Dean for DNC part 1

DavidNYC over at Daily Kos reminds us that today marks the second anniversary of the first ever Howard Dean "meetups," which took place in coffee shops and pizza parlors in cities around the countries. Eventually these meetups and other grassroots meetings, as well as the phenomenal power of grassroots websites such as Dean for America (now Democracy for America) would propel Dean to be the frontrunner in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Well, along with most people, I'd never heard of Howard back then. I didn't start paying attention to the Democratic primary race until probably November or December of 2003, and I didn't get at all involved until Martin Luther King weekend in January '04, when I and several others travelled to Waterloo, IA to campaign for John Edwards in the whirlwind last days before the all-important Iowa caucuses. Back then, I was doing it more as a learning experience, but I came to respect John Edwards as a person and a politician. This process culminated in me casting a vote for John Edwards on Super Tuesday at my first-ever political caucus at Mahtomedi High School. I believe he actually won our district (May Township) Later that night, however, we learned that Edwards had conceded the nomination to John Kerry.

Flash forward 11 fateful months later. We have Bush as president once again. Who knows if any of the candidates could have beaten him? All we know is that, after a series of campaign triumphs but also some glaring missteps, Kerry lost.

But I am through being depressed about The Re-Election. We Democrats now have an historic opportunity: Howard Dean, barring a last-minute takedown by the powers that be (and Dean supporters have reason to be paranoid, after Iowa 2004), is poised to become the new Chariman of the Democratic National Committee.

In the few months since the election, I have become steadily more and more enthused and optimistic about the prospect of a Dean victory. I have become a Deaniac. I believe that Howard Dean's enthusiasm and ability to really connect with people will make him a great figurehead for Democrats to rally around these next couple of years, and hopefully will spark us to take back the Senate (at least) in 2006. I don't know anything about his organizing ability-- I've one of the problems with his campaign at first was that, as an outsider campaign, it was not prepared to handle the mass of Deaniacs who turned out to contribute their time and money, and it ended up being a little disorganized-- but I think that, if Dean surrounds himself with proven, talented organizers (many have mentioned Simon Rosenberg of the New Democrat Network), we will be in great shape.

We'll never know how the presidential race would have turned out if any of the variables had changed-- if we had nominated Dean, or Clark, or Edwards, or if Kerry had done this or that differently, or if... We just don't know. There are so many "what if"s. But one thing I do know is that I'd be glad to have Howard Dean as Chairman of the Party. The formal election is on the 12th, I believe, so stay tuned... More on this later.