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!

Red Sox Game

2003-10-15T21:32:00.000-04:00

So I really need to get back to studying for econ, but I just want to say a quick word about the Red Sox game.

I watched the first six innings, and I was getting really discouraged after the early lead the Red Sox had got swallowed and the Yankees pulled ahead. When they scored that sixth run, I thought to myself "that's game." Then, just as I was getting ready to leave for an econ review session, the Sox scored a home run and then got a guy on third. Of course, I had to stay and watch until he scored, so when I left, it was 6-6. When I came back I was almost afraid to check the score, but when I did, I saw that the Sox were leading 9-6 and about to win. I was thrilled...I really thought the series was over. What a game! I just wish I had been able to see the whole thing.

So tomorrow night is the big night. I hesitate to even make the political comparison now, because if the Sox lose I don't want it to be a bad omen. But I can't help think about the parallels and the symbolism. The Yankees to me symbolize everything that is wrong with professional sports - the team with the most money can buy the best players and thus the same team keeps winning. The Red Sox are the underdogs who keep losing and losing, but somehow their fans never lose hope. I was watching them play in Boston last night, and some of the signs the fans held saying "I still believe" reminded me of the "you've gotta believe" signs that popped up during the sleepless summer tour. It's their turn to see their team win, and it is our turn to see our candidates win!

P.S. I know there are some Yankee fans in our campaign (Matt, are you reading this?), and I have nothing against you. I am not even that interested in baseball usually. I just like the symbolism in this...the only reason I got into watching this series was because of Nathaniel's theory about the 2004 conventions, and now I am finding myself really enjoying watching. Watching sports can be more fun than watching elections because you can get a progress update as the game goes on!

Clark Team Trying to Pull Dean Supporters

2003-10-15T18:08:00.000-04:00

So the game was looking good for a while! :(

Anyways, supposedly the Clark campaign, in an effort to pull some Dean supporters, has bought the Google adword "Dean." Hence, whenever you search for Dean, you see a google ad for the Clark website. Here is my advice to Dean supporters on how to deal with this: the goodle adwords are priced on a pay per click basis. Hence, everytime we click on the Clark ads, we cost their campaign a few cents. So let's make it more costly for them to try to "steal" Dean supporters.

I would highly recommend clicking every time you see a Bush ad on Google or Political Wire or a site like that as well...that is even more satisfying.

More Red Sox

2003-10-15T17:08:00.000-04:00

Woo-hoo again! Red Sox just scored 3 runs in 2 minutes! I think that when I watch it is good luck...they were losing from what I say online, then they were tied when I put it on, and now they are winning 4-1. And yesterday the Yanks got their 3 runs when I was not paying attention.

Generation Dean AU site

2003-10-15T16:46:00.000-04:00

Woo-hoo! Just finished making the Generation Dean AU site ! And Mike mentioned it on the GenDean Blog!

Wacky Poll

2003-10-15T15:43:00.000-04:00

This wacky Miami Dade poll has Kucinich leading. Let's set it straight!

Polls

2003-10-15T13:00:00.000-04:00

Sorry I have not updated in so long. A lot has been going on the past few days, plus I have midterms coming up, so I have not had much time and may not for the next few days. But I will try to keep this updated as much as possible.

Anyways, let's take a quick stock of the polls:
Dean now leads Kerry by 13 points in New Hampshire, according to a new Granite State poll. Meanwhile, according to Kos, he has dropped to 2nd, behind Clark, in California, but leads in a new national poll.

Speaking of polls, if you have not voted in the Daily Kos primary yet, please do so here.

You Have the Power!

2003-10-11T03:57:00.000-04:00

The other day in College Writing, we had to write an essay that began with the word "power." I finally got around to typing mine up, so here goes:

Power to change the path our country is headed down usually feels like it belongs solely to a small, elite group of people inside the Beltway. I may live in Washington, DC now, and yet the government still feels very distant when I think about how difficult it is to even enter the Capitol building as a tourist, let alone to affect anything that goes on inside it.

Last fall, I started a voter registration effort before the midterm elections. Some people I tried to register resisted, telling me that there was no point in voting because it would not make a difference, that only special interests with a lot of money could influence elections. After the 2002 election, I felt pretty hopeless, and as I watched the new Republican congress get busy mortgaging our country’s future and writing blank checks for the president to trample on the Constitution, unilaterally start a war with a third-world country that could not possibly have posed an imminent threat, and undo parts of the New Deal and the Great Society, I began to think that maybe these people were onto something. I saw that no matter how many letters I wrote to Congress, no matter how many protests I marched in, I would not be able to change anything.

But I do not feel so powerless now, and I have not since the spring, when I started to really get involved with the Dean campaign. I had been a Dean supporter for three months when I stood on Church Street in Burlington, Vermont that early summer day in June. It was 90 degrees, and there were 5,000 of us standing there, screaming and cheering as Governor Howard Dean formally declared his candidacy for the presidency of the United States, bellowing “You have the power to take back the Democratic Party. You have the power to take our country back. And we have the power to take the White House back in 2004.”

It was that day that I realized how much I wanted him to become our nominee and eventually our president, not only because of his stances on the issues, but because of the grassroots nature of his campaign. Dean for America has demonstrated the power of ordinary people to take on a powerful party establishment and surpass their handpicked candidates, despite their desperate attempts to stop our momentum. We the people have propelled Dr. Dean from an unknown with no money to the frontrunner, and being a part of this effort has proven to me that ordinary people can make a difference. Whether Dean wins or loses, when I go out to register voters or recruit volunteers for campaigns in the future, I will be able to use my own experiences with this campaign as living proof that everyday citizens can make an impact.

Also, when you get the chance, check out this really funny post on the official blog. And Anarchy in the AM has a great list of Republican hypocrites that you might also want to check out.

Hershey's Birthday

2003-10-11T01:20:00.000-04:00

I would like to say happy birthday to Hershey, my 6-year old dog whom I miss like crazy:

In honor of Hershey's birthday, I have decided to sponsor a dog, an adorable little beagle named Bojangles. Isn't he cute?

Here is the description the shelter gives of him:
Poor little Bojangles was left at the shelter with most of his fur missing. He was so gross no one wanted to touch him. Once we found out that he wasn't contagious, though, we played with him and he is the absolute SWEETEST little guy. He's about four months old and will be ready for a new home within another month, or even sooner for a home wanting to continue with his treatments. He will be gorgeous once he gets his skin healed up and his fur back in! This little puppy loves to kiss you on the face and cuddle in your lap. He is the sweetest little pup you'll ever meet.

Open Thread: New Site Design

2003-10-10T22:57:00.000-04:00

Open thread: what do you think of the new site design?

Around the Blogs

2003-10-10T22:07:00.000-04:00

A few random things:

Teekay has an interesting libertarian perspective on gay marriage that puts the issue in economic terms, saying the demand is up for some sort of civil alternative to marriage for those who do not fit into the traditional definition.

Since Bush's blog does not allow comments, oakland has been kind enough to set up a comments page. Meanwhile, I found a petition to recall Bush, although unfortunately (or fortunately; I am torn) the recall procedure is not available on a national level. We will have to wait for November 2004 to do that.

Morning Debate Roundup

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

Morning Debate Roundup:

The Washington Post has some excerpts as well as a pretty good analysis. The Arizona Republic claims that Dean was ambushed by Kerry's accusation that he tried to throw Vermont seniors off Medicare, which is completely untrue. I read articles about how he threatened to cut Medicaid in order to bully the GOP legislature into passing a cigarette tax...when I find one of them I will post it. CNN has the full transcript here.

Debate Coverage

2003-10-10T00:25:00.000-04:00

Some debate coverage:

Byte Back has a post with some good excerpts. Political Pulpit has a link to an AP article, and Dean Nation offers a rebuttal to Kerry's attack regarding Dean's medicare stance. Kos says that Dean benefitted because the other candidates gave him a break and took aim at Clark.

Meanwhile, you must check out this: George W. Bushopoly.

From a Wellstone Democrat

2003-10-09T21:50:00.000-04:00

This is a little old, but I just noticed that Matt Zemek's Wellstone Cornerstone mentioned me in a post a few weeks ago. His is a great site with some interesting perspective from a Wellstone Democrat who is supporting Dean.

Pre-debate warmup

2003-10-09T20:13:00.000-04:00

Quick post because I have to go:

Check out the Democratic Debate Drinking Game, designed by June Thomas at Slate. One category that requires a drink is anytime Gephardt mentions Dean and Gingrich in the same sentence.

Poliblog has some information about trouble in the Kerry campaign, and Burnt Orange Report has more on the Texas gerrymandering.

I'll post more later, I promise. Don't forget to watch the debate!

NH Polls, Red Sox, and Texas Power Grab

2003-10-09T12:32:00.000-04:00

The good news:
1) Dean has maintained a 10-point lead over Kerry in New Hampshire, according to a new American Research Group poll. Dean has 29% and Kerry has 19%, and Clark is up from 2% to 5%, which means he is not gaining much traction in New Hampshire, at least not yet. In the last poll, Dean had 31% and Kerry had 21%.

2) The Red Sox beat the Yankees 5-2! Woo-hoo! Apparently even the New York Times is rooting for the Red Sox.

The bad news:
It looks like the Texas Republicans have reached an agreement on a redistricting map. What Nathaniel wrote on his door Tuesday night is true: Florida, Colorado, Texas, California: Fascism wins again. For more updates on redistricting, which is expected to pass the Texas legislature tomorrow, check out Burnt Orange Report, a blog dedicated to Texas politics.

2003-10-08T14:32:00.000-04:00

So it looks like the Red Sox will get to play the Yankees after all. This is potentially great news...if they win, it will be a good omen for 2004, since the Democrats are having their convention in Boston and the Republicans are having theirs in New York City (the week of the 3rd anniversary of 9/11...can anyone say "exploitation"?).

According to Cosmo, Kerry has challenged Dean to a bet on the Red Sox v. Yankees series. I agree with Cosmo - this is pretty lame, since Dean has been supporting the Red Sox for years. But his accusation is a serious charge - my grandfather, who lives in New York but hates the Yankees, threatened to switch candidates when I told him Dean grew up supporting the Yankees, until I reassured him that the good doctor is a Red Sox fan now.

One thing I forgot to tell you about my visit to my high school yesterday. I saw my friend Nathan, who is a senior this year. He is further to the left than I am on most issues, but he is also pragmatic, and last year, he decided to support Kerry because he thought Dean did not have a chance. But yesterday, he said that he had decided Kerry was a sellout and that he plans to vote for Dean in the primaries. Of course, Pennsylvania's primary is in April, so his vote won't matter much, but it is a good sign, because there are so many people who like Dean but think Kerry is more electable (though I really do not understand why), and I hope some of them come around now that Dean has shown himself to be a serious contender.

2003-10-08T00:14:00.000-04:00

I have a lot to say, but right now I am sitting with Nathaniel, my friend from California, and he's pretty bummed. I am too. I said that I don't care that much who the governor of California is, and I really don't, but I do care about our democracy, and I am really concerned about this GOP power grab. Florida, Texas, Colorado, California. Recount, Redistrict, Recall. Undo Democracy.

In brighter news, I went back to my old high school to visit this afternoon. It was great to be back...all of my teachers were really excited to see me, and it was great to see them. One of my old teachers invited me to sit in on his class when they discussed current events, and I was so happy because last year, he had convinced himself that Saddam Hussein was this dangerous threat with all these dangerous weapons. This teacher has a PhD from Harvard, and usually he has a lot more sense than that, but I could not get him to see that he was being played for a fool. But today he told the class that he "felt like an old fool" because he thinks the president probably lied about the threat Saddam Hussein posed.

In other good news, I saw my AP government teacher from last year. We started talking politics, and she told me that because of me, she had done research on Dean over the summer, and she did not understand why the press was portraying him as a McGovern-type ultraliberal. I remember her telling our class that she had to hold her nose when she voted for McGovern because of his stance on Israel, and since the whole bru ha ha over Dean's Israel stance erupted I have thought about that and been scared that she and many other Jews would feel the same way about Dean that she felt about McGovern. So I said that to her, and she thought it was nuts. "Anti-Israel?" she said. "His wife is Jewish, and his kids are being raised Jewish." I was SO relieved to hear that, because if her reaction is any indication, and it may be because she is a leader in the Philadelphia area Jewish Federation, then maybe I overreacted a few weeks ago when people started making those ridiculous claims about Dean wanting to cut off aid to Israel. I think those rumors were limited to uninformed Jews my age and that Jews like my teacher who are more informed understand his position and trust him, and that is great news.

News Roundup

2003-10-05T11:43:00.000-04:00

Some coverage of Dean's appearance in Seattle:
The headline in the Takoma News Tribune is "Dean urges Seattle Democrats to return to party's core values." Interestingly, this article puts the crowd at 500, while the Seattle Post-Intelligencer said that there were about 1,000 in the audience. This means the campaign is probably saying 1,500.

Meanwhile, the Palladium-Item covers the DeanCorps in Richmond, Indiana. Believe it or not, the Washington Times actually has a pretty decent article about Dean's fundraising. Nancy Peterson of St. Petersburg, FL wrote in a letter to the editor that "it's no shock to me why Howard Dean is resonating with Democrats. He is actually acting like one." The Detroit News has an article entitled "Dean pushes voter power" about what it is that makes him so appealing to ordinary people.

That's all for now, because I have to go pick up my friend at the train station. I'll post more later.

Suicide Bomber; Raise the Roots

2003-10-04T13:25:00.000-04:00

So a suicide bomber blew up Maxim's restaurant in Haifa this morning, killing 18 people, 5 of them children, and wounding about 50 people, 10 critically. I am a little worried, because 19 of my friends from high school are spending the sememster or the year in Israel, and I don't think any of them are in Haifa, but I don't really know where all of them are and I hope they are okay. Usually, they report if any Americans are killed, and the article did not mention any American casualties, so I have a pretty good idea that most of them are okay. But one of my friends is in the Israeli army, and I have no idea where he is stationed. He is Israeli, so if anything happened to him they would not report it as an American casualty, since he only lived here for 3 years and never became an American citizen. Governor Dean issued a statement today condemning the bombing.

In other, more pleasant news, the Norman Transcript covered the “Raise the Roots” tour. The tour started in DC yesterday, and I wanted to go SO badly, to that and to the rally outside the DNC Headquarters yesterday morning, but I had class, and since I have seen Dean speak 9 times already, I could not justify missing class. And it was a good thing I did not go, because we had a pop quiz in Individual Freedom v. Authority, and I would have gotten a zero had I not been present. Of course, I was so braindead when I did the reading Thursday (some people decided to make noise in our hall at 3 AM Wednesday night and woke us up, and I only got about 4.5 hours of sleep that night) that I probably failed the quiz anyway, but at least I was there for it.

Anyways, back to the Raise the Roots Tour. CNN.com has an article about how Dean is connecting with college students. Carleton College political science professor Steven Schier is quoted saying that “So far, Dean's outspoken style has appealed to many young people. The other candidates are just a group of Washington-types to college kids.” (NOTE: Carlton College is where Paul Wellstone used to teach, and he used to encourage his students to get involved in political and activist causes, although he says in his book that it took him a while to see the value of participation in the electoral system as a way to affect change.)

The Charleston Post and Courier covers the rally in Charleston, SC, which attracted over 300 people. The Post and Courier also covered Dean's planned visit to a local church, and reports that Former South Carolina Governor Jim Hodges, who has not endorsed anyone so far, had nice things to say about Dean:
"Howard was one of the most respected figures in the governors' association ... on health care issues," Hodges said. "He was a leader among the governors arguing for greater flexibility" surrounding federally mandated budget rules.

The Madison Capital Times reports that the UW-Madison College Republicans are planning to protest the Dean rally on campus tomorrow, just like they did in College Park, MD when he spoke there a few weeks ago. The Capital Times also published a great editorialcontrasting the president's appearance in Wisconsin yesterday with Dean's planned appearance tomorrow. “If it comes down to a Bush-Dean contest, all evidence is that voters will be offered an opportunity to make a genuine choice not just between two different candidates of two different parties.” the author writes. “The choice will be between two different visions of America's future: one of elites gathering behind closed doors to decide what they will do next to working families in places like Wisconsin, the other of citizens gathering out in the open to help those working families.”

Big News

2003-10-02T23:50:00.000-04:00

Whoa. I go out for a few hours and several bombshells drop. First, conflicting reports indicate that Bob Graham either is dropping out or is considering dropping out of the presidential race. I think this is a good thing. I have nothing against Graham, but since he is up for re-election to the Senate in 2004 and he was not gaining traction anyway, I think that he and the party are better off if he stays in the Senate. No reports yet on whether he will run for re-election, but I think chances are he will; otherwise he may have stayed in the presidential race longer.

Second, ABC News is reporting that Schwartzenegger once said in an interview that he "admired Hitler...because he came from being a little man with almost no formal education, up to power. I admire him for being such a good public speaker and for what he did with it."

That's going to be pretty hard to explain away. It is one thing to say that Hitler was a good public speaker...I will concede that he was. But the last 6 words are going to be hard to weedle out of...he not only admires Hitler for being a good speaker but he admires what Hitler used his charisma to do? That's a pretty tough pill to swallow. Poor Nathaniel...he may have to have this sexual abusing Hitler-admirer as his governor! Then again, he has the coolest senator in the US Senate, so I guess that balances it out. Okay, maybe not.

Anyways, I got about 4.5 hours of sleep last night, so I think I should probably go to sleep. I'll try to blog more tomorrow.

Meetup Coverage

2003-10-02T14:19:00.000-04:00

Here are some newspapers around the country covering meetup:

WAFF in Alabama calls meetup the new "buzzword." The Arizona Star Republic has a good article about how meetups are "changing the face of politics." The Newport Daily News in Rhode Island points out that one of the main purposes of meetups is to serve as information sessions for undecided voters, with the committed supporters providing information and trying to influence the undecideds who come to learn more.

Meanwhile, the Indy Star reports that candidates in the Indiana gubernatorial race are experimenting with meetup after seeing how successfully it has worked for Dean. It appears that candidates for governor of Indiana are not the only ones seeking to emulate Dean's successful use of the Internet. The Washington Post has a story today about how Kerry is playing catch-up with online campaigning.

The Saint Paul Pioneer Press discusses meetup's value in bringing in "political newbies." The Daily Hampshire Gazette profiles Massachusetts political activist Neil Sullivan, who was so discouraged by the 2000 election that he temporarily lost interest in politics, until September 11 became a wakeup call that led him to Dean. The Ventura County Star also has a good article today profiling some of the Dean supporters who attended the event at Union Station in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

The Hartfort Advocate covers the meetup in Hartford, CT and discusses the potential friction that could arise between the meetup volunteers, many of whom are new to politics, and the experienced politicians who have been recruited to be part of the campaign in the state.

The Daily Princetonian had a story on Tuesday about the new Generation Dean chapter at Princeton University, and notes that the group was scheduled to have its first on-campus meetup last night. The Daytona Beach News-Journal covers the meetup at New Chao Wang Buffet, and it mentions one supporter who got involved because the 2000 election debacle in Florida showed her that "we have to get more involved. We have to take more ownership of our democracy."

In the News

2003-10-02T14:10:00.000-04:00

In the news this hour:

Someone wrote a great letter to the Oregonian about Dean's ability to inspire the grassroots. "What Democrats need," the writer says, "is someone who can inspire rank-and-file party members the way Bill Clinton did. The only candidate who has done that is Howard Dean. It's time we Democrats stopped apologizing for our beliefs and started fighting for them."

GOPUSA reports that Dean raised close to $15 million, and has figures for some of the other candidates as well.

Yale News covers a house party that was held Monday night at Dean's alma mater. The article does not say whether or not his daughter participated. She is a sophomore at Yale, and I had to feel for her, because if my dad were to go stand in the street making a speech while moving me into college, I'm not sure I'd be altogether that thrilled. Then again, if my dad were running for president I'd probably be pretty proud of him.

More on the Door

2003-10-02T02:04:00.000-04:00

This is what my door looks like now:

Much better! And it gives me great pleasure to know that I have wasted one of their signs and thus cost the Bush/Cheney campaign about 50 cents, or whatever it costs to produce those signs.

My door was attacked!

2003-10-01T17:50:00.000-04:00

Yikes! My door has been vandalized! Check this out:

News and Blog Roundup

2003-10-01T16:21:00.000-04:00

I found some interesting comments about Dean's appeal on Steve Gillard's blog. Mike D. had what I thought was the most insightful comment:

Contrast Dean's rhetoric of empowerment with Bush's rhetoric of induced learned helplessness, essentially telling people that nothing can save you from the terrorists, etc, so you just have to acquiesce to my leadership...I think that is a big factor to the appeal of Dean's empowerment message, since it gives people the hope that Bush tries to take away with every speech he makes.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press had a great article about Dean's appeal to college students. Robert Glenn, a junior at Charleston College in South Carolina, expressed sentiments that were pretty similar to how I felt when I first started supporting Dean: "At the time [last January, when Glenn first saw Dean speak], I thought he had no chance. But after I heard him, I said 'I don't care, I'm still going to work for him."'

On the DNC's "Kicking Ass" blog, Jayson Carroll from Georgia issued some fighting words:
...The republican party came to my home state and branded Max Cleland, a man who lost three limbs during his service for our country, as unpatriotic. Saxby Chambliss, Bush's poodle, now represents my state in the Senate. Enough is enough!

Who's behind Clark?

2003-10-01T16:05:00.000-04:00

Jim Moore has an interesting assessment of why the Clintons support Clark. I think the second scenario he poses is a lot more likely than the first. If Hilary is not running for president now because she promised New Yorkers that she would serve a full term, then why would she violate that promise by running for vice president? Becoming vice president would also prevent her from serving a full term, although I guess technically she would still be in the Senate, since the vice president is president of the Senate and gets to vote when there is a tie. But that's a loophole that is probably too out there even for a Clinton to use!

P.S. I have nothing against Senator Clinton; I like her a lot. I just don't think it would be right for her to jump into the race now and use her celebrity status to vault to the top, when all these other candidates have been out there for months shaking hands, giving 6-7 speeches a day, hopskotching around the country, and working hard to get where they are in the nominating process.

So close and yet so far

2003-10-01T12:59:00.000-04:00

Argh! My Internet connection was down and it went down just as I was trying to post, so I lost my last post! Oh well. Basically, what I said was that I was kind of bummed that we fell just a little short of $15 million, but I have a feeling we will have that much when they finish opening all the mail in the Burlington headquarters.

Joe Trippi, Dean's campaign manager, posted an emotional post on the blog at 3 AM last night, after midnight on the west coast. I guess he figured a lot of us would be disappointed if we did not make the goal. But we came really close, and we made the original goal of $5 million in 10 days, so I think most people are feeling pretty proud. Even if we don't quite reach $15 million, we still outraised the other Democrats by a lot...they have not released their totals yet but unless they are majorly lowballing, we will probably beat all of them by $10 million or more. Of course, the president still outraised Dean by a bunch, but we expected him to, and it may not even matter. After all, Bush outraised and outspent Gore by $170 million in 2000 and Gore still got more votes!

I broke my bat!

2003-10-01T01:42:00.000-04:00

Woo-hoo! I made my goal! I had $585 raised a few minutes before midnight, and I wanted to get the last $15 by midnight ET, and someone was trying to contribute through my site but was having trouble accessing the link from the chatroom. So the last $15 (plus $10 more) did not come in until a few minutes after midnight, but who's counting?

Meanwhile, Barbara_B in the Dean chatroom is the coolest person ever. Every time I come in there, she encourages me to promote my blog, and tonight, when I came into the chatroom and started encouraging people to help me reach my goal, she donated and then started bugging other chatters to give me the last $25 I needed. Barbara, if you are reading this, thank you so much for all of your help and support.

Anyways, I am leaving my bat up for a day or so to show it off. I may put it back at some point, since I want to go to a big event here in DC in November, but I'd have to contribute $1,000, which I obviously do not have, so I will find out if I can raise the money instead. For now, if you feel like donating to it, you are more than welcome to, especially if you live in the Mountain or Pacific timezones, in which case your contribution still counts for the third quarter.

I may post again later...this is really exciting. I am on the edge of my seat waiting to see if we make the $15,000,000 goal. It's going to be a nailbiter, that's for sure. At least I no longer feel tempted to give more than I have already, since my contributions would not make a difference for this quarter now anyway.

New Fundraising Goal

2003-09-30T14:17:00.000-04:00

Okay, so some people may be a little annoyed with me. This morning, I realized I was only $40 away from my goal, and I posted comments to that effect on a few blogs. But then I reached the goal, and it is only 2 PM, with 10 hours to go in the September to Remember Challenge. So I decided to up my goal just a little bit. So if you were planning to contribute but saw that I had reached my goal, now you can contribute and help me make my new goal!

Fundraising; Texas Rangers; Plame Scandal

2003-09-30T10:31:00.000-04:00

Political Wire reports that Dean is expected to make the goal of $15 million and outraise all of his rivals by at least $10 million. All I can say is, wow!

Meanwhile, the campaign is going to be in the record books for last night's conference call, according to the Tri Valley Herald.

The Hampton Union has a good article about the Texas Rangers who came to New Hampshire to stump for Dean last weekend.

This is a little off-topic, but blogger David Yaseen has a really funny song about the Valerie Plame scandal.

As you can see from my bat, I am now $40 short of my personal fundraising goal, if anyone wants to help.

AU for Dean Conference Call

2003-09-30T01:43:00.000-04:00

AU for Dean had a conference call tonight in MacDowell Formal Lounge. We had 51 students, and I think several of them donated. I overheard one girl saying that she had donated $10 and it was the first time she had ever made a political contribution. I thought that was pretty cool. This is the first actual campaign I have donated to, although I made a tiny donation to the DCCC and to my state Democratic Party last fall. But giving it to Dean is so much more satisfying, since most of the contributions are not that much bigger than mine and I don't feel like it is just a drop in the bucket. I know that the only way to get the bat to move up is to have large numbers of people donate in small increments, and that most of the contributions that have pushed it up have come from people like me.

So will we make $15,000,000? I hope so! I think we can definitely raise $15,000,000 total for the quarter, since Dean has several fundraisers tomorrow in addition to online donations. But I want to break the McCain record of raising $1 million in a day on the Internet, and I am hoping that they will not have to add in the offline contributions to get to the total, so that we will know if we break the record.

I would show you pictures of the conference call, but unfortunately my camera was out of batteries and I of course just took the spare ones out of my purse and left them in my room back home!

First in the Nation

2003-09-26T11:08:00.000-04:00

More on the DC Primary:

Marc Fischer of the Washington Post had a great article about it on Tuesday. He said that the candidates, who had originally considered it insignificant, are now starting to take the primary seriously. He calls the primary "an early test of Dean's ability to reach beyond his base in NPR America -- those white, college-educated, socially liberal voters who yearn for a latter-day Adlai Stevenson." Afro.com also had an interesting article on Wednesday about the DC Primary. Terry Neal said that the primary "gives black voters an unprecedented early roll in picking a nominee." He predicts that as the primary gets closer, the candidates will take it more seriously.

Meanwhile, the Nashua Telegraph has an interesting story about how New Hampshire got its special "first in the nation" status to begin with.

Morning Debate Analysis

2003-09-26T08:20:00.000-04:00

Here's some morning analysis of the debate:

Slate, which has not been very favorable to Dean of late, was actually pretty complimentary of his performance last night. "He was doing a great job early in this debate, smiling and looking relaxed as he fended off attacks from John Kerry and Dennis Kucinich on tax cuts, trade, and health care..." The article then criticized him for losing his cool when Gephardt attacked his signature line about being from "the Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party," but said that he regained it quickly enough.

The Washington Post calls it the "longest and most contentious debate so far," and pointed out that Kerry is "scrambling to thwart rival Howard Dean's momentum." Hmm. Could that have anything to do with the new poll released yesterday in New Hampshire?

The Los Angeles Times talks about how all of the other candidates were ganging up on Dean, and they said that he "stood his ground."

In other news, a new poll shows that only 1/3 of Arizona voters want to see Bush "re"-elected, while 44% prefer someone new. Daily Kos predicts a Democratic victory in Arizona, which Gore lost 51-45, and points out that "should be great hunting ground for a pro-gun Dem like Dean or Clark and well within reach for the rest of the top Democrats."

I am kind of upset to see that Bush is still leading the Democrats, albeit narrowly, in my home state of New Jersey. And I am also disappointed to see Dean in 5th place there, even though the top five candidates in the Quinnipiac University poll were within a point of the candidate above them and the margin of error was +-3.2.

In the blogosphere, Pacific Viewshad a good piece yesterday about the difference between the Dean campaign and Clark's emerging campaign. It points out that while Dean has embraced and encouraged the grassroots, Internet based movement, Clark has thus far been hesitant to embrace any of the competing "Draft Clark" factions. John Marshall says that he can see why Dean's supporters like him, and that Gephardt felt irrelevant even though he was all over the debate, as did several other candidates.

Anyways, that's enough blogging for now, because I have to finish my econ. paper. Speaking of New Jersey, I am going home today - yippee! I miss my family a lot more than I thought I would, and even though I have spent several summers away from home, I think this is probably the longest stretch of time I have ever gone without seeing them. I will try to keep this updated, but if I don't get to post, have a great weekend and Shanah Tovah to everyone else celebrating Rosh Hashanah this weekend.

Debate Challenge

2003-09-25T17:16:00.000-04:00

I have issued a new challenge for the debate:

Everyone pick an amount to donate each time Dean gets attacked. I have set up my bat at so that we will be able to see how much is raised in response to attacks on Dean. Before the debate, the bat stood at $325, so anything raised over and above that tonight is our resistance to the attacks on Dean that are bound to come during the debate, showing that no matter what they say, his base of support is a lot bigger and more determined than anyone's.

2003-09-24T12:50:00.000-04:00

So the bat is starting to move a little faster...it went up $12,000 each hour for the last two hours. But if we want to raise $500,000 a day, which is what we need to do to make the goal, we have to raise an average of $20,000 each hour and then $22,000 one hour.

Hopefully Monday's house parties will bring in a boost...I am getting really nervous.

Donate here...make this a September to Remember.

2003-09-24T12:40:00.000-04:00

From Political Wire:

The Los Angeles Times peeks behind the curtain at Howard Dean's Internet operation: "They came from across the country, drawn by Dean's tough criticism of the Bush administration and the belief that an online community of millions could be mobilized. In their former lives, they were rock drummers, attorneys, campaign junkies, Web wizards and writers. All migrated to Burlington in the belief that aggressive use of the Internet would help elect the next president."

2003-09-24T00:41:00.000-04:00

Alright! For I believe the first time since his selection in December 2000, Bush is below 50% in the polls! The news just keeps getting better and better...six months ago I thought we had no chance at beating Bush, and now it is looking like any of our candidates can. I know that the election is more than a year away and anything can happen, but I am really feeling encouraged, and for the first time these past few weeks, it really does seem like Bush is vulnerable and we have a really good chance of getting rid of him. I forced myself not to lose hope after the 2002 elections, after which I was depressed for over a month, and I started supporting Dean in part so I would have a cause to throw myself into. At the time, I did not care that much who got the nomination...it was not until June that it hit me that I will be really disappointed if it is not Dean. Now this combined with the poll yesterday pose the question I had hoped to avoid: if it becomes clear that another candidate would be much more likely to beat Bush than Dean, what will I do?

For now, I am not going to think about it, because I still think that Dean has just as much of a shot than anyone, and in some ways more, because he has inspired people who have never been into politics, and he is going to expand our base and get more Democrats out to the polls and give disillusioned Democrats and liberals a candidate they can be proud to vote for. I firmly believe that the Republicans came out on top in the last two elections because they wanted it more, and they were fighting for a president and a party they believed in, not just what they viewed as the lesser of two evils. I have never viewed the Democratic Party that way but I know many people who do, and in 2002, they either stayed home or voted holding their noses, and that dampened enthusiasm is why we did not win. I don't think that it is a matter of moving too far to the left or the center - it is just about making people feel empowered again, because for too long these people have felt that there is nothing they can do to make a difference. But if Dean gets the nomination, they will have a hard time making that case, because they will have witnessed ordinary citizens like themselves defying the party leadership and nominating a candidate whom the party establishment tried desperately to crush. A lot of the Democrats who are disgusted with the party right now will be proud to vote Democrat again if Dean is our nominee, and that is why he can and will beat Bush.

2003-09-24T00:20:00.000-04:00

Tonight I have been on Yahoo messenger IMing people who had something about Dean in their profiles asking them to donate, and I got this one response from someone that I thought I ought to share:

"I would donate, but I'm really poor. I live in subsidized housing and have a child with autism. My ex has been abusive and it's all I can do to keep my head above water. But I adore Howard Dean - he's the first presidential candidate that I ever considered worthy of a really big HUG and I hope to God he is our next president. Tell him I think he's amazing."

I thought this was really touching, and I posted it on the official blog, because I am hoping that someone from the campaign sees it and gives Governor Dean the message, since I have no idea if I will get to talk to him again or not. But this woman is a classic example of the kind of struggles ordinary Americans are facing as the president sleeps soundly in Crawford, Texas (actually, he is back here in Washington now, but I try to forget it because I liked it better when he was not right down Mass. Ave.!) People like this are the reason that we need "regime change" in Washington (I know how much trouble John Kerry got into for using those words, so I would like to make it absolutely clear that I am not speaking for the campaign!). We need a new president who won't cut the subsidized housing she is living in and who will fully fund IDEA so her son can get a good public education. We need to mobilize people like her and like me, people from all different walks of life who feel abandoned by this president, to take our country back!

2003-09-23T15:52:00.000-04:00

So a lot of other people in the campaign are upset about this poll, which shows Clark way ahead of Dean and all the other Democrats. But I think that overall, the poll is great news. I think the reason Clark is leading is that he has been in the press non-stop for the past week, and so far he has not faced a lot of scrutiny, so he seems to many like the dream candidate. His momentum may very well subside. But meanwhile, this is the first poll since Bush's selection in 2000 that shows any Democratic candidate beating him. In this poll, Kerry and Clark are beating him by 2 or 3 points, and Dean, Gephardt, and Lieberman are all trailing within the margin of error (as are Kerry and Clark, except they are slightly ahead). So this means that even if the election were held today, there is a chance that Dean or anyone else might win! I have been waiting and waiting to get to the point where we did not have to say "oh, today he'd get creamed but so would everyone else...the election is a long way off." So I, unlike many in our camp, am psyched about this poll, and I just hope that a) Clark's momentum is short-lived (I like some things about him, but I am already way too committed to Dean to think about changing candidates, and from what I have been hearing about Clark since he entered the race I am liking him less and less anyway), and 2) that all of the Democrats continue to rise as Bush falls.

Meanwhile, why is the bat moving so slowly? Click here to help make it go up faster.

2003-09-23T15:43:00.000-04:00

Dave Cullen has an interesting piece on his blog about the DC primary. Having just moved to DC, I am very excited to have the first primary in the nation...though unfortunately, I doubt it will receive much attention, since everyone is so hell-bent that the great states of Iowa and New Hampshire never have a challenge for the first primary (what is so special about Iowa and New Hampshire anyway?). Sorry if anyone reading this is lucky enough to live in these two states...I probably should not diss your states since you are the ones whose votes we are trying to get, and therefore I should probably be sucking up instead. I am just bitter because the primary here may be ignored and New Jersey's primary is in June, making it completely useless. Besides, the Democratic Party would be so smart to pay attention to the DC Primary, because they are doing it to call attention to their lack of voting rights. If we ever manage to change that situation, it will mean 2 more Democratic senators. Not to mention ending a 225 year violation of one of the fundamental rights upon which our country was founded!

2003-09-23T09:33:00.000-04:00

Alright! Another contribution came in! Here is my progress update:

Mousepads, Shoe Leather, and Hope
Goal: $500.00
Achieved: $325.00

2003-09-22T09:21:00.000-04:00

Okay, back to work...I am now at 55% on my personal thermometer, but I don't have time to post that again, so I am just going to post the bat. So please donate here if you have not donated already.

Goal: $500
Achieved:55%
CONTRIBUTE

I'll have more to say later, but I am running late and have to get ready for class, so, at the risk of sounding like a California gubernatorial candidate whom most of us don't like very much right now, I'll be back.

Bat Progress

2003-09-21T21:12:00.000-04:00

Woo-hoo! I am over the goal already...I just got a big contribution that put me over the top. I am so excited. I am going to raise the goal to $500 now but check this out first:

Mousepads, Shoe Leather, and Hope
Goal: $250.00
Achieved: $275.00
Contribute

The Bat is Back!

2003-09-21T11:50:00.000-04:00

The bat is back up! The campaign hopes to raise $5 million over the next 10 days. I set up my own personal thermometer here, with a starting goal of $250. So please, if you are planning to donate, feel free to do it here.

Mousepads, Shoe Leather, and Hope
Goal: $250.00
Achieved: $25.00
Contribute

Comment Spamming

2003-09-19T14:28:00.000-04:00

I want to apologize to everyone who is angry with me for "comment-spamming" on other blogs. I was just going around, looking at other people's blogs, and hoping to exchange links with some other like-minded bloggers. I did not realize it would offend people, and I apologize. Please do not hold it against the campaign, as I do not officially represent the campaign. I am just a college student who is supporting Dean and felt like putting up a website, and I saw that there seemed to be a network of blogs that linked to each other, and I was hoping to make some "blogfriends" who would link to me and whom I could link to in return. But I apologize if this offended anyone, and I will have to find better ways to promote this blog. If you would like to exchange links or to promote your own blog, post it in the comments section here. Thank you and I apologize to anyone I offended.

AIM Sound Clips

2003-09-18T03:59:00.000-04:00

Yippee! Thanks to Hurricane Isabel, classes have been cancelled for tomorrow. Now I can work on this blog instead of doing the econ homework I had been procrastinating.

Since I have plenty of time to kill now (by this time tomorrow night I will probably be complaining about being cooped up and everything being closed), I made some AIM sounds using clips from Dean's speeches. I know, I have no life, right?

Here are the sound clips:
“I Want My Country Back” (333 KB)
“You Have the Power” (187 KB)
“We Can Do Better” (199 KB)

Enjoy!

New Campaign Song

2003-09-17T16:57:00.000-04:00

Here is the song I wrote for the campaign, to the tune of "Little Pink Houses" by John Cougar Mellencamp. I am looking for someone who can record it, so if anyone can sing and has access to a computer mic or other recording equipment, please sing it and make an mp3 and send it to me.

Here are the lyrics. If you have seen a slightly different version somewhere, it is because I keep changing the words. But I am pretty sure this is the final draft, unless someone has an idea that is so brilliant I can't resist.

He's an unknown
From a small state
Far from Capitol Hill

He's in a field of nine
And he started far behind
And nobody thought he had a prayer

But his supporters
They're believers
Givin' it all they've got
They dismiss anyone who says "he can't win"
'Cuz they're convinced that he's really got a shot

CHORUS:
Dean for America, for you and me
Dean for America, something to see
Gonna take back America, home of the free
We can do better now in this country

There's a young crowd
Disillusioned
He taps into their frustration
He's got some fresh ideas
And a message that's resonating
across the nation

Called his mama
And he told her
Said "mom, I'm gonna be president."
She just laughed and said "son, that's a crazy dream"
But these are crazy times

CHORUS

Well there's pundits
And consultants
What do they know, know, know?
They look down on the insurgent
Because they're scared that he'll disrupt the status quo, ooh yeah

He's a winner
People-powered
He is the real deal

He'll put the Democratic Party back on track
To take
The White House Back

CHORUS x2

BTW, the song and the merchandise advertised below are my own and not authorized by the campaign.

Massachusetts Politics

2003-09-17T12:59:00.000-04:00

So I discovered something interesting the other night:

I was born in Massachusetts in 1984. At that time, Mike Dukakis was governor, John Kerry was lieutenant governor, and Ted Kennedy and Paul Tsongas were my senators. So that means that the top four public officials in Massachusetts when I was born all had run or would later run for president. Of the four, only Dukakis would succeed at getting the nomination (so we hope!).

Speaking of which, I am tempted to get this button and wear it around on selective occasions:

I probably won't, though, because while it would be kind of funny now, I think that reminding people that Kerry was Dukakis' lieutenant governor would hurt him more in the general than in the primary, and the last thing I want to do is hurt any of the candidates in the general should they get the nomination. Besides, I personally think Dukakis would have made a great president!

Pictures from College Park

2003-09-14T17:32:00.000-04:00

I completely forgot: I posted some of my pictures from the College Park rally the other day. I have more to upload but for now check these out.

2003-09-14T16:58:00.000-04:00

Last night I went with Neal and Nathaniel to a multicultural concert in Rosslyn, VA to hand out flyers. It was kind of weird to be back at that...that is what I spent a lot of time doing this summer in Philadelphia, but things have changed a lot since mid-August. I could not tell if people had heard of Dean or not...some definitely had, but there seemed to be many people still who had never heard of him or were only vaguely familiar. A few people saw the header, which said "Governor Howard Dean, M.D." and thought it meant that he was running for governor of Maryland! We thought that was pretty amusing.

Anyways, after we were done flyering we decided to walk over the Key Bridge to Georgetown and have dinner. Much to Neal's dismay (he is definitely the laid-back one of the three of us), Nathaniel and I decided to hold up our Dean signs for cars and pedestrians to see. For some reason, I find it a lot of fun to do that and gauge reaction. Last night a few people honked at us, one person stuck a thumbs-up out the window, and several pedestrians said they were supporting Dean or gave me a thumbs-up. One woman started applauding when I carried the sign through a big crowd on the sidewalk on M-Street. I did not get any thumbs down or other negative signs last night, so that was a good sign. Eventually Neal confiscated the signs from us...I think we were embarassing him a little.

2003-09-13T13:51:00.000-04:00

So I am really freaking out about this whole row over Dean's Israel stance. My friend Leah IM'ed me the other night and said "do you know that Dean wants to cut off aid to Israel?" I ran upstairs and spent the next 20 minutes convincing her that he absolutely had no such plans and I offered to show her a clip from the debate in which he specifically said that he had no intention of cutting off aid to Israel. She eventually came to believe me, but she said she had gotten the information from 7 different people. I have had a few other people come up to me when I am wearing my Dean buttons (which is almost always) and say "how can you support Dean? He's anti-Israel. He wants to cut off aid" and all this other crap that is not true! A few have even told me that they normally vote Democrat but will vote for Bush if Dean is the nominee because they do not trust Dean on Israel. And based on talking to people in a few other locations, I do not think this rumor mill is limited to this campus...I think that alarms are going up in the Jewish community that if Dean becomes president he will not be good to Israel. They have no rational basis on which to believe this, but they do not need one. I know these people, and they can be very emotional and paranoid when it comes to Israel, which is understandable. All they need is a feeling of discomfort, a gut feeling that does not trust someone, and that's it, no matter what you do to show them otherwise.

I may be overreacting but I am ashamed to say that I have seen the pro-Israel forces take candidates down before and I do not want to see it happen to Dean...if they decide that he is a threat they may have the power to destroy his campaign. Granted, the two members of Congress they targeted in 2002 had voting records that were not so favorable to Israel, while Dean has no record on the subject one way or another. But they have proven that if they want to take someone down, they can. I am really worried that if Dean does not actively combat these rumors and come out in strong support of Israel soon, this will spiral out of control and it may not stop him from getting the nomination, it will definitely hurt him a lot in the general.

This is such a hard thing to deal with, because I can't stand the thought of seeing my own people (Jews) be the ones who bring down a great candidate, especially based on assumptions that are not even true. So I got proactive and made a flyer with his positions on Israel and the Middle East. I sent it to the campaign for approval, because I do not want to run the risk of misrepresenting his positions. But I don't know if they will or can get back to me, so I am posting the flyer with a disclaimer that it is not official here, and you can download it and print it out and distribute it to anyone you know in the Jewish community or who is otherwise supportive of Israel. I know some of you may not agree with the positions articulated on the flyer, but even if you don't, please understand that this issue is very important to Jews, who have been loyal Democratic voters for 70 years, and that the last thing Dean wants to do is alienate Jewish community leaders and Israel supporters, and please help do everything you can to prevent that from happening.

2003-09-11T23:15:00.000-04:00

In the process of procrastinating reading Plato, I have come up with the top five signs you have been spending too much time on the Dean campaign:

5. You know more about the state of Vermont than you know about your home state (sorry to CentuarMyst, Karaoke and VermontDem2004 - I know this does not apply to you!)

4. You get invited to a Dean's Reception at your alma mater and you think it is a campaign fundraiser

3. You get off an airplane and go hand out literature to people waiting to board a flight to Manchester, NH before you get your luggage.

2. You see a car with a New Hampshire license plate and almost cause an accident trying to jump in front of it so the driver can see your Dean bumper sticker

1. You woke up this morning (9/11/03) agonizing about whether or not to wear your Dean button today or take it off for fear of appearing disrespectful.

2003-09-09T10:18:00.000-04:00

So I went to the rally in College Park, MD, last night. It was interesting, to say the least. College Republicans from AU, GW and Georgetown came to disrupt the rally...they kept yelling out "G-O-P" and "four-more-years!" while Dean was trying to speak. He was great with handling the them, though: the first time they yelled, after he figured out what was going on, he said "let them yell. By 2004 they will be so worried about their jobs and their tuition that half of them are going to vote for me." That shut them up for a little while. Then the next time they yelled, he said "let's have a moment of silence for the protestors, and let them have their fun yelling, because they know that in 2004 they are going down."

I was also excited because when the DLC came to Philly last year, we had a big rally for Dean in Love Park, down the street from where they were having their convention, and then we went to the Irish Pub afterwards and mingled with the delegates (most of whom seemed much more open and receptive and Democratic than the group's executive directors, Reed and From.) I spent a little bit of time talking to Maryland State Rep. Ramirez from Prince George's County, most of it trying to sell Dean to him. Last night he was one of the Maryland officials who came to endorse Dean! I was so excited...I doubt my pitch really made a difference but at the time I talked to him he did not know much about Dean, so I can't help but think that I had some influence.

After the rally my friend Seton and I decided to go to the fundraiser on U-Street. Unfortunately, we asked this guy who went to U-Maryland for a ride to the metro, since it looked like it would be forever before we could get on a shuttle, and the shuttle had gotten stuck in so much traffic on the way there. But this guy's car was SO far away, so by the time we got to the fundraiser it was after 9. But we caught most of Dean's speech and then we thought he had already left afterwards, but as we were starting to go someone said he was still inside. But at that point we decided we ought to get back to campus...last night was my 8th time seeing Dean speak, and I have shaken his hand and talked to him several times, so I decided I ought to give someone else a chance.

Anyways, I have more to say and pictures to post, but I will do that later, since I have class in and hour and need to get ready and reread the Plato I did not get to go over last night because I was out so late at the rally and the fundraiser!

2003-09-07T15:41:00.000-04:00

Alright! A new poll today shows us with a 12 point lead over Kerry in New Hampshire. It is less than the 21 point lead we had in the Zogby poll, but I do not really trust Zogby anyway, because they were way off on their 2002 predictions. So this poll kind of confirms that we do have a significant lead. If we can win by 12 or even 7 points, as another poll two weeks ago suggested, we will knock Kerry out for sure. I still believe that the state is Kerry's to lose and that even if Dean comes within a few points that should be a loss for Kerry, but unfortunately, the stakes have been raised now that we have shown so much momentum. That is the only thing I am worried about, that all this momentum and these polls showing Dean leading are going to raise the expectations - in some ways it was easier when he was unknown and underfunded and even a second place finish in New Hampshire would have been considered an upset.

But don't think I am not thrilled about how much progress he has made - I am. I started supporting Dean in February, back when he had no money, nobody had heard of him, and nobody thought he had a prayer. Even I doubted that he could win - I said to myself "this guy has no chance, but he has a lot of heart and I want to support him."

I have seen him speak seven times now. Monday will be the eighth. The second time I saw him was at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (RAC)'s "Consultation on Conscience" in April. I was sitting with my mom's friend, who is also one of my role models and mentors. She was undecided and I was trying to get her to support Dean. Anyways, he said "I've never lost an election and I do not intend to now," and she whispered "wow, he's cocky." I replied "Nancy, he's kidding - he knows his chances are slim to none!" Even as I was supporting him, I was guilty of "misunderestimating" him.

But even then, there was a part of me that had a feeling about him, an instinct that said "he's our guy." And to watch him go from an unknown with no money who was considered to have almost no chance to one of the leading contenders if not the frontrunner has been incredibly exciting.

I will never forget June 30, when the fundraising totals for the second quarter were announced. I was at my college orientation, and I was very stressed out because my dad had woken up with severe back pains and had to be taken to the hospital. But somehow in between orientation and worrying about my dad, I remembered that it was the last day of the fundraising quarter, so when I got a break I went to the computer lab to check if anyone had released totals yet. I had a feeling that we were going to raise more than the $4 million the campaign said we were aiming for, but when I saw "6.2 million" I was in shock. Then I read articles where reps. from other campaigns were saying "there's no way anyone will raise as much as Dean did this quarter" and I was like "what? That can't be...they are lowballing!" But then I checked the blog and saw that we were trying to raise even more...first $6.5 million, then $7 million. I snuck back to the computer lab as often as I could to check the blog...and when I woke up the next morning and checked, the number was $7,126,759.33. I wrote it down and flashed it on a big sign to this guy I had met the day before who was also a Dean supporter. Everyone was looking at me like I was nuts, because they had no idea what the number was for. But I did not care - I was so excited. Meanwhile, all the newspapers that day had articles with headlines like "Dean now a player" and "Dean moves into the top tier of candidates." I remember one in particular that said something to the effect of "Democrats are now beginning to face the possibility that Dean may actually become their nominee."

Since then, the good news has been explosive...first we moved into second place in New Hampshire, then a few weeks ago we became first, though within the margin of error (although as I have said many times, the MOE is only relevant when Kerry is ahead!). We have moved up in Iowa and South Carolina and as of yesterday, we are even first nationwide in one poll. Dean is drawing the largest crowds of anyone (450 early in the morning in Boise, ID, for crying out loud!) and some have even started calling him the frontrunner. I am not quite sure I am ready for that....I don't like the term frontrunner because it means you have nowhere to go but down. But still, he is definitely one of the leading contenders, and seeing him rise to the top like this from down under has been really exciting, especially for someone like me who is young and only got into politics a year ago.

2003-09-07T15:23:00.000-04:00

So last night I went to the Washington monument with some people from Hillel for a Jewish service called Havdallah that ends Shabbat, our sabbath. Dean is coming to College Park, MD tomorrow to speak on the University of Maryland campus, so I figured I would bring some flyers and put them up downtown. But someone warned me that it was illegal to post stuff on federal property, and my friends made me stop. What is up with this? Does this mean I can't post flyers anywhere in DC except on campus? That really bites! But I did find a few creative ways to leave flyers around anyway.

2003-09-06T17:06:00.000-04:00

Here is the song I wrote for the campaign, to the tune of "Little Pink Houses" by John Cougar Mellencamp. I am looking for someone who can record it, so if anyone can sing and has access to a computer mic or other recording equipment, please sing it and make an mp3 and send it to me.

Here are the lyrics. If you have seen a slightly different version somewhere, it is because I keep changing the words. But I am pretty sure this is the final draft, unless someone has an idea that is so brilliant I can't resist.

He’s an unknown
From a small state
Far from Capitol Hill

He's in a field of nine
And he started far behind
And nobody thought he had a prayer

But his supporters
They're believers
Givin' it all they've got
They dismiss anyone who says "he can't win"
'Cuz they're convinced that he's really got a shot

CHORUS:
Dean for America, for you and me
Dean for America, something to see
Gonna take back America, home of the free
We can do better now in this country

There's a young crowd
Disillusioned
He taps into their frustration
He's got some fresh ideas
And a message that's resonating
across the nation

Called his mama
And he told her
Said "mom, I'm gonna be president."
She just laughed and said "son, that's a crazy dream"
But these are crazy times

CHORUS

Well there's pundits
And consultants
What do they know, know, know?
They look down on the insurgent
Because they're scared that he'll disrupt the status quo, ooh yeah

He's a winner
People-powered
He is the real deal

He'll put the Democratic Party back on track
To take
The White House Back

CHORUS x2

BTW, the song and the merchandise advertised below are my own and not authorized by the campaign.

2003-09-06T15:29:00.000-04:00

Check out my new Dean stores, featuring my original designs:

2003-08-24T13:48:00.000-04:00

So I went to the Sleepless Summer Tour in Falls Church, VA yesterday...it was amazing! I finally got a picture...and I am in a picture with Dean on the website. Check it out:

That's me, wearing the Dean hat and olding up the sign with the flag dangling over it. My mouth is hanging open and I look kind of dumb, but who cares.

You can see the pics I took here.

This was my seventh time seeing him speak, but I am not sick of it yet. Every time I see him speak, I am amazed and inspired. I forget how much the odds are stacked against us and I feel like there is hope - hope for getting the nomination, hope for beating Bush, hope for a better future for our country.