A short time ago I arrived back home from a five hour drive to hear Governor Howard Dean.
It was worth the drive. There were dollars raised for the state party federal account. There were numerous people there, and a diverse crowd. It was a good speech, which I have a portion of on audio tape. I got the opportunity to speak with Governor Dean for just a few moments. It was above 40 degrees and no snow or ice on the Indiana side of the south Chicago suburbs, a good night. Oh, and no Loyalty Oath necessary. Governor Dean even joked about Bush’s hand picked crowds.
There were war protesters lining the highway at the entrance of the venue, and they were getting positive response from passersby.
I used to be active on a blog, and I was pushing for a Dean DNC Chairmanship. I used to tell them, I supported Governor Dean because of the scream, not in spite of it. I still feel that way, and It’s Time to take our Country Back. We must do this.
Barry Welsh IN6th District Democratic Congressional Candidate.
But Barry, what did he have to say?
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HOBART (Northwest Indiana Times) — Howard Dean thinks Indiana is ready to be a “blue” state. After all, Hoosiers put a Democrat in the governor’s mansion for 16 years, he noted.
“This is not a Republican state,” Dean emphasized to the crowd.
Indiana Democratic Party Chairman Dan Parker introduced Dean and said since Republican Mitch Daniels has been governor, Indiana has lost thousands of jobs with only Louisiana and Mississippi lagging behind it in job growth.
Taking a lesson from an old shampoo commercial, Dean recommended a simple strategy for the party to take back the Indiana statehouse and later the White House.
Democrats should to tell five friends about their candidate, and then their friend’s will tell five friends, and so on.
Local Democratic leaders were thrilled to have the national chairman here. Dean’s visit is part of his strategy to embrace all 50 states as the party’s national chairman.
Lake County Democratic Chairman Rudy Clay said Dean’s visit gave the county organization respect.
● Dean’s message fires up area Democrats
“But I will not let myself be reduced to silence.”
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There was no talk of filibuster in the speech, nor in individual conversation after the main event. There were shouts for filibuster. The biggest cheer of the night came from a promise to create Union Construction jobs with prevailing wage. There was a tease about Senator Bayh. National Healthcare, and moral values were both prominent in his talk.
A short time ago I arrived back home from a five hour drive to hear Governor Howard Dean.
I assume Barry fell asleep behind the keyboard just after pressing the SUBMIT key …
By Bill Dolan of Northwest Indiana Times
Few Democratic Party national figures have visited Northwest Indiana since Sen. Robert F. Kennedy bellied up to Hammond’s Yankee bar in 1968 during his doomed presidential campaign.
Howard Dean, Democratic National Committee chairman, will end that dry spell with a rally at 6 p.m. Thursday at Avalon Manor, 3550 E. U.S. 30, Hobart.
Admission is a $50 contribution to the state and county party. Dean also will be at a smaller reception at 5 p.m. for supporters at the $500 level or higher.
“It shows the national party is giving not only the state of Indiana, but the Lake County Democratic Party some respect,” Rudy Clay, county Democratic chairman, said Tuesday.
Clay said Dean’s visit also is an acknowledgement U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Indiana, is a front-runner in the 2008 presidential race.
Dan Parker, chairman of the state party, agrees. “We are excited he is coming to Northwest Indiana, the base of the Democratic Party in Indiana,” Parker said. “I think this is what Lake County and Northwest Indiana needs from the Democratic Party’s perspective, a commitment to the area that has always delivered for statewide Democratic candidates and the recognition that their work doesn’t go unnoticed.”
This industrial region has been a party stronghold since the Depression era, although statewide Republican candidates regularly carry the state.
Vermont Gov. Dean tapped the Internet’s organizing and fund-raising potential to briefly seize front-runner status in the 2004 Democratic presidential campaign before John Kerry emerged as the party’s eventual choice to lose to President George W. Bush.
The party named Dean national chairman last year.
Carolyn McCrady, of the Northwest Indiana Coalition Against the Iraq War, said the group will demonstrate at 4:30 p.m. outside the hall “not against the Democrats, but to impress them of the majority antiwar sentiment.” Dean has been an outspoken critic of the Iraq war.
Parker said Dean is here “to not only energize Democrats, but also to get the message out of how Washington needs to change.”
“But I will not let myself be reduced to silence.”
▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
LOL You are right. I fell asleep shortly after posting this.
Barry, I do not care who will carry the word out there for us. I contend that when they start to speak, ppl will listen. We all want our country back! That is a given, at least what I have been reading and for me personally, too. I do think it is up to the ppl to select the one who they want as their president. Just never forget this. It should not ever be forgotten and not just a fix job. I like Dean. I always did;however, I do not want any one man to be selected before hand as the one who will win without our input in this. Carry this to the leadership if you will. That seems to be the problem right now, the party seems to get the idea they know best for what should be good for us. I have to beg their pardon. Maybe I am wrong on my feelings here, but if they took this message to the ppl they will respond to this message. I think we, for right now, are still able to select and vote for the one we want…this will not be around for long tho. Oh and BTW, Barry, tell the leadership, we out here in the land of the free for now, want fire in the belly! GET that across to them and I really mean it. They really have to stand up for us and speak from their hearts and not the politics of the land. We want someone who will speak for us all not just a select few!
I will try and get that message out Brenda, thank you!