I’m sitting in the middle of a group of volunteers responding in real time to email about tonight’s Dean vote. Folks are reading the best lines to each other. One email just shared by my neighbor starts with, “I’m going to tell you what I think on the third paragraph…” This, I must say, is kind of typical of our supporters. Mostly thoughtful. A few of the missives are even funnier, but unshareable on this blog. Sorry…
The spirit here at
the campaign is quietly upbeat—focused, peaceful, eleven-in-the-morning
flow. It’s cold and cloudy outside, but surprisingly bright and warm
here inside.
Kelly and I and Bobby left the campaign after midnight last night. Kenn Herman, the database guru, was pushing himself hard, testing server scripts and preparing for tonight. That’s
when the Dean campaign will commence contacting half a million
supporters by email, phone, and—in the case where the campaign only has
a snail mail address—by telegram.
Futon and books
I slept on a futon at
Kelly’s house last night. I woke up today sensing both the historic
opportunity and also the difficult reality of dialoguing with the
community of supporters, so that the vote is truly a meaningful act of
political participation.
The campaign finance situation is strategically complex. The volunteer email effort buzzing around me this morning is just one of many efforts to engage the issue. Perspective: George
Bush’s plan to run a $200 million unopposed “primary” campaign has
forced the Dean community to address the finance limits issue. The
Dean community will face a sustained, multi-month media campaign
targeting them this summer, assuming Dean wins the Democratic
nomination. And any other Democrat would face the same assault.
Winning requires being able to respond. Most
independent political observers think that for Democrats to win back
the presidency—or even achieve a balanced public discussion of the
issues—requires a complementary media campaign. To
fund such a campaign a Democrat will have to position him or herself
legally and tactically to invest more than the $45 million limit
imposed on those who accept federal matching funds. A
Democrat who hopes to win against Bush must take the risky decision of
foregoing matching funds now, in order to hope to have a voice later. Only
Dean, among Democratic candidates, has demonstrated that he can
actually raise enough money to seriously consider this step.
Why now? The
Dean community has already raised nearly enough money to qualify for
matching funds. Unless the community decides to move forward without
federal funds, they must stop giving now, and return any money raised
that goes beyond the cap.
Howard Dean,
recognizing that he needs the community with him in order to win, has
taken the unprecedented step of asking his community to make the
decision. And that, Tuesday, November 5, 2003 means a handfull of
volunteers huddling here together amid computer monitors, folding
tables and pizza boxes.
Campaign folks gathering for Howard’s speech
PS: Update: It
is now almost 1 PM. Howard Dean just finished speaking in New
York. The most important thing he did was address clearly and head on
the matter of race in Amerca. He committed himself to a dialogue on
race–a dialogue he acknowledged is painful, and often avoided in
politics, but absolutely critical. He apologized for the clumsy way he
opened up the discussion recently by talking about the confederate
flag–and he apologized for offending African Amercans. I felt
this was a good, honest, humble address to a painful stumble–and was
correct in using the occassion as a time to raise a broader issue which
is absolutely critical to our society–and which is usually avoided or
inflamed, but seldom effectively confronted.
Howard Dean went on
to discuss why the process of funding campaigns is broken, and why the
current “reform” system in fact works against true reform, by allowing
those of great wealth and means to opt out of it’s limits. The
Dean campaign, because it aggregates the small contributions of
millions of people, may be the only current political platform that
allows citizens of ordinary financial means to come together to counter
the campaigns of the very wealthy.
Here
is the text that addresses the process of democracy and the issue of
funds in campaigns, and announces the community vote that will
determine how the Dean campaign will go forward.