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Post by GoreSupporterNJ on Jan 23, 2004 20:07:52 GMT -5
Yeah Dolphins. That does create a nice picture. Picture Al Gore and Edwards standing there across from george and Cheney. Think that might conjure up some change in people's minds? Does in mine. Now that I like;-). Jan |
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Post by GoreSupporterNJ on Feb 5, 2004 11:35:56 GMT -5
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Post by earthmother on Feb 5, 2004 12:02:08 GMT -5
Jan--It's almost too good to be true, and too easy, also. You know what I mean? Things like this just don't happen--our wildest dream coming true! Just to play devil's advocate here  , a role I'm known for: I wonder if Gore and Dean haven't just decided that Kerry's lead is too strong now and that it's time to give up the fight. Maybe they see that there is a true front-runner, someone who can actually beat Bush, someone who can fairly well unite the party, and it's time to just let him have his run to the White House. I hate to say it, but since Gore seems to have our country's and party's best interests in mind, maybe that's what he's thinking. Of course, we can argue loudly that our best interests are better served by him (Gore), but he hasn't been listening, at least not so far. I wonder what more we can do to show him how much support he really has? Maybe this is our test, the time to really rally everyone who's given up to make a final giant push to let Gore know how badly this country still wants him. Can we drag in AGDems and TN for Gore and revive Draft Gore and Draft Gore NE and make one last united effort? We know the support is out there. But how do we let Gore know? How many more letters can we send him, how many more polls can we sponsor, how many more letters to editors and attempts at write-in votes? Arrgghhh! |
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Post by GoreSupporterNJ on Feb 5, 2004 12:18:23 GMT -5
Jan--It's almost too good to be true, and too easy, also. You know what I mean? Things like this just don't happen--our wildest dream coming true! Just to play devil's advocate here , a role I'm known for: I wonder if Gore and Dean haven't just decided that Kerry's lead is too strong now and that it's time to give up the fight. Maybe they see that there is a true front-runner, someone who can actually beat Bush, someone who can fairly well unite the party, and it's time to just let him have his run to the White House. I hate to say it, but since Gore seems to have our country's and party's best interests in mind, maybe that's what he's thinking. Of course, we can argue loudly that our best interests are better served by him (Gore), but he hasn't been listening, at least not so far. I wonder what more we can do to show him how much support he really has? Maybe this is our test, the time to really rally everyone who's given up to make a final giant push to let Gore know how badly this country still wants him. Can we drag in AGDems and TN for Gore and revive Draft Gore and Draft Gore NE and make one last united effort? We know the support is out there. But how do we let Gore know? How many more letters can we send him, how many more polls can we sponsor, how many more letters to editors and attempts at write-in votes? Arrgghhh! I know, Karen. Then this must be a call to all those who are angry at Gore for endorsing Dean, but still say he is their first choice TO SHOW IT. You know what I mean?  I cannot believe Mr. Gore would simply hand this country over to these powerbrokers. Not after all the powerful speeches he has been giving and continues to give. We must truly then yes, face this test and continue with this effort. John Kerry will not unite this party, he will only get votes because he isn't Bush, and as important as it is to get Bush out, that is not enough for me as I look out at where this country stands today. You can call me an eternal optimist, or a deluded fool, however then, this eternally deluded optimistic fool will not give in to these power players. How can we say we are activists if we will simply allow them to take our country and out govt and keep control of it! That is simply unacceptable to me. Jan |
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Post by earthmother on Feb 5, 2004 12:35:51 GMT -5
Yes, as activists and Gore supporters, this is our final test, and we can't afford to fail. Bush is looking more and more defeatable with all the revelations about the deceptions and lies coming more to the fore. Gore could win. Hell, Kerry could probably win at this point, or any of them. BUT WE WANT GORE! We know Gore is the best. Gore knows Gore is the best! Dean knows Gore is the best! Most of the country knows Gore is the best! I think it's time for the final push, like delivering a very large baby (ouch!), and on the other side, we will be basking in the light of our beautiful dream.
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Post by GoreSupporterNJ on Feb 5, 2004 12:58:00 GMT -5
Yes, as activists and Gore supporters, this is our final test, and we can't afford to fail. Bush is looking more and more defeatable with all the revelations about the deceptions and lies coming more to the fore. Gore could win. Hell, Kerry could probably win at this point, or any of them. BUT WE WANT GORE! We know Gore is the best. Gore knows Gore is the best! Dean knows Gore is the best! Most of the country knows Gore is the best! I think it's time for the final push, like delivering a very large baby (ouch!), and on the other side, we will be basking in the light of our beautiful dream. Hell yes, Karen, speak the truth! And where will all of Dean's supporters go should he drop out? This really is an opportunity, and if we let this pass us by, it WILL be lost forever. Time for some to make a decision about what they truly want for the future. Activism also DOES include working for competent leaders of integrity to inspire us all. Jan |
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Post by EnemyCombatant on Feb 6, 2004 10:03:00 GMT -5
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Post by GoreSupporterNJ on Feb 6, 2004 10:04:49 GMT -5
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Post by GoreLeadership on Feb 6, 2004 13:28:31 GMT -5
Rise and shine baby..
BRING IN GORE
-GoreLeadership
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Post by GSC Admin on Feb 6, 2004 22:01:11 GMT -5
www.ajc.com/news/content/news/0204/07deanvp.htmlDean: Would settle for vice presidential nomination Knight Ridder Newspapers Published on: 02/06/04 MILWAUKEE, Wis. -- As he set out to defend his new line in the snow of Wisconsin on Friday, Howard Dean indicated that he would be willing to settle for the Democratic vice presidential nomination. Asked if he would accept the No. 2 spot, Dean told a local radio interviewer: "I would ... do anything I could to get rid of President Bush. I'll do whatever is best for the party. "Obviously, I'm running for president, but whatever's best is what I'll do," the former Vermont governor said on "Morning Magazine" on WCMS-AM. "Anything. We've just got to change presidents. We're really hurting right now." Although his remarks suggested that Dean will support the eventual Democratic nominee, it isn't clear whether the "Deaniacs" who rallied to his cause would follow him. The one-time Democratic front-runner for president visited a coffee shop, worked the phones and dropped by a convention of reading teachers as he began the first day of his comeback strategy: To win Wisconsin's stand-alone primary Feb. 17. "It's a make-or-break state for us," Dean said, acknowledging that his candidacy is a "longer shot" to win the presidential nomination than it once was. Even as he struggled to reignite his campaign, Dean advisers braced for almost-certain defeats Saturday in caucuses in Michigan and Washington state. Earlier in the week, Dean had hoped to carry one or both, but polls showed Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry far ahead. Dean hasn't been advertising in either state. He was scheduled to return home to Vermont Friday night to wait out Saturday's voting. Meanwhile, Kerry traveled to Warren, Mich., to receive an endorsement from Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri, the party's heavyweight champion of organized labor and until three weeks ago a candidate for president himself. Michigan's governor and both U.S. senators have also signed on with Kerry, who led Dean by a margin of 5 to 1 in a Thursday poll there. The state will award 128 delegates in Saturday's caucuses. Seventy-six delegates are at stake in Washington state, and Dean raised expectations there earlier in the week when he said in Seattle that he "must" win in Washington to mount a comeback. Short on cash, Dean hasn't run any television advertisements in primary and caucus contests since his second-place finish in New Hampshire on Jan. 27. Dean didn't finish higher than third in any of the seven states that voted Feb. 3, and he took only seven of the 269 delegates at stake. Facing pressure from congressional supporters and backers in organized labor to post a clear win to demonstrate his viability, Dean abandoned his strategy of trying to pick up a few delegates at a time in multiple states. He now favors a Wisconsin-centric approach. Wisconsin offers an advantage in that it's a stand-alone primary, allowing the kind of retail politics that dominated Iowa and New Hampshire rather than the more impersonal media and tarmac-hopping campaigns of multi-state primaries. It also has a tradition of idealistic progressive politics that Dean hopes to tap. "Clearly Dean's on a heart-lung machine, but he's not dead," said Neil Oxman, a Philadelphia-based Democratic political consultant not working in the presidential race. "It makes sense to give it one last college try in Wisconsin, to bring everybody you have into the state. ... They didn't have enough time to do it in Washington or Michigan." Before his decline, Dean had raised $41 million, but he burned through most of his cash and had only about $3 million left last week when he brought in a new campaign manager. Dean supporters have raised more than $800,000 over the Internet to pour into television advertising in Wisconsin since the campaign sent out an e-mail appeal early Thursday morning. In 10 days it will become clear if the Wisconsin strategy works. "Please stay in the race," said Christian Bartley, 33, who chatted with Dean about trade policy at the Altera coffeehouse downtown. "You and the other guys have been great for the debate." Dean replied, "If you want me to stay in the race, you have to vote for me."
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Post by earthmother on Feb 7, 2004 15:54:13 GMT -5
Would he accept the vice presidency with . . . hmmm . . . oh, I don't know . . . say, GORE in the # 1 spot?  |
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Post by GoreSupporterNJ on Feb 7, 2004 16:18:38 GMT -5
Would he accept the vice presidency with . . . hmmm . . . oh, I don't know . . . say, GORE in the # 1 spot? Oh yeah! Jan |
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Post by ErinB on Feb 15, 2004 17:30:46 GMT -5
Hang in there, Howard! Aides Want Dean to Quit if He Loses Wis. apnews1.iwon.com//article/20040215/D80NTU982.html?PG=home&SEC=newsFeb 15, 4:05 PM (ET) By RON FOURNIER WASHINGTON (AP) - Howard Dean's top aides are urging him to abandon the Democratic presidential race if he loses Wisconsin's primary, officials said Sunday, and they're all but certain he will follow their advice. Steve Grossman, national chairman of Dean's campaign, said the former Vermont governor would seek to convert his grass-roots network into a movement that helps expand the party and elect the Democratic nominee - "and, obviously, that looks likely to be John Kerry." Several other senior campaign officials said Dean would likely bow to intense pressure from his own advisers to give up his bid for the presidency, though they disagreed with Grossman over how much - if any - direct help Dean would be willing to give Kerry. Polls show Kerry, a Massachusetts senator who has won 14 of 16 contests to date, holding a wide lead in Wisconsin, site of Tuesday's contest. The Democratic candidates were meeting in the state for a debate Sunday. Campaign manager Roy Neel did not dispute the sources' assertions, but cautioned that Dean is still mulling his options should he lose Tuesday. "Governor Dean is hearing from a lot of people now with advice from every imaginable direction, but in the end, he'll make this decision about the rest of his campaign based on a number of things, including how the debate goes tonight and the Wisconsin primary Tuesday night," Neel said. Adviser Kate O'Connor said: "He hasn't made a decision on what he's going to do, but there are a lot of people contacting us both ways." The comments were at odds with the defiant tone struck by Dean hours before the debate in Milwaukee. "We're going to keep going, no matter what, because I think there are a lot of people all over this country who want to rebuild the party and rebuild America in a different way," Dean said on "Fox News Sunday." Dean had told supporters via e-mail that a defeat Tuesday would end his bid for the nomination, but he has backed away from that statement in recent days. (AP) Democratic presidential hopeful former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean waves to the crowd after speaking... Full Image Several top advisers, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Dean has privately acknowledged that his prospects for the presidency will effectively end if he suffers another major defeat Tuesday. They leave open the increasingly remote possibility that he will waver again. For the first time, there is a near-unanimous consensus among advisers that it would be foolhardy for Dean to continue fighting for the nomination beyond Wisconsin. The circle of die-hards has shrunk, and most confidants are telling Dean it's time to begin making plans to convert his Internet-fueled network into a long-term political movement. "I have no doubt he'll support the nominee in any way he can, no matter who the nominee is and obviously that nominee looks to be John Kerry," Grossman said in a telephone interview from Vermont. "He may say that Tuesday night. He may wait until Wednesday or Thursday to say that." Grossman said Dean feels just as strongly that he is obligated to press for reforms supported by voters who made him last year's front-runner. "In what form that movement takes, I can't spell that out to you and I don't think Howard could right now, either," said Grossman, former chairman of the Democratic National Committee. "I believe that work will effectively be in concert with ... and fairly supportive of John Kerry, should he become the nominee, and it appears he will," Grossman said. Other top advisers said they had doubts whether Dean would ever work directly on Kerry's behalf this year. They suggested the Grossman was trying to curry favor with Kerry. Officials said they are discussing ways to use Dean's network to help elect Democrats to Congress, action that effectively, but not directly, support Kerry's agenda as president. Scores of campaigns aides were making plans to leave their jobs after Tuesday. Advisers say Dean is torn between his pragmatic conclusion that the race is about over and his emotional attachment to the fight itself and his supporters. His staff is looking at several options - such as suspending, not technically ending, the campaign - that would give Dean a voice in the process even after he concedes. "This is a delicate balancing act that has to be struck for Howard Dean," Grossman said. "His supporters, they will not want him to give up and will want to carry out the cause. His name is on the ballot in many states whether he campaigns or is less engaged. The fact is Howard Dean will do everything possible to help the nominee. He will do nothing to undercut the nominee's success." The advisers sought to square their perceptions with Dean's public remarks. "When Howard Dean says he's not going to quit, what he means is the battle to restore democracy and citizen participation is long-term and he's not going to quit on that battle," Grossman said. But Dean would quit attacking Kerry, the chairman said. "Should he not win Wisconsin, you will see a meaningful shift in rhetoric, a meaningful shift in tone and a meaningful shift in the time he spends" building his campaign base into a long-term movement," Grossman said. --- |
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Post by earthmother on Feb 15, 2004 18:13:56 GMT -5
Ugh. One more kick in the stomach, and if this story is accurate, it looks like it'll be Kerry at the convention. Not that I'm a Dean fan, but at least having Dean in the race kept the hope of a brokered convention alive. I also hate to see Kerry get the nomination when I think he's a weak candidate and he has a lot of explaining to do for his recent voting record.
I am not a happy camper.
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Post by MProffitt on Feb 15, 2004 19:54:34 GMT -5
What the Dems Need to Understand
Another brilliant post from NYCO about what the Democrats need to understand about Dean supporters. Brilliant, brilliant. I'm quoting most of it, because I believe NYCO wants the ideas to spread... Emphases are mine.
Democrats are extremely discontented with the excesses of the Bush Administration and are very eager to get tyranny out of the halls of Washington, but they should have a care that they study carefully the character of this campaign that they wish to absorb into themselves -- this campaign which they are impatient to take down (indeed, some within the party have striven very hard to take it down) and put on some memorial shelf, before they even fully understand what it is.
In the mass of political analysis over the ground which the Dean campaign has gone over, there are some essentials about what has happened which are "hiding in plain sight" - things which the media never picked up on, or never explored, and they are things which (as a Democrat) I would not want to see the Democratic Party blow off either. It's my hope that while their eyes are still open - even while Dean's campaign still continues at the moment - that Democrats will see things in Dean they haven't noticed before. And that those who wish to stand against the Bush Administration will form a response to the Dean campaign, not a reaction, not a strategy.
Rather than pondering plans to win Dean supporters and their money to the Democratic general election cause, I would invite Democrats to come down to the level of the average Dean supporter and see things from the ground that we stand on.
First of all, we seek strength we can rely on. Political neophytes that we are, we know when we look at a politician whether or not he is powerful, whether or not he is capable of taking a strong stand. We may not understand who is who in the DNC or DLC or NDN, but we instinctively understand someone who speaks with authority, and this trumps politics as usual. And we know that someone who stands with strength and speaks with authority is someone who tends to inspire great loyalty in some and an almost unreasonable hatred in others. Weak leaders (even ones who are despots) do not inspire active fear or dislike; they inspire apathy. Howard Dean has said, correctly, that you cannot beat George Bush by trying to be a poor copy of him. Bush has held a country in his thrall because he is the most experienced at projecting an image of strength. This is a game that Democrats cannot win. They can only win by really being genuinely strong and authoritative. How will Democrats now respond to this truth (an old one, but recently uncovered)? Discover this response, and discover the secret of our support.
We have a longing for sincerity and authenticity. Whether it comes in the form of stinging and true and impolitic criticisms of fellow party members who have done erroneous things and have not made an account of it; or whether it comes in the form of an appeal for support, we can now recognize when a candidate puts his whole self into his speech. With other politicians, we have had to make many more allowances, or have had to take time to "parse" the words. For many of us, in our lifetimes there has been no other model, but that has now changed. Dean's candidacy has, in a way, destroyed the ground on which typical Democrats have always relied; many Americans no longer take it for granted that men of national influence in the country must treat with the truth delicately, or not at all. What response can other Democrats offer to this? Discover this response, and discover the secret of our generosity.
We are looking for community. Not a facile, cliched, false "homey community" kind of intimacy; we can get that in a family, or a bar or a church; but we seek it in the context of our relationship with our elected officials and political process. I need not go into all of the ways that Howard Dean and his campaign have stood up for this, and opened eyes everywhere to the enduring value of this. I need not go into a big long dissertation on leadership and governance (since I know this doesn't particularly interest people during campaign season, but should). The response of other Democrats to this will be perhaps the most important thing they ever attempt to do for the remainder of 2004. It is imperative that that a proper response be discovered if they hope to get a response from us.
We are seeking originality. This is something that is actually tied to deep Democratic tradition; it is not merely innovation or new technology or process that earns our loyalty. There is really nothing Howard Dean has said to the Democratic Party or the American people, which has not been already said over and over again in our party's glorious past full of achievement and struggle. Civil and human rights, race, health care, a more morally sound foreign policy: Howard Dean does not own these ideas. They belong to all of us. But Dean's illustrations of these issues have often been expressed with striking originality and insight that cuts across traditional notions of political left, right and center. At a time when it was felt that every way of saying these things had already been thought of, and a deep partisan exhaustion had settled over the country, no one in the Party articulated the important questions of our day the way he has -- and his articulations (such as about race, or the Confederate flag comment) often have aroused controversy, even as others have aroused admiration (civil unions as a civil right). What response can other Democrats offer to this? Discover this response, and discover what it means to get us on your side.
We are looking for specifics. This is mistaken for "raw confrontation," but that is not what we want. We are looking to hear great and exacting arguments on the important questions of our day; we are looking for head-to-head debate; we are looking for real choices that can be expressed through two people face to face, between potential leaders who have clear-cut opinions expressed with forcefulness and backed with conviction. This is a quality which Howard Dean should not be particularly remarkable for, were it not that our other prominent Democrats have such a sad demonstrated deficiency in this area. During his career in Vermont, Dean accomplished many things, but he specifically fought for two things: balanced budgets and health care. These were his specifics, and they lend his candidacy the power of his convictions. In his presidential campaign, Dean has focused on all of the issues broadly concerning this country, but he specifically zeroed in on the Iraq war. What can Democrats offer in response to these specifics? If they find one, they may yet find us.
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