''We are the establishment now!'' party for Dean DNC Seattle Coronation

Special Correspondent Kurt Zumdieck files this report: "The Seattle celebration of Dean's coronation as DNC Chair, at the Highway 99 Blues Club on Saturday night, had a good turnout of the Doctor's finest and most fanatical. The dungeon-like setting of the club quickly proved ironic as the first huzzah was raised; "We are the establishment now!", to which I quickly retorted, " What the hell are we gonna do now." The raffle afterwards for Dean memorabilia (bumper stickers) barely interrupted the mingling, but Mary Robinson credentialed all of the Deaniacs with a pictured tag that read "The Chair is in". It was the must-have of the party and got some favorable nods from patrons at the bar. One gal said she had met our Man and "Dean was cool." Some familiar faces made the scene, like Dwight Pelz, who made an early appearence, and the defeated, but not down Greg Rodriguez, who seemed to be relieved to be able to return to family life after his run for State party chair. He promised to help work on a state-wide initiative (which I have been promising for so long) to bring about real voting reform, when he got his legs back underneath him. Working the crowd with my urgent spiel about voting reform, and how I wanted to make a direct appeal to Dean himself, with an action plan for voting reform initiatives in 20 swing states, was met with a mix of bemusement and "yeah, buts....". Just as the warm-up act got off the stage did our folks begin to leave. When I cut out at nine, four of the younger crowd had begun to cut the rug. The last gaggle of Deaniacs were now "with the band."