"Howard Speaks, I Listen"

"I went to hear Howard Dean speak last night here at Stanford, and he didn't disappoint. Even though this was part of a speaker series, in a sitdown auditorium with a theoretically neutral audience, and with no election in sight, it felt more than a bit like a campaign event. He is clearly thinking a great deal about whether to pursue the DNC chairmanship or reserve himself to run in '08. At one point he explicitly mentioned that taking on the former would preclude the latter. And when specifically asked whether he intended to make a bid for DNC chair, he ruminated on the fact that it's hard to say whether reform is better accomplished from the inside or the outside. He maintained that the DNC is rotten with the culture of losing, and that he isn't sure but that he'd rather continue with the grassroots angle that Democracy for America affords. But he also recognizes the potential power of transforming and reforming the Party from within."-from the report on Political Strategy. Update: "Greeted by a standing ovation, Dean, who ran for the Democratic nomination for the presidency, began his remarks by posing the question, “Where do we go from here?” He said Democrats should be optimistic about the road ahead.While Dean praised Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry for running a clean campaign, he criticized the Democrats for mimicking the Republican Party.Democrats are “bad at messaging” their moral values, which Dean said are rooted in “a sense of obligation to each other.” He advocated speaking about charged issues on Democratic terms. “Instead of fighting about gay marriage, what we ought to be fighting about is that every single American has the same rights as every other American,” he said. “We don’t have to debate on their terms, let’s debate them on our terms.”-from the Stanford Daily article, "Dean: DNC must rebound, refocus." Update: From Burlington, Vermont, Channel 5, WPTZ says, "Dean said he would be making a speech next week where he will talk more about the possibility of chairing the Democratic National Party. Members of the DNC will elect a new chair in January. Newsweek endorses him, saying Dean has the clarity of conviction and the passion that voters hunger for even if they don't always agree with him."