The house call was a hit!!
Yesterday I attended two events in the northern part of the 29th Congressional District in support of the Massa for Congress race. As you will recall, I posted the earlier event here. Governor (Dr.) Howard Dean, Chairman of the National Democratic Party, came to Rochester to sponsor a fund raiser for Eric Massa. Eric then participated as an audience member and potential designee at the Monroe county nominating convention.
I have been to hundreds of political events - at the local, state and national level and I have to say that with a three person committee, a small staff of mostly youngsters with “Ever-ready” amounts of personal determination and a few hundred hours of candidate phone calls, the Dean event was pulled together and executed by Eric and his team with the style of a National Presidential event. The venue was perfect, there was an open bar for those who desired an after work refreshment, and there were just enough “munchies” to make the guests happy.
And there were guests! In fact, Eric had hoped for 35 at the VIP pre event and 100 at the general reception. At the VIP event alone there were over 50 and it was clear that Eric was a true Labor candidate with the leaders of virtually all the major Unions or their representatives in attendance. I saw the UAW, Postal Workers, Teamsters, SEIU, IBEW and the leadership of the Rochester Area Labor Federation, the Rochester Trades and Rochester NYSUT. The participation broke double what was anticipated and it looks like the contributions will exceed expectations (this according to the volunteers at the check in desk, a potential record for his race and perhaps a record for a Congressional race in this area!)
Eric wisely spoke for less than 6 minutes (this was Gov Deans visit after all !!! ) telling a story of his personal contact with a local community hero Gary Mervis of Camp Good Days and lessons learned from public service into his introduction of Assemblyman and Monroe County Chair Joe Morelle. Eric didn’t miss a beat to thank all the special participants in the room and then he reached out and thanked those in attendance.
Joe Morelle then introduced Governor Dean. The Governor - with sparks of his trademark “fire in the belly”, not only gave a great talk from the National perspective, but he also brought the room back to the very essence of grass roots politics and called on everyone there to get involved in voter outreach. This was a class act that felt good, felt fired up, and felt professional. Eric’s small team pulled off a great start. But please note, this was only the start……
Then it was on to the Monroe County Democratic Committee 2008 Designating Convention. Chairman Dean again spoke . His messages about the destructive nature of a potential McCain Presidency brought the crowd to it’s feet in a standing ovation of solidarity within the Democratic party. He mentioned his National support for Eric’s campaign six times in his remarks - each time to significantly greater audience applause. As Jiminy said, the energy in the room was palpable.
Following his departure, Joe Morrelle placed the names of the various Congressional candidates before the convention (there were about 200 plus delegates and guests there) with Louise Slaughter being designated first, followed by Dan Mafie and when Eric’ name was designated the place exploded into applause - standing ovation, walk up the center isle by Eric (who was the only Congressional candidate of the four from Monroe county in attendance) and a salute to both Joe Morrelle and the Vice Chair, Jim Vogel. I could have been at the National convention for the style with which it was executed.
Things are off to a great start for Team Massa and if we can fund his efforts he’ll take the fight that he’s fighting here all the way to Washington.
While the fundraiser gave those who attended an up close and personal opportunity to see Dean, the designating meeting gave me the opportunity to really watch the faces of people I know react to what Gov. Dean had to say.
I paid particular attention to people who I know that don’t like Gov. Dean. There are still people who take every chance to tell me they are still skeptical of Dean, still think he may be a lunatic or simply think he has done nothing for the Democratic party.
Well, Thursday evening gave me the chance to see those skeptical people get caught up in the moment. I saw them react and smile and applaude Gov. Dean as he spoke about the 50 state strategy and the new neighbor to neighbor campaign model.
I know from past experience that seeing is believing and for so many this was their first opportunity to see Dean in person.
I’ll also admit to feeling a sense of vindication because finally there are now more people who understand what I’ve been feeling, believing, thinking and saying for 5 years….Howard Dean is an awesome guy with great idears who should have been president.
There was nothing truly special about Dean’s visit other than it was a visit to Rochester, so the media had to pay it some attention. I was at the nominating committee meeting and I heard something that should have been huge news, but it was overlooked by local media.
Howard Dean said that Democrats shouldn’t support other Democrats just because they are Democrats. Yes! This is why I still love Howard Dean. As Chair of the DNC, he is still saying what he believes.
When exactly Did Howard Dean say this?
The tapes of Dean’s speech are on this website - I didn’t hear that.
Not that personally I disagree with the concept. There are two forces in action here - the aggregate and individual. A conflict arises when individuals don’t represent what the aggregate values of the party.
Taken together, Democrats believe in certain things and normally by one voting for those who are Democrats the voter will get “those” things.
However where this breaks down is at the individual level so the Democratic party had/has the likes of Joe Lieberman, and Zell Miller (locally we have David Dunning) who go against the grain of the party yet retain the party label until they either leave or are forced out.
In the end the voter has to decide if the specific candidate has earned their vote by representing most of not all of their values.
Again we are agreeing on the concept - I’m not sure Dean said this at the nominating convention.
I think he said something to the effect of holding them accountable and expecting them to stand up for what was best for the country, not what’s best for the party.
I recall that reference and it was a reference to the GOP putting party over sound policies.
I just don’t recall what icecucumber73 attributed to Dean and don’t see it on the tapes of the convention. .
Was it at the fundraiser instead, perhaps?
I don’t know. Sounds like you don’t either and since icecucumber73 said it I’ll wait until they come back and clarify.
It was at the nominating meeting at the German House. Mary Ellen and I talked about how thrilled we were that he said that, though I don’t remember his exact words. It was close to Dems shouldn’t support Dem candidates just because they are Dems.
Again where on the tape was that comment? icecucumber was pretty sure of the quote I didn’t hear it.