Monday, December 06, 2004

Howard Dean to make major speech Wednesday



Howard Dean to make major speech Wednesday

Democracy for America Executive Director, Tom McMahon, sent this email to DFA supporters this morning:
__________________________

Governor Dean will lay out a vision for the future of the Democratic Party this Wednesday at 12 p.m. Eastern in Washington, D.C.

He will outline not just a direction for our party, but a concrete destination: a party built from the ground up.

That means a party powered by millions of small donors, not millionaires. It means a party that speaks plainly and commits to concrete outcomes that affect real people. And it means a party that
competes in every single race, for every single vote, in all fifty states.

You can watch live video of the speech on Wednesday morning at the Democracy for America web site:

www.democracyforamerica.com

Be sure to join us for the live webcast on Wednesday at 12 p.m. Eastern. Thank you.

Tom McMahon
Executive Director
Democracy for America
__________________________



The AP picks up the story of Governor Dean's upcoming speech on the future of the Democratic party:
Howard Dean, who is weighing a bid for leadership of the Democratic Party, will call on Democrats to fight for victory across the country instead of ceding wide swaths of the South and West to Republicans. [...]

Dean spokeswoman Laura Gross said while other Democrats are talking about whether the party needs to move farther to the left or the right to attract voters, Dean plans to focus on the need for "destination, not direction" during an address at George Washington University on Wednesday
.




Jenny Greenleaf Elected to DNC



Jenny Greenleaf Elected to DNC

Congratulations and best of luck to my American Street colleague Jenny Greenleaf, who unseated Mary Botkin as Oregon DNC Commmitteewoman. ( See BlueOregon.com )

Mary has made some outgoing suggestions for Jenny. Here is an excerpt:
"With your new leadership will come the responsibility of gaining the respect and support of those who do not currently support the policies of this new and interesting direction we are headed......try to build support from the 'red" states where we lost - and examine why Howard Dean lost all the blue states to Kerry early in the process so we don't repeat those mistakes. Dr. Dean had an interesting formula for victory. We can and must learn from that formula - we must also learn from it's failures.."


Daily Kos reported on Jenny's win today. There is a lot of healthy discussion there about where others think the DNC should go from here.

Jenny's own comments can be seen at American Street. She has included a copy of the speech she gave. Although she says she took aim at the DNC somewhat, she also states she is not anti-DNC. She says she just wants to shift its focus a bit.