax has been constitutionally dedicated, with a minimum of one-half allocated for hazardous discharge cleanup performed by the State, a minimum of one sixth or a minimum of $5 million allocated for water quality projects and, until December 31, 2008, a minimum of one third allocated for funding loans or grants for underground storage tank upgrades, replacements, closures and remediations. This constitutional amendment would, without increasing taxes, expand the authorized uses of the one third dedicated to underground storage tank projects, to allow that portion to be used also for funding loans or grants to remediate hazardous substance discharges, and for the use of up to $2 million per year for an underground storage tank inspection program, and, by removing the December 31, 2008 expiration date, would continue its allocation for those purposes.

PUBLIC QUESTION NO. 3
DAM, LAKE, STREAM, FLOOD CONTROL, WATER RESOURCES, AND WASTEWATER TREATMENT
BOND ISSUE

Shall the "Dam, Lake, Stream, Flood Control, Water Resources, and Wastewater Treatment Project Bond Act of 2003," which authorizes the State to issue bonds in the amount of $200,000,000 for the purposes of providing financing for the restoration and repair of dams, the dredging and restoration of lakes, the cleaning and desnagging of streams to diminish flooding and property damage therefrom, and providing financing for flood control projects, water resources projects and wastewater treatment system projects, and providing the ways and means to pay the interest on the debt and also to pay and discharge the principal thereof, be approved?

Interpretive Statement
Approval of this act would authorize the sale of $200,000,000 in State general obligation bonds to be used for the purposes of providing $15,000,000 to restore and repair State-owned dams, $95,000,000 in low-interest loans to owners of dams for dam restoration and repair projects, and $15,000,000 in low-interest loans to owners of lakes and streams and private lake associations, with local governments as co-applicants, for lake dredging and restoration, or stream cleaning and desnagging projects, necessary to diminish severe flooding in the State; $25,000,000 to finance State flood control projects, and $50,000,000 for water resources projects and wastewater treatment system projects.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

These projects sound good but I am leaning toward voting against them because I do not believe in referrendums that specify a project without off-setting the cost, and the way it is worded, for all I know the money could come at the expense of projects that are more important to me. I am a member of the League of Women Voters and a political activist, so if I cannot understand the questions on my ballot, that does not bode well for the rest of the population!

New Hampshire Poll, Conference Call with Trippi

2003-10-24T14:17:00.000-04:00

I have a lot to catch up on, but I will start with the latest New Hampshire poll, which shows Dean with an astounding 23 point lead over Kerry in New Hampshire. You know I don't trust Zogby, but this is still great news.

Anyways, enough about New Hampshire. Last night we participated in a conference call with Joe Trippi, Dean's campaign manager. I was really excited because I got to ask a question live and have it answered. I asked how seriously the campaign is taking the DC primary, and I was kind of disappointed with his answer. He said that since it is non-binding (although all the delegates have pledged to obey the primary) they can't put a lot of resources in it and have to focus on Iowa and New Hampshire. The thing is, everything I have read in the news contradicts that answer. I have read in multiple places that Dean has the largest organization here and appears to be the most committed of all the candidates to taking this primary seriously. He would be really smart to do so, since winning here would show that he can appeal to black voters. I do not believe there has been any polling of DC residents...if I get a chance maybe I will try to do some myself, since I would really like to have some idea how this primary will play out. It is important for Dean to win here, and it is important for DC to have one of the major candidates win, because if a fringe candidate wins it will get less attention and make it seem like it was a fluke or DC residents are outside the mainstream, which is the opposite of what we want to show when fighting for voting rights for DC citizens.

Dean Leads in NY

2003-10-23T13:43:00.000-04:00

Woo-hoo! Dean has overtaken Lieberman for the lead in New York

George W. Bush's Resume

2003-10-22T18:56:00.000-04:00

You have got to check this out.

Arizona Poll

2003-10-20T18:48:00.000-04:00

Great News:
Dean has taken the lead in Arizona, according to a new poll released today.

Here are the results:
Dean: 32%
Clark: 24%
Lieberman: 15%
Kerry 15%
Gep: 8%
Sharpton 4%
Edwards 1%
Braun 1%
Kucinich under 1%

News Roundup

2003-10-20T13:50:00.000-04:00

A new Zogby poll shows Dean leading by 2 points nationwide. MSNBC has an article entitled "Can Dean Remold the Democratic Party?"

The Jacksonville News reports that Dean's supporters are quietly mobilizing for the Florida straw poll, despite calls from the national party to boycott. The Salt Lake Tribune has a feature on Dean for America blogger Matt Gross.

Capitol Hill Blue has a great article about how a year after his death, Paul Wellstone's influence is still being felt on the Hill.

If you thought Kerry's challenge to Dean over the American League Championship was funny, check this out.

Red Sox Poem

2003-10-19T19:31:00.000-04:00

Check out this poem I found at blogamy:

'Twas the night to beat Yankees
and all through the 'Nation'
not a single soul was thinking
of 85 years of damnation

Cuz this is the year.
to end our bad luck
and even if it weren't
the Yankees still "suck"

On Damon, on Nixon, Manny and Nomah
On V-tek, on Walker, Ortiz and Millah
Carry this team and end this damned curse
Don't blow the game, or you'll leave town in a hearse

To the true fans of Boston
Get a beer and a cup and say it together
COWBOY UP!!!

I am still bummed about the Red Sox. They came SO close, and now I really hope that Nathaniel's theory about the political implications does not hold.

Around the Blogs

2003-10-19T12:21:00.000-04:00

SF Smith has an interesting post about how libertarians should judge Dean. Easter Lemming has an article about how 60% of Democratic voters in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina want the Democratic nominee to be someone who opposed the war. And Amanda has an interesting postabout how Dean and Kucinich are democratizing political fundraising.

This is a little old, but a former Graham supporter posted on the Dean blog last week about why he considers Dean the obvious choice now that Senator Graham has dropped out.

Linda in Iowa has a site entitled "6 Reasons Why Howard Dean Will Win the General Election". Check it out...these are good talking points for people who say they like Dean but worry about his electability.

Also, the Boston Channel has a poll about the Democratic candidates...Dean is winning but Clark is edging up. If you have not already, go vote!

This is also a few days old, but check out this hysterical post about why Republicans should change their mascot to the condom.

Morning News Roundup

2003-10-19T11:54:00.000-04:00

The New London Day has an article about how the high-tech nature of the campaign is making Howard Dean attractive to tech-savvy college students. It profiles a student who has a Dean icon on his AOL Instant Messanger (as do I, and sound clips of Dean speaking when people sign on and off and when I get a message), and it says that measures like this "could be the key to unlocking a potential new political force: Generation Y."

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette covers Dean's appearance in Pittsburgh yesterday, a fundraiser which brought in $76,000. Nice!

The New Haven Register says that Yale's former chaplain, who spends time seeking "potential converts for his cause of peace and justice," likes Dean the best of all the candidates running.

The San Francisco Chronicle says Dean received "several ovations" at the Arab American forum yesterday. The article says this may be a sign that Arab Americans, who voted heavily for Bush in 2000, are coming over to our side. This would not surprise me, since Bush has attacked Iraq and Ashcroft is steadily working to erode their civil liberties. The Boston Globe reports that Dean repeated his proposal at the forum to send Bill Clinton to the Middle East as an envoy to help the two sides negotiate.

The Times-Union has an article about what shoes the candidates might wear. It says that soccer moms have given way to "birkenstock liberals," most of whom are purported to be in our campaign. For crying out loud, Dean does not even own a pair of birkenstocks, and most of the "birkenstock liberal" types have abandoned us for Kucinich, at least for now.

Quick News Roundup; Georgetown Rally

2003-10-16T12:48:00.000-04:00

Quick news roundup:
The Iowa State Daily and the Stanford Daily both have articles about Dean's appeal to students. According to the San Francisco Examiner, only 1% of Dean's donors have maxed out so far, and he has almost as many contributors as the president.

Meanwhile, I have 2 minutes to decide whether to skip out of class early and go to the Dean rally in Georgetown. I can't decide what to do...but I am leaning towards going. I suffered through my econ midterm at 9:15 am and I need a break!