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DNC Chairman Howard Dean
Howard Dean has transformed the vision of the Democratic Party, and through his leadership as the Chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) he will update the local party structures, change the way we run elections, and bring us victory in 2006 and 2008. We are going to take our country back from the Republican Party and reestablish a nation of liberty, justice and prosperity that is a government of the people, by the people and for the people. This page and the links are a collection of speeches, op-ed articles, and interviews with Howard Dean that highlight his vision for the party, and his plans for a Democratic victory. Chairman Howard Dean was the keynote speaker at the California Democratic Convention dinner on April 16 in Los Angeles. It was a speech that clearly laid out his goals for the Democratic Party and the methods to achieve them. After that speech, many long time Democrats, most of whom were active for John Kerry in the 2004 Primaries or maybe were just in the "anybody but Dean" camp, came up to me and said "we were wrong about Howard Dean." They finally got it. He inspired them. I hope that his speech inspires you. (You can also get streaming video or audio from the California Democratic Party website. The crowd grew feistier still during a dinner speech by Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean, who echoed an angry complaint by the state's teachers that Schwarzenegger had reneged on a promise to deliver $2 billion in unanticipated funds to public schools. "We will say no to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's attempt to take $2 billion out of the education budget," Dean said to cheers. "Governor, keep your promise to the children of California and fund public schools. We don't need any more corrupt Republicans in office in this country." "Since Election Day, there has been a lot of predictable moaning and groaning about the future of the Democratic Party. Particularly predictable are the suggestions that we need to be more like Republicans in order to win. Democrats need to learn by our previous mistakes—we have tried being "Republican-lite" and it does not work. It is a mistake to run away from the things we believe and I think we can win in the so-called Republican states by being real Democrats." Howard Dean wants to remake the Democratic Party. Perhaps he already has, to some degree. The physician, former governor of Vermont and 2004 presidential candidate made waves during last year's primary season when he rewrote the book on how to run for president, using the Internet for unprecedented grassroots funding and effective two-way communication with his supporters. Grassroots organization really has to be based on two-way communication. In our presidential campaign we started with no money, no base, but a great number of enthusiastic grassroots activists. We ceded decision-making power to local folks and let them run things in their areas as they saw fit. This turns out to have been our single most important innovation, and it is the only one that wasn't copied by any of the other campaigns, either Democratic or Republican. Everything else, the small donor programs, the house parties, the interactive web sites and organizing was used by others. The reason that the most important piece wasn't copied is because it requires a real change in thinking by people who run for office and their consultants, not just adopting new techniques or technology. On Saturday [February 12, 2005], I was honored when your representatives on the Democratic National Committee elected me Chairman. And I can't wait to get started. But when they voted, it wasn't about me -- they were voting for a plan for the future of our party. That plan came from people like you -- from conversations I had with ordinary Democrats across the country. When those 447 people voted in Washington this weekend, they united around that plan. |
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Many
of us began our political activism during the 2004 Primary Campaign, inspired by
Howard Dean. For others of us it was a reawakening of an activist past that had
gone dormant because of cynicism or complacency. Still others have
consistently been active Democrats, election after election, and are tired of
sweeping up after the elephants and want a new inspiration for the party.