Do you miss Van Jones?

The last time I saw Van Jones speak was in Washington DC early on inauguration day, Jan. 20, 2009, and the world was going to be all right with him in the White House as the "Green Jobs" czar. We remember how the far right hated the very idea of the black lefty firebrand from Oakland with some authority. Glenn Beck raged, and in not too long a time Van Jones was out. It was one of my early disappointments with the Obama era. How could this happen?

So it was good on Friday to have Van Jones giving the post-breakfast keynote at Netroots Nation, the DailyKos-sponsored bloggers' convention. Bittersweet to hear him say, "In the last two years all my dreams came true, and my nightmares, too."

You can see the whole speech at this link from Netroots Nation.

Keep on watching into his interview done by Ari Melber of The Nation, who asked Van Jones whether Big Ed Schultz had been correct in his fierce speech the night before, when he insinuated there was a "sissy room" in the White House. "This is harder than it looks," Jones said of life in the White House. It's one thing to perform strongly in an election campaign, and another much more difficult thing to have won and then have to govern and legislate and face "a toxic and hostile media environment."

Jones also said that what we're dealing with now is "a ferocious backlash." Yet he tries to keep his sunny personality in good order and urges us to be more beautiful, keep the hope alive. "You have the power to do it."

He was introduced in a recorded video statement by Howard Dean. "Our job," Dean said, "is to keep their feet to the fire in Washington."

To quote Van Jones (from a different context), "This is harder than it looks."

Two very bad months coming for John McCain

This doctor and former governor of Vermont came on the stage just now
and said: "My name is Howard Dean, I'm the chair of the DNC, and I know how many
houses I have."

On the train en route to Invesco Field I met an Obama advance man from a western state, and he said that John McCain was about to start "the worst two months of his life."

Howard Dean just confirmed that.

Sent from my iPhone

Howard Dean raising funds on the Beach

Howard Dean meets with South Florida Democrats, including our own Seth Sklarey (the beard).

Fundraisers open to news media. That was a footnote to the Barack Obama campaign soon after he won the (presumptive) nomination … when was it? – months ago. No, wait. It was only two weeks ago. Seems a long time, doesn’t it.

One of the changes announced as Obama took the reins was to take the wraps off fundraisers. So tonight I was there blogging along with a bunch of TV cameras at Gemma on Lincoln Road in Miami Beach. I just now watched the 11 p.m. news on CBS 4, and they blasted out a few sentences of Howard Dean’s pep talk to a throng of mostly youngish Obama people. It seems that opening up to news media doesn’t include a good sound feed, so it was quite over-modulated. (Technical talk.) They broadcast it anyway.

For those who saw the TV report and wondered what happened, here’s the skinny:

• Campaigns merging. No more separate DNC and Obama campaign. “The Obama campaign is a delight to work with,” DNC Chairman Howard Dean said, and the merger will be complete in a few days.
• No Money from PACS. “This is a real change” for the DNC. Your donations are ever more essential.
• Voter File. “The more we use it the better it gets.” Get out there and knock on doors and call voters and find out what moves them. Everyone should sign up for the campaign’s neighborhood volunteer program and contact at least 25 neighbors. Then do it three or four more times. The internet is great, but “personal connections trump everything.”
• Dean on our Congressional candidates. The three of them -- Joe Garcia, Raul Martinez and Annette Taddeo -- will win on a big Obama victory. And by the way, watch this space for news of who’s getting endorsed by organized labor and who’s getting Red to Blue. This will be hot news, and good news.
• The new president (Obama) will have two main jobs. (1) “Heal America” and end “divisive politics.” (2) And restore America’s moral authority so that we can help warring nations find solutions to their conflicts. Somehow, I guess, the president will also end the war, fix the environment, save the economy and deal with health care, education, energy, steroids in sports and double-parking.

We help take up slack on John McCain

A think piece in Tuesday’s NY Times helped me understand the flurry of activity we’ve had in the last few days chasing John McCain in Miami and Tampa: We’re part of a smart strategy. Hey, I like it. Better than sitting around waiting for something to happen in two or three months when our nominee finally emerges.

The headline told the story: “Its candidates otherwise engaged, Democratic Party goes after McCain.”

Down in the detail you’ll learn that while Clinton and Obama have lots of money to spend on campaign ads, the Democratic Party is running close to empty – but spending that anyway on ads highlighting McCain’s vulnerability.

A quote from Howard Dean:

Speaking with reporters on Monday, the Democratic National Committee chairman, Howard Dean, expressed urgency when he described deciding to run a party-sponsored advertisement against Mr. McCain. “I said look, it is time for us to get this done,” he said.

This explains why the DNC is asking for donations. Time to give a few bucks.

UPDATE: And here's a link to a view of the ad -- and a convenient place to donate.

So while the national Democratic Party is buying ad time, the Florida Democratic Party has leaped into action with a campaign to birddog McCain in the Sunshine state. I was part of a gang of about 20 Democratic activists who attracted a line of TV cameras Sunday afternoon outside the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, where McCain was with donors.

And we weren’t just standing there: we had signs and a 10-foot-tall mockup of “Economics for Dummies” – a great visual – to taunt McCain for admitting that economics is not his strong suit. (Not to mention geography, since he confuses Iran and Iraq.)

Congratulations to county party Chair Bret Berlin and Alejandro Miyar of the Florida Demcocratic Party for orchestrating this strong demo. Miyar was dashing off to Tampa for today’s McCain appearance on the topic of health care.

Meanwhile, those who turned on the Miami TV news Sunday evening saw reports about McCain that included decent coverage of our anti-McCain demos. Here’s a link to one on Channel 10.

And here's one on CBS4, with a fine quote from Shirley Alexiou, a super activist and vice president of the Democrats of South Dade Club:

"I don't want a president that doesn't know much about the economy."

I hope they're doing as well today over in Tampa, where in fact I know there are a lot of smart and active Democrats.

Best line at FDP convention goes to Dan Gelber

My convention was fun and interesting. Not like my first, two years ago, when Howard Dean, John Edwards, Barack Obama, Mark Warner and Tom Vilsack were strong orators, stirring the crowd and displaying the strength that the Democrats would present for the 2008 election. It was still only 2005 then, but it was already clear how badly the Republicans were leading this beloved country, and what an opportunity it was for us in the ’06 midterms and the ’08 presidential elections.

I made up my mind then as to who was the best presidential candidate. This blog, however, is neutral, and you have to know me personally to see whose button is on my shirt. I haven’t changed my mind. I’m laying this out so the reader will understand why I’m not upset that the Democratic candidates are staying away from Florida. I don’t need any more information to make up my mind. Those who gnash their teeth about the supposed lack of attention paid to Florida are wasting their dental enamel. Florida will NOT be ignored. Its needs WILL be met. Even if the candidates stay away right up until November 2008, Florida is too important to be left out of the federal budget or limelight. Squealing and wailing is, to me, a sign of insecurity.

The Florida delegation at the Denver nominating convention will be seated, one way or another, and their votes and our votes in the primary will count. I confess to feeling annoyed when the media report that the Florida primary will all be in vain, or votes won’t count, or even that they won’t be counted.

Sorry, this is a Rovian conspiracy to keep Democrats from voting. The Republicans always are trying to get Democrats to stay away, and this entire affair has been a Karlish trick to drive down Democratic participation in the Jan. 29 election. For a while, they were trying to slip some wild property tax change through as a referendum, but now it looks as if they have screwed it up too badly for that to happen. We’ll know for certain about this by Monday night, when the legislature must pass something to get it on the ballot by Jan. 29.

That area (the budget and taxation) needs more careful consideration than something slammed together behind closed doors and presented at the deadline – though that’s the way the Jebbian party operated for eight years, so we must be careful that it doesn’t happen again.

So my appeal goes like this: Please, stop suing others in the Democratic Party. Please, stop shooting ourselves in the foot. Instead, be united as Democrats. Concentrate our fire on Republicans.

A little ridicule is good. Here I’m taking Dan Gelber as my model, and I see that his raking comments at the convention were picked up by the media. Let the Republican candidates campaign in Florida as much as they like, the leader of the state House minority Democrats said.

“The truth is, the Republicans are here almost in excess,” the Orlando Sentinel quoted him as saying in his Saturday speech. “You see these Republican candidates everywhere. And the more you hear about them and see them, the less you like them.”

The Miami Herald picked out a different line from Gelber’s speech: “All they do is trash our candidates and pander to their base,” he was quoted as saying. “I think we should keep them in the state of Florida as much as possible.”

The Herald also opined that the posters distributed for Gelber's speech were “deliberately ambiguous” in that they said he was running “for Senate” without saying exactly that he is running for the state Senate. Wow, it could also mean the U.S. Senate, and the bumbler incumbent, Mel Martinez, will be up in 2010.

The plot thickens. And lengthens.

As we speculate on that, let’s follow Karen Thurman’s admonition. Concentrate on building the grass roots, the state party chair said.

And we have the wisdom of our own Miami-Dade County veteran, Maria Roberts: “I feel very positive about building the Democratic Party, and that’s what this convention is all about,” the Herald quoted her as saying.

To that end, the netroots gang showed up 60 strong for a series of workships Saturday afternoon on how to do a better blog, a better website, how to organize an on-line community, how to be a candidate with an on-line presence. We're at the heart of the Florida Democratic Party now, and we need to continue getting ready to we can pounce into action when the nominee becomes known -- February, shall we say?

UPDATE: This post vaulted to the front page of the Florida Politics blog Monday morning. Check it out at this link. And read on there, too. Florida Politics performs a valuable service in summarizing what's happening, what's reported, in our political scene.

EVEN MORE: The Netroots blog has more detail here on the Netroots workshops. A lot of good information was transmitted, and we could watch in awe as the tech experts made those laptops work.

Day One of Yearly Kos (ignore O'Reilly)

I am not going to let Bill O’Reilly set the frame for the YearlyKos. No, his vile attack on DailyKos, our wholesome Internet forum, shall not overwhelm the positive and uplifting message that emerged on the first day of the convention in Chicago.

The reader may deduce that my plan to lay out a straightforward report on Howard Dean’s inspiring keynote speech was stopped in its tracks by the misfortune of having Fox News erupt on my hotel-room TV as I was preparing to write.

It’s true that it was hard to ignore O’Reilly’s hectoring of Sen. Chris Dodd. The TV instigator (moderator not the appropriate word) demanded that Dodd condemn a stupid year-old cartoon from DailyKos depicting Joe Liebermann kneeling before King George’s fly, and while I was trying to marshal my thoughts, their argument boiled back and forth in my hearing. Well, why doesn’t he call just it a putative blow job? I wondered.

Not to be deterred, I plunged ahead searching my database for the notes feverishly taken from the fast-taking Howard Dean. But I had to struggle to ignore bloviating from “comic” Dennis Miller, whom O’Reilly called in to bolster his dislike of the Daily and YearlyKos (“There are hookers who put an embargo on that convention,” Miller postulated). O’Reilly himself said there is hate -- “Maybe even murder” -- on the left wing of the Internet. It was nigh impossible to keep to my mission of portraying the event in its natural colors and tones.

In fact, sad to say, I could not stay focused on a reasonable reportage mission when so much hatred of the event I’m covering was blasting into my eyes and ears.

Solution: change the channel. Now the Braves and Astros are in extra innings, and life is good again. The American pastime wins, and Bill O’Reilly can take his hatred into the soundproof chamber on the far side of the remote control. At home, thank goodness, I do not receive O’Reilly or Fox Cable News on my primitive TV. All the right-wing hating that I can tolerate is on talk radio. Here in a hotel room I am tempted by the wider selection on the cable. At home, never.

But, back to the Howard Dean speech. Let me count the standing ovations: a lot! Here was a happy crowd of 1,400 Americans (actually, I also met a Croatian and a Frenchman on Thursday among the attendees), a generally well-educated and hard-working collection of saints … and, no doubt, some sinners, too.

The Democratic national chairman said some new stuff, as far as I can tell, and the crowd responded with applause as he reaffirmed the 50-state strategy and went on to announce a “prospective policy” of searching through election laws and practices everywhere so that potential problems will be known months ahead of election time.

As to the Internet, Howard Dean has a different view from the “fair and balanced” views of Fox News’ guru.

“It has re-democratized America,” Dean said. “There has been a shift in power.”

He said the YouTube debate was “sensational” in giving ordinary people a chance to question presidential candidates. “What a surprise the Republicans don’t want to do it,” he said. He recalled YouTube’s contribution to the 2006 election result, saying the Democrats would not have a Senate majority without what YouTube did.

The advent of the Internet, he said, had changed much in politics. Where politicians used to announce policy and await reaction, now “we listen to you before we start talking. … It means real two-way campaigns so the views of Americans have influence on the candidates.”

“It is an extraordinary evolution,” he said. “It means politicians have to acknowledge that power is loaned to us. We don’t own the power, and we need to earn the power every two years.”

Dean said every election now has to be about young voters, because they are increasingly voting Democratic, and that habit must be continued. He said surveys show that young voters from all ethnic groups vote at about the same rate, meaning that their civic habits are coinciding, and they accept the same vision of America.

Howard Dean wows Miami Dems

Howard Dean and Joe Garcia

Who would have thought that Tuesday noon was a great time to draw Democrats out of their dens? Just bring Howard Dean to Miami, announce a $20 lunch on Tuesday May 1 to meet him, and presto – 200 people turn out to clap and yell.

We are going to have some fun on the way to the summit of electoral success. This fine party was held at Parrot Jungle, in an amphitheater where people usually see trained birds perform. It got off to a cute start with a parrot using its beak to pull the halyard and raise the Stars and Stripes up a 5-foot pole for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Gov. Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, told the crowd he’d come to Miami partly to draw Cuban-Americans back home to the Democratic Party, though his main message was related to the day’s demonstrations for comprehensive immigration reform.

Republicans scapegoat immigrants and blame them for all sorts of problems, he said, while the Democratic program stresses secure borders and enforcing the law. It’s impossible to round up 12 million people, he said, so Democrats favor giving honest immigrants a chance to get in line, pay a fine and earn citizenship – the kind of deal that 78 percent of Americans back in polls. Law-breakers would be deported.

“It’s not amnesty,” he said, but rather “earned legalization.”

Gov. Dean applauded Florida Gov. Charlie Crist’s plan to restore felons’ civil rights as a way to “make them more responsible people.”

The event included honors for two of the most veteran members of the Democratic Executive Committee of Miami-Dade County, Ginger Grossman and Eufaula Frazier, who received congratulations from the national chair as well as strong applause from the audience.

DEC Chairman Joe Garcia shared officiating with Executive Director John Hornbuckle and BJ Chiszar, whose position as a Florida field director reflects Howard Dean’s 50-state strategy of putting paid staff in as many places as possible.

UPDATE

The Miami Herald's Beth Reinhard attended and put this post up on the Naked Politics blog.

It’s a Howard Dean Tuesday

Democratic power and immigration are the two themes of the Democratic Party leader’s day in Miami.

At lunch with Democratic activists, Gov. Dean will discuss the strong leadership Democrats are offering for America’s future. This power comes from keeping our promises, as the Democratic leadership in Congress has shown in a strong measure to hold the president accountable on Iraq. We know the people are behind us. They voted us in. And now we want to work in a bipartisan fashion to achieve the comprehensive immigration reform the American people want.

Where to see this? Join Howard Dean and many of your Democratic friends at noon for a simple lunch at Parrot Jungle. Later there’s a rally at the Government Center in downtown Miami for immigration reform.

If there’s room in your Tuesday, this is the way to spend May Day. With Howard Dean.

Find your way to Parrot Jungle.

Political donations help victory -- It happened here

You probably wonder what happens to the money when you dig into your pocket and send the Democratic Party a donation. Maybe it’s only $25 on your stretchy credit card. Maybe more significant amounts. Well, here we have a report from one of our rare paid staff from the Florida Democratic Party on what the money means: Victory in a special election for the Florida House! Money puts feet on the ground to convince and activate voters. It happened in the past week in the Orlando area. A Republican seat became a Democratic seat.

So, my friends, please be generous when Karen Thurman or Joe Garcia or Howard Dean asks for financial help!

Here’s BJ Chiszar’s report on a month he spent seconded away from his Miami-Dade post to help Darren Soto’s campaign.

Hello fellow Democrats!

Every member of the statewide field team was in Orlando/Osceola for the final month of the Darren Soto campaign. Soto defeated GOP heavyweight Tony Suarez in a close race decided by about 300 votes.

Soto, a 29-year-old civil rights attorney, built a solid coalition with labor, firefighters, teachers, ACORN, and many other progressive groups. One group stood out -- the Young Democrats of Orange County were an amazing field force, knocking on almost every door in the district.

The Florida Democratic Party focused our efforts on absentee ballots and GOTV on election day. I was joined by Ted Miller and the Young Democrats of Dade and also Michael Calderin and Georgi Blumenthal of DFA came up to get in the fight. It was awesome to have Dade county people in Central Florida, demonstrating our commitment to victory in 2008!

It also must be noted that our House Victory Director Steve Schale joined us on the ground, as well as Executive Director Leonard Joseph and most of the senior staff from Tallahassee. This showed leadership by example and let Democrats all across the state know that we mean business as it relates to winning elections.

We are excited about the renewed buzz around the state about our party! I hope that you will join us in our efforts to create positive change in America.

If we all do just a little, then together we can achieve so much!

UPDATE:

Here's a fresh angle on this from Beth Reinhard's column in the Saturday Herald. Fair to say that people in politics are looking at this Orlando result with strong interest.

Lessons from Orlando column.

UPDATE 2:

Yet another angle from The Buzz, St. Pete Times political blog. Hillary Clinton is said to be the only presidential candidate to help with this race, and here's her congratulatory message to Darren Soto.

Buzz link re Hillary.

Our Guy Is Clean – And That’s Not in the Joe Biden Sense

With Howard Dean coming for lunch with Miami-Dade Democrats soon, it’s good to reflect on the contrast between our national chair and the Republicans’. The Miami Herald doesn’t like to inform us about bad news concerning local Republicans but they didn’t have much choice last Friday. Mel Martinez is scrambling to give back money that the Federal Election Commission says is too much – even for a Republican.

You may remember the ’04 campaign. Mel Martinez, awash in money, could afford all those vicious ads implying that Betty Castor was weak on terrorism. Seems some of that money was over the top, so to speak. Well, too bad. Mel Martinez now is U.S. Senator from Florida. Too bad, indeed. It was Bob Graham's seat. Now Martinez will just give back some of the money, pay what the Herald thinks will be “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in fines – with other donations, we suppose, and he’ll go on being the Republican Party’s chief national fund-raiser. Introduce the president here and there. Chatter on the radio in English and Spanish. An honorable man.

What does he say now? “Mistakes were made,” the Herald quotes him as saying, employing the usual passive voice trotted out when an honorable man avoids responsibility.

Howard Dean will perhaps have a word or two of comment at the May 1 lunch (at Parrot Jungle – just announced), or DEC Chairman Joe Garcia may bring it up to contrast the Republican cash machine against the forthright and honest way the Democratic Party is trying to conduct its political campaigns.

And the Herald, eager to mend its fence with the senator, published an article Monday with the headline “GOP leadership job is on track.” This is called fair and balanced in some circles. Well, it’s quoting the senator, and he’s an honorable man.

Links to the two Herald articles:
Mel Martinez to be fined -- April 20.
Mel Martinez a fine leader -- April 23.

The Herald's Take on Lunch with Howard Dean

The other day I sent out a news release about Howard Dean's lunch on May 1 with local Democrats. From reading the Herald's political blog, I guess he's going to lecture us about the calendar of primaries. Naked Politics on Howard Dean.

Will the menu be Turkey on Rye, as Naked predicts? Anyway, everyone is welcome to sign up for the lunch. Call the DEC or DFAM.