If you haven’t been following the Howard Dean phenomenon recently, this week is a good time to check in. There were the simultaneous covers of Time and Newsweek a few weeks ago; the coverage in the same week on Larry King Live, The Today Show, and the continued strength in fundraising (the campaign is well on its way to its second consecutive fundraising challenge against the Bush administration).
But the campaign has stepped it up a level, by chartering a 737 jet (to accommodate the dramatic up-turn in press coverage) and flying to 8 cities in four days, calling it the Sleepless Summer tour. They started in Falls Church, VA yesterday – with more than 4000 people in attendance. Then on to Milwaukee, WI, followed by a stop-over in Boise, ID and a mid-day rally in Portland, OR — where more than 5,000 citizens listed to Dean give an impassioned plea for a restoration of our American democracy.
The tour will swing through Chicago on Tuesday — and as further proof (as if we needed it) that the campaign gets it — they’ve issued me a press pass to cover the event so I can provide updates from the event (both on this blog and on my blog focused on the Dean campaign.)
I’m not the only blogger to receive similar treatment — David Weinberger provided some great commentary about yesterday’s goings-on, and guest bloggers are lined up for each day of the tour. (Alas, I won’t be guest-blogging on Tuesday — that honor goes to politcal uber-blogger Kos of DailyKos.)
There are campaigns you support. And then there are campaigns that support you.
I was at the NYC rally for the Sleepless Summer Tour last night.
ReplyDeleteDean was great. Very clear message, and he's not about to let the Bushies get away with anything. He's generating incredible excitement with nearly 15 months to go. He and his staff deserve lots of credit for effective use of the Internet, but mostly he's just standing up and clearly stating the facts: about Iraq, economy, jobs, health care, education, etc. It's very refreshing.
It was also great to see some endorsements, particularly Lowell Weicker, the Junior Republican on the Senate Watergate committee and later Independent governor of Connecticut.
I also liked that Dean's talk was totally about what he would do and why Bush is a disaster for the US and the world. No need to attack other Dems.
Many are saying Dean can't win. Pat Caddell pointed out that this was the same attitude the Dems had in 1980 about the possibility of Reagan getting the Rep nomination.
We're at the beginning of the world's first grass roots Internet campaign. If the Dean campaign can continue to get their message out, and withstand the dirt that Bush will throw at him, then President Dean will win by a wider margin than Gore in 2000.
Interesting to note that Baghdad Bob is now
ReplyDeleteBaghdad Bush. "Everything is wonderful, we are winning, etc, etc.