[Mb-civic] DNC Chair race -- new twist

Wed Feb 9 11:24:52 PST 2005

Dear MoveOn member,

This Saturday the Democratic National Committee will pick a new
Chair for the Party. A couple of weeks ago, it seemed to everyone
this would be a fiercely competitive election, with 7 strong
national candidates vying for the job. However, after the dust
settled and committed supporters were tallied, the field of major
candidates has shrunk down to just one -- Howard Dean. It is now
virtually guaranteed that Governor Dean will be selected this
weekend as the new Chair of the Democratic Party.

Our goal in all of this was to open up the Chair selection process
to millions of grassroots progressives. The final decision is made
by the 447 voting members of the Democratic National Committee,
who rarely get feedback from the ordinary Democrats they are
supposed to represent. Also, the candidates seeking to run the
Party are forced to cater their message to the party insiders and
big donors that can dominate a closed process. We thought it was
time they committed to an agenda that could earn them support from
the bottom up.

Two weeks ago, we asked you to propose the questions you most
wanted to ask the candidates. Thousands of MoveOn members posted
and ranked the questions from other members -- and the top five
were passed on. Front running candidates Congressman Tim Roemer,
activist Donnie Fowler, and Governor Howard Dean all took the time
to respond in detail to the points you raised, and were excited to
hear directly from the base.

The original plan called for a vote this Monday on your
recommendation for DNC Chair. Now that Dean is the presumptive
winner, we will be shifting tactics to accomplish the same goal --
bringing the grassroots in to reshape the Party at this moment of
opportunity. Major decisions will be made in the next few weeks
about how the Democratic Party communicates, organizes, and raises
money. Our opposition to extremist Republican policies and our
long term movement for change may hang in the balance -- we want
you to lead the way.

Within a week we'll announce the next phase of this process. In
the meantime, Governor Dean wanted you to see his answers to your
questions, so they are posted below.

Thanks for all that you do,

--Ben Brandzel, Eli Pariser, and the whole MoveOn PAC Team
  Wednesday, February 9th, 2005

------------------------------
Top 5 questions from MoveOn members
and Howard Dean's responses
------------------------------

1) What will you do to insure that all voters, in each state, have
access to a universally transparent, accountable voting system?
-- Sylvia S Pinyan, retired teacher
  (January 27, 2005; Winston Salem, NC)

If elected Chair of the DNC, I intend to work with Members of
Congress, the state Democratic parties, secretaries of state, the
Democratic Governors' Association, other stakeholders, and the
grassroots to ensure that every legitimate voter -- regardless of
their political affiliation -- is able to vote and have their vote
counted. We must address the obstacles that some voters in some
locations faced this past November, like inadequate numbers of
voting machines at certain polling locations, faulty electronic
voting machines, and voting rolls that failed to include some
properly registered voters' names. And critically, we must take
steps to ensure the verifiability of all electronic voting. For
instance, we need to use the referendum process (in states that
allow this) to ban unverifiable voting machines and to protect
voters from partisan secretaries of state.

2) What would be your list of 'ideals,' things the Democratic
Party stands for and will fight for?
-- Tom Peters, commercial fisherman
  (January 26, 2005; Eureka, CA)

Whether you call them ideals or moral values, there are a number
of basic principles that I believe the Democratic Party should
stand up and fight for. Here are a few: a livable wage is a moral
value. Affordable health care is a moral value. A decent education
is a moral value. A common sense foreign policy is a moral value.
A healthy environment is a moral value. The feeling of community
that comes from full participation in our democracy is a moral
value. It is a moral value to make sure that we do not saddle our
children and grandchildren with our debt.

3) What will be your strategy for sending the message that a
progressive agenda is as much about "moral values" as is the
Republican agenda, ie: that economic justice and equality,
tolerance, civil rights and environmental protection are ethical
and moral matters?
-- Anna Schwartz, physician
  (January 26, 2005; Hastings-on-Hudson, NY)

I believe that there are no red states or blue states, just
American states. And I am confident that Americans will vote for
Democrats in Texas, Mississippi, New Mexico, and Montana and all
over the Untied States if we show up, knock on their doors,
introduce ourselves, and tell them what we stand for. But we will
not win by being "Republican-lite" -- Democrats must have the
courage of our convictions. Every chance we get, Democrats need to
stand up for what we believe in, frame the debate, and call for
reform. Each time that we do this we drive home the point that our
progressive agenda is right where the majority of Americans are.
Because Democrats -- not Republicans -- are the party of fiscal
responsibility, economic responsibility, social responsibility,
civic responsibility, personal responsibility, and moral
responsibility.

4) What is your plan for creating an effective Democratic message
machine to clearly and powerfully present our point of view?
-- Lynn O'Connell, advertising
  (January 26, 2005; Alexandria, VA)

I am running for DNC Chair because I want to reform the Democratic
Party and make it a truly national party. Improving the Democrat's
message machine will be critical to our success. To drive home the
point that we are where the majority of Americans are on the
issues, we have to better integrate national and state party
operations -- the success of the former depends directly on the
success of the latter. Two, taking a bottom-up approach to the
development of the Party's message, we need to set core principles
that define the Democratic Party and what we stand for. Three, the
Party must take advantage of cutting-edge Internet technology to
fundraise, organize, and communicate with our supporters. And
four, we must strengthen our political institutions and leadership
institutes to promote our leaders and our ideas. All of this won't
be easy and it won't happen overnight. It will require exceptional
cooperation between the National Party and the State Parties,
unprecedented use of the grassroots, unparalleled message
discipline, and significant financial support. But taking the
White House and Congress and every other office back from George
Bush and the Republicans will make all of our time and effort
worth it.

5) Many people like myself were energized during the 2004
presidential election. I volunteered to canvas neighborhoods and I
made phone calls for democratic candidates. I made my first
financial contributions for a political cause. How are you going
to keep people like me involved? Do you want to keep people like
me involved?
-- Lisa Scerbo, photographer
  (January 26, 2005; Mechanicville, NY)

It was new supporters like you that were one of the bright spots
in the last election cycle. If I am elected DNC Chair, we intend
to make the Democratic Party a truly national party by becoming
competitive in every race, in every district, in every state and
territory. We need you and other grassroots volunteers to stay
involved -- our vision won't become a reality without your help.
And we will keep you involved by building on our grassroots
successes, expanding community-building initiatives like Meetup,
and getting ordinary people to run for office. It is time we
support all Democrats carrying the message of reform.

PAID FOR BY MOVEON PAC
Not authorized by any canidate or candidate's committee.

________________

Subscription Management:
This is a message from MoveOn PAC. To remove yourself (Michael Butler) from this list, please visit our subscription management page at:
http://moveon.org/s?i=5085-615480-73NW8u8nJl1PSIIzp65Wbg
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.islandlists.com/pipermail/mb-civic/attachments/20050209/e1b5bead/attachment.html