Only 2 diaries? That means I'll have to jot down all my not quite related thoughts here. Read on for "wings", "Deanism", "Dean farewell tour" and "thanking for the memories"
There's been a lot of ink and bytes wasted on speculating about "wings" of the party. There was the Clinton wing vs. the Gore wing ad nauseum. Guess which wing won. The Kennedy wing! Maybe Ted finally gets to exorcise the demons of '80 and those darned Southerners taking over the party.
Deanism, on the other hand seems to be the uneasy stepchild of Tsongas/Brown (and I know exactly which side of that I'm on). Maybe if the melding works better next time (for Dean or another affiliate of Deanism), that would help.
Also, I've been thinking of the Dean farewell tour. I don't know if he would consider such a thing, but wouldn't a nationwide bus tour (sort of like Clinton/Gore right after the 1992 convention) be grand? Dean may be through, but what a fun way to go out...and anyone should be welcome, even if they voted for someone else... keep hope alive :)
Finally, I've been feeling badly for all the political Dean endorsers (except for the ones who jumped ship). Endorsements are par for the course, but these particular endorsers now risk being branded as loons or something. If there's anything Dean folk know, it's how to write letters. I think it would be nice to write thank you letters to those endorsers you have a personal connection to--I can think of 3 congresscritters who represented areas where I used to live--thanking them and not discouraging them for sticking out their necks.