I gladly helped in every way I could to get Democrats elected to Congress.

I wanted the Democrats to stop the Bush administration with the power derived from our Constitution, to stand up and be the voice of the majority of Americans.  

I wanted them to restore and protect our Constitution.

I wanted them to stop the environmental rampage that is ruining our children's futures, our health, and our economy.

I wanted them to stop the war in Iraq, stop the profit motive for being there.  

They have all of this and more within their power.

But they have done none of these things.

Howard Dean met with a small group of Democracy Bond holders at YearlyKos in a special meeting before his keynote.  He is looking to get 500,000 grassroots stakeholders in the Democratic Party and begin to displace the influence of corporate investors. He's asked each of us who hold Democracy Bonds to get five others to participate. My personal goal is 500 more Democracy Bond holders from DailyKos. Thank you to the 42 people who have said yes so far.

To win in the South and the West we've got to build our locally-based field organizations on the ground, and that takes a commitment of funds. It's known as "The Fifty-State Strategy".

I'd like to invite you all to invest in a Democracy Bond via my page.

More about what you can do to meet the challenge below the fold:

Over the last two years, tens of thousands of Democrats have invested in rebuilding the Democratic party and implementing the 50-State Strategy. Block by block, and contribution by contribution Democrats around the country have bought Democracy Bonds to build the foundation for Democratic successes in 2006 and beyond.

For some two years now, I have faithfully and automatically contributed a modest sum each month to the Democratic Party's Democracy Bond program.

Today, I told the party to cease the automatic deduction.

What I contributed wasn't huge, but it did amount to a few hundred dollars a year, and I felt, based on the results of the 2006 elections, that it did help the party in its efforts to organize a truly nationwide effort and to run strong candidates in nearly every district.  That strategy paid off when the Democrats took control of the Senate by a slim margin and the House by a sizable one.

Yesterday, however, the party and its leadership lost my support when it abandoned weeks of steadily increasing pressure on the administration to end the war in Iraq and instead voted to give the president all of the money he asked for and with no meaningful benchmarks or timelines....leaving him free to continue a conflict begun based on lies, unwinnable militarily and steadily destroying our nation, our military, our global standing, our freedoms and our liberties.

Democracy bonds are a brilliant from Howard Dean.  They will allow the Democratic party to simultaneously build its grassroots support and become less dependent on corporate contributions.  

Happy Birthday, Howard Dean.

You deserve a giant birthday cake from all of us who want to take our country back! Your courageous run for President in 2004 awakened a spirit in the land that resulted in taking back the Congress in 06. Your work now as DNC Chair will take back the White House in 2008!

As a gesture of thanks to Howard Dean, please consider buying a Democracy Bond at www.Democrats.org. (Hint: birthday congrats will be seen if you make it out for $20.08!) You can contribute on your own or through my page.
http://www.democrats.org/...

Or you can set up your own page.
Either way, you are saying: "I want my country back". From the neo-cons, from the special interests and from those who have distorted our reputation around the world.

Thanks for your contributions.

There have been several diaries today rgarding James Carville's call for DNC Chairman Howard Dean M.D. to step down, (I know nutty). Don't just curse Carville, put your green on the blue:

Send a donation to the DNC for $20.06 and Howard Dean will know why you did it. You can also sign up for a Democracy Bond ($20.06 per month) which is exclusively Dean's plan.

It's a sad commentary on the DINOs who feel a need to self-flagulate by attacking the very person who has saved their political party. I guess these are the "last throes" of a spastic, complicit group of turncoats. All I can say is Buh Bye James and friends. Oh, and can you take Mr. Lieberman with you when you go, thanks everso.

DO IT FOR DEAN!

Joe Conason, one of the most consistently straight-shooting political columnists, gives deserved props to Howard Dean in a short-but-sweet article in Salon (subscription or ad-view required).

Right from the headline--"Howard Dean, vindicated"--Conason lays out the story of how Dean's Big Idea as DNC Chairman poured the foundation for our victories on Tuesday night. Conason also throws us netsroots into the mix of folk deserving of credit:

Despite all the complaints and demands directed at him over the past 18 months, Dean stuck to his principles. He and his supporters in the netroots movement believed that their party needed to rebuild from the ground up in every state, including many where the party existed in name only. These Democrats prefer to think of their party as one of inclusion and unity. They openly disdain the divisive strategies of the Republicans who have so often used racial, regional and cultural differences to polarize voters.

Cross-posted from MyDD, where there are graphs as well.

2006 Longitudinal Study

In a post some months ago, I discussed the Democratic National Committee's finances and how they seemed to have changed under Howard Dean.  At that time, I compared two snapshots in time-- the months of December 2003, and December 2005 (as it turns out, the numbers I used were actually for the respective Novembers).

Well, as I promised lo those many months ago, I have now gone back and looked at the Democratic National Committee's finances over the course of the entire year to date (and included the end of last year too). These come straight from the figures reported on the FEC's website.  Have a look at what I found.

I would like to see the Democrats develop a new method for selecting and supporting candidates for office. The idea is to truly become a grassroots party.  Anyone in the party would be able to run for office no matter how much money they make.  They would only need to demonstrate leadership and intelligence.  

 

The Sunday magazine profile on Mr. Dean has been taken by some here today as an attack on him and on the views he espouses...namely the need to create a strong party network, county by county and state by state and to contest seats nationwide, and not just in a few selected swing states.

We all need to acknowledge that folks like Rahm Emanuel and Charles Schumer have a more immediate focus than Mr. Dean....their job is to win NOW and they want cash wherever they can get it because cash means GOTV and advertising NOW.  

I understand that and I understand that both men look over their shoulder at the MASSIVE cash advantage the GOP has been able to generate this year and in years past, largely because of the ties they have built with big corporations and conservative sugar daddies.

The DNC has a brand spanking new ACTION web site up that
was made possible by the Democracy Bond holders in our
nation.  

www.100actions.com

I received information in an email from
Chairman Dean today on it.

It is going to list 100 concrete things that can be done to
take this country back, starting TODAY, all the way
up to the November elections.

Time to STOP TALKING, and START DOING, though I am
positive some of the steps will be talking to friends and
neighbors.

Everyone please go to this site DAILY, and let get this
party started!

It's just a sense.....a gut feeling, and in writing this I do NOT want to suggest in any way that any of us relax in our efforts to achieve real change in the Fall elections, but there is a confluence of events occurring which tantalizingly hints at the prospects for a genuine and massive power shift.  Let me run down a few of them:

     More than a year ago, markos suggested that people sign up to donate monthly to the Democratic National Committee by credit card.  I did it, $25 a month, and it feels good, really good.

  I wonder if other readers of DailyKos who do this would join me in recommending that EVERY DailyKos reader try this.  

     I heard Howard Dean say that more than 20,000 people are doing this now the DNC calls it "Democracy Bonds.". There is no reason in the world that this number should not QUINTUPLE.  

     Just try it - you'll like it!  As mom used to say, "many hands make light work" -- in union there is strength!  

    The site for setting up this kind of donation is https://www.democrats.org/page/contribute/democracybonds.

About a week ago, the Democratic Party asked folks to share stories about increased local participation in their communities.  You responded.  I wanted to share a few of them with everyone as a follow-up.

Of course, the flip-side to the fifty state strategy is the Democracy Bonds Community. Towards that end, it's also you getting the job done. In order to put organizers on the ground in every state and build a permanent party infrastructure where there hasn't been one for decades, it takes sound financial planning and a sustained commitment of resources. We can't afford to have a boom-and-bust operation that pops up every two or four years in a few key states. We have to build a permanent presence everywhere, and Democracy Bonds make that possible. So, either get your bond today, or start your own personal fundraising page.

Governor Dean knew it was a good idea.  The grassroots and non-traditional media infrastructure of the party bought in immediately.  State Party Chairs were singing its praises and discussing the impact of the program during the one year anniversary celebration of Governor Dean's chairmanship.  And despite the always-anonymous detractors, the importance of the fifty state strategy is quickly becoming conventional wisdom in the traditional media.  Three successive articles over the course of the past seven days highlight the usefulness of the undertaking.

I've thrown down the gauntlet and made a challenge to Democratic Bloggers around the country to raise $5000 in Democracy Bonds. That's just 250 people giving $20 each per month. Here's how you can participate.

If you're not a blogger, then the first thing you can do is send this message to the bloggers you read and ask them to participate. Next, please visit my Democratic Party Fundraising Campaign site and make a $20 per month  Democracy Bond committment. Adjust your contribution up or down depending on your financial situation. Clicking on the thermometer below will take you to my Democratic Party fundraising site.

As someone who has attempted to do this "internet thing" for a bit, I am always taken a-back, actually, I get pretty pissed when I read people like Carol Darr talk about us as extremists.  It's almost as if they think we sit infront of the computer at home or at work with bandanas over our mouths and send messages to our friends by carrier pigeon for fear that our phone conversations about the local DFA meetup might be tapped.

One of the greatest blessings for any campaign staffer that "does internet" (that isn't some remotely based consultant) is our ability to get our hands dirty in the field ... meeting and talking with you extremists on a daily basis.  It was great with Jeff Seemann, a whole lot of fun with Chuck Pennacchio, inspiring with Sherrod Brown and Paul Hackett, and continues to provide my greatest moments of joy at the DNC.  

That's why Carol Darr and those of like-mind anger me so, cause I've met a good number of you ... and I'd like to introduce them.