State Convention delegates prefer Dean

[NoPasaran]

Letter to DNC members 1/24/05
I’m writing to you today to let you know about the results of two polls conducted by Democracy for Texas, the largest progressive grassroots organization in Texas, with over 40,000 members. These polls sought feedback from the grassroots on their preference for DNC chair.

We first polled DFT members. Not surprisingly, Governor Howard Dean won this vote in a landslide with 90% of the vote of those responding. I say “not surprisingly” because our organization is an outgrowth of the Dean campaign. In fact, the majority of our members are people who were never involved in politics before, but were so inspired by Governor Dean and his message that they became, and continue to be, active.

We decided that a more objective measure of grassroots support would be polling all people who were eligible to attend the State Democratic Convention in Houston last June, who would reflect a wider range of opinions. We sent emails to all of them who provided email addresses and we now have results from the respondents. They are compelling.

Howard Dean 69 %
Martin Frost 25
Others 6

Many of those who provided comments mentioned Governor Dean’s commitment to a 50-state strategy (before it was fashionable), and his campaigning for Richard Morrison and David Van Os. Others talked about his amazing fund-raising ability. Some talked about the number of new voters, particularly young people, he brought into the Party. Still others said they were not Dean supporters during the primaries, but were impressed with the hard work he did on behalf of the national ticket and candidates across the country, including many “Dean Dozen” candidates who won in red states. And there were many who talked about how the training in Austin last year subsidized by Dean’s PAC, Democracy for America, helped them organize, get out the vote, and win races in Texas.

The vote is yours, but we feel it’s important for you to know what your constituents are thinking.

Thank you for your service to the Democratic Party. Our steering committee looks forward to seeing you in D.C. in February.

Sincerely,
Fran Vincent
Executive Director

http://www.democracyfortexas.org/dncletter

[WI_DEM]

1. If Dean can get a lock on Texas DNC members that would

be another huge boost.

[gmoses]

2. I still remember seeing Dean on C-SPAN

way back when he was one of those half-dozen early candidates for prez. And he certainly voiced my dismay and anger with the go-along attitude that has since launched us into the bloody mess of Iraq.

At that time, he hit the political scene like an ice pick. And he had nerve enough to talk about walking the ground in the South, too, going after the redneck vote and civil rights at the same time, because you can do that if you meet the basic social needs of working folks instead of whipping up insecurity with coded race nationalism and retrograde social policy.

After millions of hours of political television, that speech is still vivid in my memory. It's time for Dems to feed their base or implode. I'd like to see more of Dean on tv, but only if he's going to be allowed to talk the talk.

Nothing would be more demoralizing than to see Dean get the job and start lip shuffling with the rest of them. It would be turn out the lights time, for sure.

[sonias]

3. I'm pretty sure Dean won't be muzzled GMoses

I agree that nothing would be more demoralizing to see him assimilated into the Borg. Dean's a fighter and he'll drag the DNC kicking and screaming into the new paradigm shift of party rebuilding - from the grassroots. He won't give up and he won't give in. He'll quit before they corrupt him to their losing ways.

Sonia