Burnt Orange Report

Most of Katy's staff were Dean people. I'm sure they had their hand in getting that endorsement, if they weren't happy with it, then maybe ask them.

As for Van Os, what did the state party do for the campaign, what did anyone do for the campaign? But you know what, he was going to lose just the same as the other statewide candidates, but he got people engaged at the local level, even if they knew he was going to lose. Think of it was keeping your seeds up to date as you wait for the right soil in which to grow.

John Courage ran against Lamar Smith in 2002. Most of us knew he wasn't going to win, but you know what, for us out in the Hill Country, it was the first time in YEARS that there was even a credible candidate who cared, and it sparked people like me to get more involved and attached to Democratic politics. And now, those very Hill Country counties, as Republican as they are, are had some of the highest Democratic turnout growth rates and are more hopeful and organized. Partisans can only go so long waiting for the right time. We need things to do in the meantime.

DFA ran Ads in Morrison's race and gave him money and credibility to get started. He is now running against DeLay for 2006 and will have a better shot at either keeping DeLay busy and worried or even beat him.

Walker? Who knows. She won, I'm not worried about it. I'm sure lots of people endorsed her just because and it pads the win ratio. In that sense, DFA was being politically smart like other "groups". You have to choose what angle you want to criticize then, useless endorsements or raining on DFA.

If Kelly White or Mark Strama wanted an endorsement, they could have sought it out, it's not like DFA had the time to seek out 1000s of local races. Besides, we had a coordinated campaign here and Dean people were funneled into that race anyways, but Austin is an organized anomoly.

Don't forget the fall grassroots trainings that DFA sponsored. People that come to the Austin one from across the country actually wrote back to Democracy for Texas people thanking us because they went on to use that training for other races they were working on and won in other areas. It's also about building up training and candidates and spreading knowledge for future elections, and we won't see that right away.

In addition, do you see a Lieberman army anywhere, doing anything for anyone? What happened to Kerry and Edwards e-mail lists? We get a not once a month about "co-sponsoring" some measure that Kerry is working on in the Senate, not sure what that does... I think it's partly preserving a community, and network of activists, even if you don't see it in a press release.

You seem to have high expections for DFA, like it should transition from a presidential campaign to a well oiled Emily's list in 6 months.

Ok, well I spoke with Katy's campaign manager on this issue, and he told me that DFA sent out the email featuring Katy, posted it on the DFA website, but that was it. It raised a couple of hundred dollars, but nothing very significant.

The campaign raised several thousand dollars by looking up Texas Dean donors and sending them a seperate fundraising letter, but had they not been pro-active on that, Dean's endorsement would have had little effect.

They were happy with the endorsement, sure. But I don't think that Dean really did all that much for the campaign.

Katy's campaign said that they sought out DFT for assistance, but without any luck. I don't expect DFA to turn into Emily's List within one cycle. But I think that my requests are rather simple, and don't require an Emily's List type structure to implement... 1) target races effectively and 2) actually do something for the races that you target.

On those two tests, DFA failed on 3/4 races they targeted in Texas in the 2004 in my opinion (Morrison being the exception).

DFA won either 5 or 6 races in KY out of the 12 endorsed.

I want to know where the $50 million went in the Pres campaign. With all that money and all those vols how did he perform so badly in IA, NH,WI etc.....

Why is Dean always labeled as a fantastic organizer? Clearly his campaign was a tremendous netroots organizer and brought alot of people nationwide into the fold, myself included, but how does that help us win a sherrifs race in Tulsa, or a Congressional campaign in New York. He won the moveon.org election but got creamed on the ground.

I just don't see his appeal as the mechanic of our Party?

Deanics out there please explain to me what he brings to the table outside of netroots fundraising and red meat message delivery? I ask this with all sincerity.

The questions that the author asks regarding both Frost and Dean are excellent. Both men would seem to have some weaknesses. It will be interesting to see if the Frost and Dean teams provide responses to these queries. It's too bad we couldn't have somebody like Virginia Governor Mark Warner as DNC chairman. However, he hopefully will either run for the Senate or President.

First, I think I was the only Deaniac on Katy's campaign. It was I who pushed the staff and supporters to seek the Dean endorsement. I sold the idea as a fundraising approach, not as a field, political or other benefit for the campaign. We lobbied the Dean folks hard. What won it for us though was Katy. Her established dedication to environmental issues put us over the top. We were the only Texas legislative candidate Dean picked. And as with other high-power endorsements Katy received, such as Don Henley, we used it for money only. The folks of our district were not Dean supporters and our strategy of peeling off Republican voters didn't include Howard Dean, for obvious reasons. But as Byron explained, we used the endorsement to raise money. If you judge Howard Dean for his endorsements, you can't look to who won or lost, you have to look at whether Howard Dean helped each of the endorsed candidates. In Katy's case, he allowed Katy to raise upwards of $10,000. And Dean's Texas supporters came through for Katy in a personal way too. Most of our Dean contribution envelopes came back with personal notes from Deaniacs all over Texas. Some would explained that their money to Katy was their attempt at furthering Dean's goals for America. Others would write how Dean changed their political perspective forever and that they hoped Katy would carry the Dean torch in the Texas House. I eventually had to keep the Dean notes away from Katy and our Finance Director because they'd cry reading stories from Texas Deaniacs. One woman wrote that she was a senior citizen working two jobs to support her ill husband and that her future wasn't hopeful, but that Howard Dean had changed her life. I can't remember, but I think she sent Katy $25. Byron and Karl, the simple point I'd like to make is that you shouldn't be looking at the win or loss of endorsements. Martin Frost endorsed Katy's campaign, hell Frost and Katy shared campaign district ground, a big chunk of Irving. Martin, on every turn, tried to help Katy. He invited her to ALL of his big money fundraisers. He encouraged her to solicit contributions AT these events. That's a great American and a team player Democrat. Dean did the same with his endorsements. Byron, if you are going say Dean didn't come through for Katy. You have to say Martin didn't come through for Katy either. That's simply doesn't make any sense. Let's instead judge Howard Dean and the other DNC Chair candidates on what their plans are for the Party, their potential for success and their leadership style.

Count Blah,

"Clearly his campaign was a tremendous netroots organizer and brought alot of people nationwide into the fold, myself included"

I think this is the crux of the matter. He inspired people to get involved; to vote, to donate, to volunteer or even to run. He brought a lot of new blood into the democratic fold. In my opinion, he was the first candidate to stand up and criticize Bush and his decisions. The rest followed suit and we got some good debate going, but Dean started it.

"how does that help us win a sherrifs race in Tulsa, or a Congressional campaign in New York."

The higher a turnout for a party's lead candidate (dem or repub) the more that party's "down-ticket" candidates are helped. Dean (and his organization) undeniably boosted registration and turnout across the country. That helped any/all dem. candidate wherever they were.

What do I want from the leaders of the Democrats/DNC?

1) Someone who is not afraid to stand up and criticize the repub. party (and this current administration) when they are wrong (which is about 95% of the time). Dean did that and will continue to do that.

Coming right out and saying no to the war and the way it was being handled wasn't exactly "red meat" during the primaries. The rest of the field (ok, maybe not Kucinich!) was walking around on eggshells afraid of being labelled "unpatriotic" and only found their voice when they saw that Dean's candor was actually popular.

2) Someone who is going to bring fresh blood and new ideas to the table. Dean certainly did/will do that.

3) 50 state strategy. Yes! You may not win them all, but by gosh, you got to have someone running. A race should never go uncontested. That doesnt mean you should pour resources into a race that you are very likely to lose, but you still have to have someone run.

4) Real grassroots. I have been very impressed that Dean has walked the walk about "you have the power", rebuilding the party from the ground up, etc. DFA has gone out and done the training seminar, encourages people to get involved, to run for local office, etc. What other national Dem. politician has done that? None that I am aware of.

I went to NH as one of the Texas rangers volunteers. What I saw there (and from what I heard about Iowa) made me think that the Dean campaign actually needed a bit more "top down" organization and direction, so yes, there were mistakes and problems. I am not one to deify Howard Dean. But if someone asked me to name some politicians who I honestly respect, he would be at the top of the (very, very short) list.