dean

I wanted to wait until I had a little time to reflect on the opening night speeches, just to see how it affected my perception of things.

On Thursday evening, the Netroots Nation crowd was treated to speeches by General Wes Clark and Howard Dean. The emcee for the event was the immensely entertaining Baratunde Thurston. However, the highlight of the evening was the show-stealing speech by DFT Political Director and former Texas state legislator Glen Maxey introducing Governor Dean.

Wes Clark consistently impresses me - more than almost anyone in the media or politics, he has a real understanding of what is is that we do. By that I mean everything from the online Netroots & blogging communities to everyday activism and DIY politics. Maybe it's because his first major foray into politics was preceded by the online DraftClark petition, but regardless, he seems to understand and appreciate the role of what we do. His comments struck an excellent tone with the crowd, and definitely seemed to be tailored to our role in politics.

Howard Dean's speech was essentially a longer version of what he gave at the rally earlier in the day. While there was nothing bad about his comments, they just didn't seem to really fit the audience or occasion. The one line that stood out, though, was when he took things a step further than his earlier remarks. While exhorting the crowd to avoid making the mistake of his generation - that assuming electoral victories would be good enough - he again said that democracy needs to be constantly nurtured. But he went one step further, arguing that democracy is more than just still an experiment: it's an unnatural system. The tone of that section of his speech was just not quite forceful enough, though, to really reflect this very interesting line of thought. I found that idea very interesting, and very much in character with a discussion I had been having earlier about the attitude of the founders toward democracy.

The hands-down highlight of the evening, though, was Glen Maxey's introduction of Howard Dean. Maxey tapped into the notion that the Dean campaign was a transformational moment in American politics. His simple refrain: "We were empowered by Howard and the internet." In excellent Texas storytelling style, he wove a narrative about Texas politics, national politics, and the Dean campaign's lasting impact.

[Bumped, by Eric.]

Since many of our members were activated and empowered by the Dean campaign, I thought this was worth sharing.

This week's discussion at the TPMCafe Book Club focuses on the impact of the Howard Dean's 2004 presidential campaign. The books being discussed are The First Campaign: Globalization, the Web, and the Race for the White House and Mousepads, Shoe Leather, and Hope: Lessons from the Howard Dean Campaign for the Future of Internet Politics.

One particular observation that stands out to me, from Zephyr Teachout:

"The Dean campaign decentralized power; many campaigns have borrowed the tools and innovations from that cycle, but primarily for decentralizing tasks."

This time, Dr. Dean is in Tennessee.

As part of the Dean strategic plan, the Democratic National Committee is paying the salary of staff workers in many states — including Tennessee.

“It’s been a big help to us here in Tennessee, that’s for sure,” said state Democratic Chairman Gray Sasser.

More importantly,

Tennessee Republicans receive no comparable financial support from the Republican National Committee, according to state GOP Chairman Robin Smith.

From Campaigns and Elections:

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean came to a Kenilworth hotel this morning to see his 50-State Strategy in practice. At the head table sat the event's hosts -- state Sen. John Adler, Assemblywoman Linda Stender and state Senate candidate Gina Genovese -- all three of whom are running for office against Republican incumbents, in Republican leaning districts.

I finally got around to reading this full article from the August 13 issue of The Nation about the 50-State Strategy.

From The Nation, via Masson:

The single oddest thing about the fifty-state strategy is surely the adjective often attached to it: "controversial."