there's been a quite a bit of discussion in the lefty blogosphere over "falling in line" since super tuesday. for those unfamiliar with that phrase, it comes from a speech bill clinton made at senator tom harkin's annual steak fry last year in iowa. bill basically said "fall in love, then fall in line." some people are of the opinion that it's time to fall in line. i disagree, and don't even really think it's a valid question.
while kerry's nomination is inevitable at this point, i don't believe he or the party is harmed if we continue to support the candidates we love. look, bill was saying fall in love during the primaries, then fall in line for the general. regardless of kerry's inevitability, we are still in the midst of primary season. most of the country has not voted yet.
while i am attempting to get to a place where i can comfortably defend our presumptive nominee, i don't see a contradiction in my continued support of howard dean in the texas primary. the bottom line is that nobody but howard has earned my vote for the primary.
howard dean began earning my vote late in 2002 when he became the first presidential candidate to stand up and oppose gwb's policies. he began earning my vote when i got to speak with him over the phone at a fundraiser hosted by dr adam starr & his wife heidi (two of dean's earliest d/fw backers) in january of 2003. i asked him about the (un)patriot(ic) act and he blew me away with his passionate defense of civil liberties. then i was brought to tears by his speech (link goes to video) at the DNC winter gathering in february of 2003. that was the day i decided that howard dean was my man. then he posted on our dean nation blog (as a historical note, that was the first time a presidential candidate ever posted on a blog) and thanked us personally. he never gave me a reason to regret that decision. in fact, every move he made and every speech he gave afterwards simply reinforced to me that i'd made the right decision. and i still believe it.
as it stands, iowa and new hampshire chose our nominee. i don't blame them for voting as they did, nor do i blame voters in subsequent states for jumping on the kerry bandwagon. how can i blame even the kerry camp for successfully executing the strategy joe trippi laid out for our own campaign? i can't. had we executed, howard would be the nominee right now. but we didn't make it and john kerry did, and now here we are.
more than half of the voters haven't even gotten to voice their opinion. we have essentially been rendered irrelevant by the compressed primary season, which was designed to pick a nominee as early as possible. i never really liked the idea of a compressed primary, but went along with the trippi "sock 'em and rock 'em" strategy because we really didn't have any choice. had we rolled, i'd still be pissed over it because i'm one of those nutty folks who thinks everyone should have a say in nominating our candidate. but that's a whole 'nother rant.
putting that aside, those of us who have not voted or caucused yet are being told that we need to fall in line right now and i disagree. going back to howard, he's the only one who earned my primary vote, and he got it when i voted early last week. when i show up to caucus next tuesday, i'm signing in for him. doing this will not hurt the party or the nominee, especially because of the inevitability factor.
i think a lot of people are torn on how to vote, or at least that's the sense i get in reading many blogs and comments. they don't want to hurt our chances of beating bush, but they don't feel like they can give kerry their vote just yet. since i'm one of those people, i understand that struggle. after dean dropped, i flirted with caucusing for edwards in order to prolong the primary and (admittedly) partially out of spite for kerry's antics in iowa. i then recanted after i realised that i couldn't support anyone but howard for my primary.
i wish that those who are demanding that we fall in line would take a step back and realise that each one of us is having this internal struggle, and we're not all going to get to the same page at the same time. but we will get there. don't push us. just give us the time we need to reconcile with ourselves, please.
we dean people have a mission right now, and that mission is to accumulate as many delegates as possible. we aren't doing this to disrupt kerry's roll, nor are we doing this out of spite or bitterness over our losses. i personally am doing this because i think the party needs us. i think they need us to keep their feet to the fire. they need us to remind them that a year ago, nobody thought the democrats had a shot in hell at winning and now they're all falling over themselves to thank howard for that spine transplant. they need us there or they are going to fall back to the same wishy washy bullshit that gave us a republican-controlled congress. they need us because they are stronger with us than without us. a dean presence at the convention will make the party platform stronger and it will make our nominee stronger. that's what i believe.
i don't believe kerry is harmed at all by having us there. in fact, i am looking forward to working with his firefighters (god i love those guys - they are amazing) on the ground. i'm looking forward to helping shape the agenda for this election. i am looking forward while maintaining my support for the man who earned my vote.
the general election, on the other hand, won't be about kerry earning anything from me. that the democrats will get my vote (and the vote of most of the dean people) is a given. i can't imagine being in a place where i'm so disgusted with them that i go third party like last time.
this is what i mean by falling in line. i think most rational people realise that reselecting bush is not an option. see, we fell in line (and in love) over a year ago when we committed to dean or clark or whoever else and decided to put our money and our time and effort into this primary. in a sense we have already fallen in line with the goal of beating bush. if we weren't already on board with beating bush, would we have put so much effort into this primary? most likely not, and i wish that people would realise that.
i guess what i'm trying to get at - in my usual long winded way - is that i believe supporting your primary candidate until after you vote is not contradictory to being in line with the goal of beating bush. i have accepted that kerry will be the nominee. i am trying to get to a place where i can defend him against the upcoming smears, and i'm trying to gather facts that will help me make the case for kerry. but i'm doing this while continuing to support howard dean as a candidate until march 10. there is no contradiction there, and you will never hear me tell someone who hasn't voted yet to "fall in line with kerry" because i know that regardless of who they are supporting now, they'll be on board through the general election.
so jen, fafnir, and everyone else who's chimed in during the past couple of weeks, i urge you to vote your heart. there's nothing to feel guilty about in that action. you'll be standing next to me when we are on the ground engaging the GOP. and i know we'll be there together, unified in our goal, and celebrating when we kick that squatter out of the white house.
x-posted to annatopia