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In a departure from the past, Howard Dean kept his charcoal suit coat
on and his shirt sleeves rolled down. But the gravelly baritone voice
was the same, and so was the angry, rhetorical red meat he fed to a worshipful
Seattle crowd that gobbled it up as eagerly as ever.
Only this time he wasn't a presidential candidate, having conceded the
Democratic nomination to Sen. John Kerry. The former Vermont governor
came here yesterday to launch a national effort to keep his supporters
energized, to work not only for Kerry but for progressive candidates for
Congress, local school boards and everything in between.
In the city that was one of his strongest bases of support, Dean announced
that his Dean for America campaign has become Democracy
for America. The new organization will use his campaign's Internet
savvy to recruit candidates, train support staff and raise money for grass-roots
efforts.
Dean is teaming with 21st Century Democrats, a Washington, D.C.-based
political action committee that recruits and trains grass-roots organizers
for national, state and local campaigns nationwide. The "Deaniacs"
will be the raw material.
"We want to duplicate what we did (in the presidential campaign)
for county commissioners and school board members, and to get the right
wing out of politics and out of our bedrooms and out of our lives!"
Dean vowed to 550 followers who packed a Westin Seattle Hotel ballroom,
roaring and applauding their approval....
Dean said Democracy for America's aims will be grass-roots campaigns,
truthfulness in campaigning, eradicating what he called the Bush administration's
pro-corporate and right-wing "radical extremist policies" and
his populist agenda -- health care for all Americans, fiscal responsibility
and rebuilding diplomatic ties with allies around the world.
He added. "We're going to stand with every member of Congress who
supported us at some risk to their political careers." In Washington,
that was only Rep. Jim McDermott, the liberal Seattle Democrat.
His fans interrupted his 38-minute Seattle speech frequently, rising
from their chairs to cheer, applaud and wave Dean for President signs.
At one point, he joked, "With enthusiasm like this, I'll scare my
staff and threaten to get back into the race!"
Thunderous cheering endorsed that suggestion, prompting Dean to add,
grinning, "That was a joke!" The cheers continued, and he laughed,
"A joke! That was a joke!"...
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I
arrived very early--a front row seat with Lauri Seraphin, Howard Martin
and other diehard Dean supporters
Howard Dean's typically expressive and passionate speaking style, above
and below. 
