MyDD :: New Day

New Day

by Jerome Armstrong, Sat Feb 12, 2005 at 07:17:53 PM EST

Good start everyone hitting, Act Blue for the DNC.

Hearing Dean speak today, reminded me of the Dean I recall hearing back in early 2002. "Americans cannot trust Republicans with taxpayers money", with the "fiscally responsible, socially progressive" message that refrains from high octave, and speaks toward a balanced budget. Dean as Chair is going to "make it plain" what Bush is doing at least.

The highlight of the day was watching the Cifuentes vs Honda battle unfold. I arrived last night to the hotel, and there was a folder of material from Honda given to me while checking in. There was talk all day yesterday of Honda gaining momentum, but Cifuentes still seemed inevitable. He had over 200 already committed, right? Well, this morning, the day of the vote, Cifuentes claimed as much, but the list that arrived under the room door over night, with an endorsement by Bill Richardson, showed only 100 names listed.

After Dean won, the Vice Chairs each took their turns at speaking. Toward the end, Meeks spoke, and endorsed Honda. Then he called up Diaz, who also endorsed Honda. The room went into a bit of pandamonium for a moment. People started chanting "Honda, Honda..." and "Alvaro, Alvaro.." The outburst of activity seemed about equal on both sides, this was going to be a close vote.

Just as the vote tally was about to begin, I wound up standing alongside the Cifuentes team, whom all had sheets printed out of how many votes from each state they needed to win the Vice Chair from Honda. I stood behind, listening to them read off the states, and watching Ickes tally up the votes on his sheet of paper. Consistently, Cifuentes fell about 1 vote shy of his target in each state, and that proved to be the margin of victory for Honda.

I didn't really have a dog in the fight, Matt Stoller and I were actually caught up in the free for all of chanting, and I started chantin "Hondaro" as a bit of a combo. As I stood there watching the Cifuentes team gracefully accept defeat as the states ticked off, it struck me that, here I was, at the DNC, with my guy finally winning, and what do I wind up doing? I wind up on the front row, sharing, at least in presence and empathy, the loss of Cifuentes team. Ah suck.

Anyway, a few moments later, I had quite a shock of my mental framework seeing Dean, at the end of the day, takeover Chair duties and finish business. This is going to talk a little bit of getting used to I think. But for now, everything seems possible, we have taken back the party, now it's time to work on the country.

Tags: Democrats (all tags)

Permalink :: 21 Comments :: Post a Comment

DONT STOP! (none / 0)

Keep writing, Jerome. I don't know what else you have to say about the day, but by God, I want to read it.

Come on, come on, come on. More, more, more.

As much I wish, and thought, I would be there--I am not--and now I need to troll from blog to blog attempting to soak up every ounce of information about the intracacies of the day from bloggers. So far your reporting is the most vivid. And I want more.

Tim

by Tim Tagaris on Sat Feb 12, 2005 at 07:24:16 PM EST

Re: YES! (none / 0)

We, who are not there, salute you. Now what were they wearing, dammit??

by candace in sonoma on Sat Feb 12, 2005 at 10:00:58 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: YES! (none / 0)

Tim Roemer was in a Kimono . . .

I think I read that on some blog out there. I could be mistaken though.

Tim

by Tim Tagaris on Sat Feb 12, 2005 at 10:15:14 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: DONT STOP! (3.00 / 1)

Tim, I don't know if my writing measures up to Jerome's, but I did try to do play-by-play from the floor at The American Street.

Apologies for blog-solicitation.

by Jenny Greenleaf on Sat Feb 12, 2005 at 10:20:38 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Dean's To Do List (none / 0)

Congratulations Jerome (and to all of us) for being there from the beginning and seeing this day!

I've started a diary with grassroots suggestions for Dean's to do list and cross-posted here and on Daily Kos. The idea is to compile a set of specific ideas for what the DNC could do to encourage local folks to organize the grassroots. One idea I wrote about is suggesting that state parties hold elections for precinct leaders (for states that don't already have precinct leaders). Another idea is to be strategic in the use of Meetups, house parties, etc. -- Will Dem Party Meetups have a resurgence, or will DFA Meetups still predominate? Will the Meetups move to more neighborhood-based so they are ready for GOTV before elections? Please read and add your ideas.

by susan on Sat Feb 12, 2005 at 07:57:50 PM EST

MyDD's been the place to be (none / 0)

Jerome,

Thanks so much for your great coverage of the DNC chair race and all the machinations that go with it. This has been the place to go for information. Whether you know it or not, many of the DNC members I know have made MyDD a regular stop. Your blogging is excellent.

Susan Turnbull has now stopped lurking and joined us. Other DNC members are starting to figure it out--and many want to join in. The state party blog project should start to bear fruit in the next few months.

You have helped make the Party transparent, which is the first step. We'll all work on accessible. (I asked someone today why the Party is so complicated and hard to explain to people. The response: "Things that are fair are sometimes complicated.")

When I won my DNC member position, I sent Howard Dean a message that said "OK, I'm on the DNC. Now what?" I bet he feels like that a bit today. I hope we can all roll up our sleeves and figure out how to work together and help Chairman Dean take back America.

You can, of course, show him some love at Act Blue for starters.

And Jerome is right, the real story today was the Cifuentes/Honda race. A lot of it turns on Puerto Rican politics: statehood vs. staying a commonwealth.

by Jenny Greenleaf on Sat Feb 12, 2005 at 10:18:10 PM EST

Hey! (none / 0)

The State Party Blog Project!

You have no idea just how f'n happy it makes me to hear someone talk about that outside of Kos (when David posted about it) or Swing State Project, where the idea was born.

Thank you. You have inspired me to extend my evening in the office a few hours to push the ball further down the field.

http://statepartyblogproject.blogspot.com

Thanks,

Tim

by Tim Tagaris on Sat Feb 12, 2005 at 10:29:07 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Hey! (none / 0)

Oh, it's so important to have a 2-way conversation. There's some serious education that has to happen, though. Here's how my state party chairman introduced me today:

"Jenny works on the Internet," he said. "She does something called blogging, which sounds painful, but she promises that she'll teach us all to do it."

What we need is for some very patient people to go to state parties, offer to blog for them on a daily basis, set it up, allow approval of their posts until they gain trust, and then teach others.

There's still a perception there that "a blogger can ruin your reputation in a single post." I think we promote the concept that blogs are really similar to the corner bar: readers evaluate statements based on who says them and why.

If the sober, reliable person on the next barstool says something, it's quite different from what you expect from the vindictive idiot always spouting off. If it's on a liberal blog, you evaluate one way; if it's on a conservative blog, you evaluate otherwise--always paying attention to what is said, who says it, and how. I can tell the difference, and many (but not all!) others can too. Just like real life--only it's on a screen.

by Jenny Greenleaf on Sat Feb 12, 2005 at 10:42:50 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Hey! (none / 0)

I've only made a few posts at Bob's blog and I received an email from the administrator today. Actually, I received it Feb. 2nd, but my msn email was over 200 emails because I over-subscribed to too many email lists. I opened it today and here is part of the response I got:

I would really be interested in talking with you about your ideas. I would like some feedback and specific suggestions because we are working on making some changes very soon. We are gearing up for convention, and of course it feels like the 2006 election is just around the corner. I agree that we need to ramp up our coverage on what's going on here in California.

Can you give me a call or email me your number and I can call you?

I look forward to hearing from you.

I replied with a couple of suggestions, primarily to use the MyDD and Dkos diary format. I also talked to several people at the DFA celebration party that the Orange County DFA folks put on. They served falafels!

Any left coasters should visit Bob's blog and give him some encouragement.

by Gary Boatwright on Sun Feb 13, 2005 at 12:52:35 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Bearing fruit... (none / 0)

We have even had a handful of state parties come to the light as a result of the effort.

I will chronicle some of the back-and-forths in the next update.

Thanks again for the smile.

Tim

by Tim Tagaris on Sat Feb 12, 2005 at 10:31:10 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: MyDD's been the place to be (none / 0)

Thanks Jenny, I appreciate it.

by Jerome Armstrong on Sun Feb 13, 2005 at 12:31:11 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: MyDD's been the place to be (none / 0)

Jenny - I still lurk a little. I'll try to get a ral post in on Wednesday.

by Susie Turnbull on Tue Feb 15, 2005 at 10:17:40 PM EST
[ Parent ]

A Great Day - Now the Real Work Starts (none / 0)

--Targeting races for 2006
--Starting to turn the perception about Republicans v. Democrats on National Security (we have truth on our side)
--Hammering the whole GOP on the budget -push "The Birth Tax" meme
--Extinguish the abortion issue by using Hillary's innovation; if our goal is zero abortions, it becomes an argument about how to get there (adoptions, sex ed, access to contraception v. abstinence and ostracization)
--Democrats are protectors; of our children, of the poor (it's OK to use that word), of the mentally ill, of veterans
--Republicans only care about themselves and money; a decidedly un-Christian ethos

PLUS; we need to raise a ton of money RIGHT NOW to start the process
PLUS we need to start a national field database, not waiting for three years
PLUS we need all Democrats, including Dean Nation, to start going to Democratic Party meetings AND Meetups

I am ecstatic today, and a bit torn about what it means for the future, but we have to all pull together beind our new Facilitator In Chief and get to work, in our local communities and across the country in targeted ways. A great day, one to remember.

www.democracyforillinois.org

by ericd1112 on Sat Feb 12, 2005 at 10:23:34 PM EST

Exactly so... (none / 0)

"But for now, everything seems possible, we have taken back the party, now it's time to work on the country."

Time to roll up our sleeves. There is work to be done and miles to go before we sleep.

The 10,000 Things

by Andrew C White on Sat Feb 12, 2005 at 11:59:32 PM EST

Other Agendas (none / 0)

Wasn't the Honda/Cifuentes race(and the demise of the "Fowler Amendments") also about the traditional DNC establishment having a set of eyes looking over the new chairman's shoulder? You may not have liked the messenger in Donnie Fowler Jr.'s candidacy, but wasn't the message right about the culture of the consultants? While Gov. Dean won yesterday, the overall reform agenda didn't do so well. There is a lot of entrenched power in DC, and Gov. Dean is going to need a lot of help overcoming it.

by nascardem on Sun Feb 13, 2005 at 06:51:16 AM EST

Re: Other Agendas (none / 0)

I don't really know everything that goes on (very little, actually!), but as I understand it, the Fowler amendments got killed in committee because of diversity concerns. One of the reasons the 75-chair appointments exist is to enable the chair to make up for any lack of representation.

Dean did announce formation of a budget committee, which was a key component of the Fowler amendments.

I also heard that there were some things in the Fowler amendments that Dean didn't like, so don't pin all the blame on "establishment."

I think the Cifuentes/Honda thing was more about Puerto Rican politics than anything else. It's also not a bad idea to have one congressman as a vice chair as it gives the DNC a connection to the Hill. My only concern with Honda is that he's probably already pretty busy and I don't know how much time he has to devote to the DNC. He's a good guy, though, and very well liked as far as I could tell.

by Jenny Greenleaf on Sun Feb 13, 2005 at 08:22:18 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Other Agendas (none / 0)

Puerto Rico status politics unfortunately entered the VC race, since Mr. Cifuentes served as the Chief of Staff to Governor of Puerto Rico, Dr. Pedro Rosello in the early 1990's. During the VC race there were numerous unsubstantiated and anomynous allegations made to discredit the character of Mr. Cifuentes.

However, the real issue of the Honda/Meeks/Diaz vs. Cifuentes race was the need for same congressional/lobbying/labor/special interest politics that the "Unity Ticket" represented to retain some control of the national party. If one was to read the Cifunetes for Vice Chair campaign website, http://www.alvarocifuentes.com/ the reader wound note that its content would be in complete agreement with the goals and objectives of Chairman Dean. Mr. Cifuentes' desired to reform and expand the reach of the party beyond the Beltway and empower its membership. That message resonated well with the membership. Notwithstanding the great pressure and hardball tactics applied by some of the best Washington political operatives, Mr. Cifuentes won or tied the "unity ticket" with 25 state parties. Democrats lost a majority of those states in 2004, which they need to win to regain the White House in 2008. Mr. Cifuentes' agenda was the future of the party. What is the "unity ticket"'s?

Congtatulations and best of luck to the "unity ticket" and Chairman Dean.

by Adames on Sun Feb 13, 2005 at 11:20:43 AM EST
[ Parent ]

This is not a hugh win: Dean win is a realignmemt (none / 0)

I have a problem believing that Dean's Chair win is some kind of taking back moment. Activists have been very big influence in the party for a while. I will agree the leadership has not come from the activist wing and I am not so sure that Dean will be a wholly owned property of the activist now.

I would say this is a slight realignment and hopefully there will be some decentralizing of power and organization building.

Juan Williams on Fox news today said that the Dean election was a shaft to African Americans. I sure hope that this is not to perception. I as an African American do not feel this way.

by wdmosely on Sun Feb 13, 2005 at 12:15:32 PM EST

Re: This is not a huge win (none / 0)

Juan Williams is a WH shill and a lazy journalist. Don't pay any attention to him.

by KimPossible on Mon Feb 14, 2005 at 09:35:31 AM EST
[ Parent ]

DNC meeting (none / 0)

The Fowler amendments would have required representation from diverse communities. The current system does not require any of the at large members to come from diverse communities. The other amendents included a budget committee, a conflict of interest policy, competitive bidding and representation of elected DNC members on the various DNC committees. Why would anyone oppose a conflict of interest policy and opening up the budget process?

by nascardem on Sun Feb 13, 2005 at 12:41:17 PM EST

A new day indeed (none / 0)

but I suggest you all read some of the republican reaction here in KY by Mitch McConnell and Ron Lewis...link on my blog

The Kentucky Democrat

by kydem on Sun Feb 13, 2005 at 01:05:18 PM EST

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