''Dean at the DNC Meeting''

From a blogger in Helena, Montana today via the Western Democrat: "Howard Dean arrived after lunch. The crowd greeted him warmly. A fair number of non-DNC people filled the room.
He talked about his travel schedule--leaving me wondering how he can look and sound so fresh. Not only did he come to speak in Montana...he's hanging around to go on a sight-seeing boat trip to the Gates of the Mountains with us. Dean reiterated that he expects the state parties to provide a few things...and soon. He has asked state parties to put together lists of home emails for all Dem party elected officials, from governors on down to precinct people. The idea is that the list can be used to send out messages so everyone can be on the same page with the same talking points. He also asked state parties to get together with elected officials to put together documents describing what issues are best to run on for each state. At the DNC meeting in Phoenix in September, they'll be combined, and then things will be subtracted from the platform so it's clear what the 3-4 things are that all Democrats can run on. He doesn't want everyone to run on exactly the same message--he says it must be tailored for specific locality--but that we all agree on principles. He went on to say that it must be succinct and not a laundry list.
He praised the state party efforts, noting that the first states are hiring people now and that 13 have been funded. The DNC will train them and pay the new hires, although they're chosen by the states. In return, the states must work to build strong organizations at the county and precinct level. He says that he trusts the state parties to do what works in their states; the DNC will make sure they have the training and resources necessary. "We don't believe in a cookie-cutter operation." He hit a lot of familiar themes, saying we will be running on fiscal responsibility and small government. (Small government in this case means making your own private decisions instead of letting Tom Delay make them.) Local communities should run local schools, not the federal government. He mentioned that the Bush administration, not content with going after Social Security, is now after private pensions. "That money doesn't belong to United Airlines; it belongs to the workers who contracted to work for it." He wants to make pensions portable.

He repeated his familiar line about the US being the last industrialized nation without health insurance for all. On national defense, he said the Democrats have to convince Americans that we're "tough enough to pull the trigger." (Note: that makes me cringe, but he's right.) He said that the current administration has sent 135,000 troops to Iraq while doing nothing about Iran and Korea and that they "can't tell the difference between a threat and a nuisance."
He wants to turn the DNC into looking outward, not inward. He said that too many resources were devoted to reaching out to people already in the party and that we need to do outreach to those who aren't in the party. Chris Owen from the AFL-CIO is heading up a new outreach program concentrating on African-Americans, Latinos, and women. Dean said we are not going to show up in African-American communities four weeks before the election; we're going to show up now. Since values are a hot topic, Dean reiterated Democratic values: no child goes to be hungry, an education system with opportunity for all, not leaving debt to your children, treating everyone with dignity, caring for the poor. He quoted Jim Wallis as saying "the Bible mentions caring for the poor 3,000 times; it doesn't mention gay marriage at all."
He said that as he travels, he makes himself available for small press operations, such as constituency papers and weeklies. All of this went down well with the DNC members. He seems really well liked by the crowd, which is interesting as many of these folks were not initially happy about him winning the chairmanship."