Most of us know that there is lots of talk about keeping the new sense of civic participation alive among Dean supporters. Dean for America will change itself into an organization which encourages and helps people to run for office for the first time, and will become a national grassroots organization and/or a kind of central node for lots of local grassroots organizations.
There has been some skepticism about the viability of such groups, so I thought it would be useful to report on what I know is going on in New York City
- All grassroots Dean groups in the city are in active discussions to form a citywide group which will endorse candidates and work for select candidates for local office (city council, mayor, state senate and assembly, etc.). This group will form, and it will have a large base of very active volunteers who want to have an impact on local politics.
- This Dean coalition is reaching out to Clark and Kucinich supporters, and while it's still very early, initial reactions are very, very positive. Surprisingly positive. The platform of this organization is being formulated, but the overarching goal is to form a pragmatic progressive force in the city which will have to be taken seriously by elected officials. The way to do that, of course, is to make the difference in electing a few candidates to local office this fall (primaries are often more important than general elections in NYC, since it is so overwhelmingly Democratic, but the primaries for local offices come in September).
- We aren't going away anytime soon. If you want to get involved, sign up with one of the local grassroots groups like nyc4dean.