Thursday, October 06, 2005

2008: Some Thoughts


Dean 2008

Headquarters

I think it should be in Jackson Heights, New York City. I understand Vermont is Dean's home state, but New York City has many advantages. It is the progressive capital. DFNYC is the largest DFA group in the country. Jackson Heights is the most diverse place inside New York City, and the rentals there would be much cheaper than somewhere in Manhattan. If the headquarters are in the city, it would be possible to rally hundreds upon hundreds of volunteers for most of the work to be done by the campaign headquarters. That volunteer part might be the most important. Also since many old media houses are in the city, we might also get more free air time. It would be easier to fly Dean around the country from here. A lot of political money gets raised in the city. He was born here, he grew up here. This is Dean hometurf.

DFNYC In The News
Tracey Denton Of DFNYC
DFNYC Research And Advocacy Group

Running Mate

People talk about balancing physical geography. I disagree. I think the emphasis should be on human geography. I think Hillary is the obvious choice. Also, the campaign should make it clear it is gunning for Obama for Secretary of State. Both Hillary and Obama are talented superstars who can not run for the top job itself and that is to do with human geography. So we need to flesh it out on the progressive ticket.

Dean-Hillary-Obama Ticket

Strong On Defense

The War on Terror is the same magnitude as the Cold War. That has to be the starting point of the discussion. And that war has to be won. Is there a progressive way of fighting that war? There is. A total spread of democracy is the only real, long term solution. The military option is always on the table as the weapon of last resort, but the conservative militarist ways are self-defeating and wasteful. Instead extending moral and logistical support to indigenous grassroots movements for democracy might be the better way.

Democracy For Nepal, DFN
What's Going On In Nepal
To: DFNYC

The South

The strategy should be to win at least half the states in the South. You have to run a 50-state campaign if you are seriously looking at the White House.

To: The Good White People In The South

Blogalaxy

The Dean 2004 effort was organized around a blog. Next time it will have to be something much more sophisticated, and media rich: a blogalaxy. A superblog.

Core Vision

There has to be a core vision.

The Three Pillars
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DFNYC In The News





People you know and meet regularly show up in the newspaper columns. That makes you feel like an insider. I might have finally arrived!

DFNYC in the News

Submitted by Heather Woodfield on Sat, 12/25/2004 - 9:12am.
NY Observer, October 10, 2005 -"Plutocrats of Democrats Go Bloomberg"
NY Observer, October 10, 2005 -"Return of the WASP? Weld, Dean Hope So"
NY Press, September 28, 2005 -Apparently, they haven't figured out that Meetups are now Linkups and that Heather is a short brunette while Tracey is a tall blond.
The Villager, June 29, 2005
Newsday, June 13, 2005

Best Looking whoever

Nydia Velazquez

Who's New York's most delicious politico? Let's consider the suspects. We'll start with former spinster Alexa Hinton, who got the gang of 51 some favorable ink. Her weapon: long blonde hair, blue eyes and the demeanor of a southern belle bemused by big bad Metropolis. It's too bad she left for a reporting gig down south.

Then there's Kathryn Prael, aide to Congressman Anthony Weiner, who shot up from last place to second in the Democratic Primary. Her statuesque frame, dirty blonde hair and Hepburn eyes gave us an incentive to attend as many campaign events as possible.

We're not exactly sure what the State Superintendent of Banks Diana Taylor actually does at work. Mostly we know her as the taller, trophy girlfriend of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. We recall one bizarre conversation in which we was introduced to the power couple as a reporter "born in 1978" and Taylor replied that she was in college that year.

Tracey Denton is our reason for covering Meetup.com's meet-ups. The short brunette with wiry lips that shape themselves into political jargon and manufactured laughs is a fixture at the group's events. So are hordes of reform-minded single men and women in flannel shirts. Unfortunately, Denton seemed unaware of the online group's reputation for launching more than the Dean campaign. We'll be happy to explain it some night.

Our vote, though, goes to the congresswoman who gets around (her district is in Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan), Nydia Velázquez. She's young, sexy and rocks a red, rebellious short do. And yes, she does look good angry. After we asked her why her office emailed a press release about a political endorsement—a big no no—she refused to speak to us. She hasn't taken our calls or returned our messages. HOT!


Mr. Dean, as the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, uses New York as an A.T.M., of course, but even more directly he has bequeathed us an insurgent political organization in the form of Democracy for New York. That group, an emanation of his unsuccessful Presidential campaign, supports New York candidates of Mr. Dean’s progressive stripe, but so far it has not made much headway in a Democratic Party that is organized along vastly different, often ethnic lines. Recently, Mr. Dean enlisted the prestige of the D.N.C. (such as it is) behind the campaign of Mayoral candidate Fernando Ferrer.

“I’ve heard from varying sources that they are upset that she’s not even getting a slap on the wrist for this,” said Heather Woodfield, a registered Democrat and the director of Democracy for New York City, a group of Dean supporters.

Democracy for America, the organization founded by Howard Dean after his presidential campaign ended last year, has endorsed Norman Siegel for public advocate. “I have not seen this type of heartfelt reaction to a candidate since Howard Dean’s presidential bid,” said Heather Alexa Woodfield, director of the local DFA coalition group, Democracy for NYC.

Meanwhile, Democracy for NYC, a political action committee with ties to Democracy for America, voted to endorse City Council Speaker Gifford Miller.

On The Web
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