We Won

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/2/16/192836/733

"But Bush's slipping poll numbers, combined with large turnouts of angry Democratic voters in the presidential primaries, seem to have emboldened and united the Senate Democrats. In a private meeting with Senators on Jan. 20, Daschle warned it was time to "put the past behind us. If we don't hang together, we'll hang separately." He has hired Phil Schiliro, an aggressive and seasoned House Democratic operative, to craft a more combative legislative strategy. Instead of going along with bipartisan compromises, the plan is to introduce more "message" legislation to rally the Democrats' base and force Republicans into unpopular votes. Senator Ted Kennedy plans to introduce a bill next week to raise the minimum wage to $7 an hour, and he plans to attach it to the next measure the Republicans want to push through the Senate. Democrats last week pounced on N. Gregory Mankiw, chairman of Bush's Council of Economic Advisers, who said the outsourcing of U.S. jobs was "a good thing" in the long run; bills were quickly introduced to repudiate him and require firms to give employees three months' notice before they are laid off because of jobs being moved abroad.

Daschle will also be more aggressive in using parliamentary maneuvers to block House-Senate conferences if they exclude Democrats from key decisions, as happened on the Medicare legislation. At the same time, Daschle plans to impose more party discipline. Democrats who supported the Republican Medicare bill, for example, will not be given seats on the Senate Finance Committee, which writes health-care legislation, when the next vacancies occur."

Dean will drop out in the next few days. However, we've won. The Democrats aren't going to be pussies any more and its because we proved that fighting back can work.

Unsorted and uncategorized pictures

Pictures from the last few days of the campaign, including his speech a few minutes ago annoucing the end of the bid for president.

Edwards '04

The Assassination of Howard Dean

The Assassination of Howard Dean
By Naeem Mohaiemen, AlterNet
February 18, 2004
The pundits claim Dean's "rage" undid him, that voters took a "second look," etc. etc. Nonsense really. The answer is much simpler. Howard Dean was assassinated in broad daylight. Unlike Kennedy's "grassy knoll," Dean's killers are not hiding – it was the Democratic Party itself, and more specifically the DLC, that successfully went after, and sabotaged his candidacy.

Today, and irony

11am -- Office -- Dean met with everyone at the office to say that he's going to stop. (I was late, so I missed the meeting)

1pm -- Burlington Sheraton -- The first time I'm actually at a Dean rally with press and lights and the whole shebang. He made a really impressive speech, integrating parts of his stump speech. Some important notes: he said he will endorse whoever runs against Bush; he will not start a 3rd party; he implored everyone to NOT join a 3rd party; he will be starting a new organization that will work to defeat George W. Bush.

4pm -- Office -- Roy Neel had an all-hands meeting to explain the exit strategy, that staff will be paid until Friday, that healthcare is until the end of the month, and that everyone is asked to stay around until Friday except the "transition team".

5:15pm -- Main Conference Room -- "Web Team" meets to discuss shutdown. Zephyr gives a powerful speech where she turned to each person in the room and says what magical thing they've done. She also pointed out that Joe Trippi used to say that this campaign is like jumping out a 80-foot tall building and sometimes... (and we would pause for emphasis)... sometimes... you don't hit the concret. Today's 1pm announcement felt like we hit the concret and it hurt. It really hurt. However, for a long while we were flying instead of falling and that made a lot of people look up. It made them reconsider what they thought was true, and made them rething everything. Now the world is different.

6pm -- Main Conference Room -- "IT Team" meets to discuss shutdown plan.

And now the ironic part. At around 7pm I was asked to stay as part of the shutdown and told that I'd be paid. Yes, I've finally been hired by the campaign.

I think I may be home on Friday, Feb 27.