First of all, it was great fun. What a strong sense of energy and optimism -- maybe it's from being a member of the minority party (nowhere to go but up), maybe it was participating in an event in the presence of Howard Dean; whatever the cause, it feels like a good time to be a progressive Democrat.
[editor's note, by marisa] Fiat Lux corrected my attribution of the breakfast; it was sponsored by California Democratic Clubs.
One of the first cool things that happened: shortly after the breakfast speakers got going, the (very hip) guy sitting next to me opened up his Apple PowerBook in order to start taking notes. I about fell off my chair when I glanced over and saw DailyKos on the screen. I passed him a note that I was marisa here; he typed that he was conchis (btw, his diary on the event is here). How cool was that!?
The next cool thing happened just a few minutes later: the Reverend Al Sharpton entered the room from the back. An unannounced but very welcome guest, he showed in order to promote Marjorie Harris' candidacy for the vice chair position.
My husband got a photo of me with Reverend Al and Marjorie Harris as we left later in the day (last picture on our camera, so I was pretty tickled to rope them into it). Here it is:
Anyway, I digress.
The first speaker for the CDC breakfast was Joe Dunn, who's planning a run for California Attorney General in '06. He's a Democrat who won handily in (reddish) Orange County; he's known for tackling -- and beating -- Enron on behalf of CA. Keep an eye on this guy. He's a gifted, inspiring speaker.
Our "current administration is the most morally and ethically bankrupt ever," Dunn said. "They stand for the most anti-American principles ever."
He said that if Democrats are to win, we need to craft a clear message, and if we are to craft that message, we need to be clear about what it means to be a Democrat.
Dunn said that America is the greatest nation on earth, not because of its physical beauty, but because we are the only nation that was born of ideas: freedom and justice. He said that Republicans often run with and on the idea of "freedom," while Democrats are the party of justice.
"Why is our side so difficult?" he asked. "It's because it's far easier to defend liberty than it is to fight for justice."
We, Dunn said, are the biggest obstacle we face when we seek victory for justice. He spoke of our "sense of tiredness -- sense of hopelessness after the struggle." We feel our work has been useless when we face defeat.
However, Dunn said, the ideas progressive Democrats stand for aren't new: "The fight began before we joined it; it will carry on after we depart."
"When we became Democrats," he said, "we accepted the responsibility of joining that fight. Win or lose, our sacred duty is to fight for justice."
Dunn concluded by telling us it was time to "dust ourselves off" and "get back in the bear cage and fight for justice."
My notes got a bit fuzzy after Dunn's go (sadly, he was the first speaker), probably because due to Sharpton distraction. The next speaker -- following a moment of silence for our troops stationed in Iraq -- was Chris Stampolis (my spelling is probably off), the newly-elected California Progressive Democrat Council President (feel free to fact-check that).
Then came the first rockstar of the day, Reverend Al. He led with some great comments in support of Barbara Boxer (whom I kept hoping would show up); my favorite: "Condaleeza is my color but Barbara is my kind."
Sharpton said we Democrats "need to quit having pity parties."
Bush, he said, "misused the question of morals to beat us because we were too cowardly to talk about what morals really mean."
Gay marriage, Sharpton said, is something that Bush really can't control. "He used it as a way to distract us" (and thus clean our clocks in the election).
He then passed the podium to Marjorie Harris, who seemed quite personable, but my notes here merely read "Marjorie Harris."
They didn't regain much coherence, but here are the highlights from the vice chair candidates:
Nelson Diaz: We've been lucky a lot in the past (talking about Carter, Clinton), but we've gotta stop being lucky and gotta start working.
Alvara Cifuentes: We need to decentralize. We need to move the party away from the Beltway. It's about party membership and our grassroots. The national party needs to assist the state Democratic parties.
Susie (current deputy chair of the DNC, running for vice chair -- need to figure out her last name): "Today is the day we need to remember Roe v. Wade. . . . It's the courts, stupid!"
Vice chair candidates were succeeded by regular folks, given 90 seconds each to address the DNC delegates. Two themes recurred during this part of the event. The first, as you can probably guess, were expressions of enthusiastic support for Dean as chair. The second, however, was the idea of fear.
"We need to stop being afraid of DLC warnings that we need to move further right. . . . it's time to stop being afraid" said the president of the Silicon Valley Dean group (sorry, I didn't catch this person's name).
I was very impressed by Karen Bernali (again, this spelling needs checking), the chair of Sacramento for Democracy. She spoke of the "terrible disconnect" between the grassroots and the national party. She implored the delegates present to choose Dean for chairman.
Barbara Pile from Fresno spoke next. I could swear she was in Fahrenheit 911 -- remember the Fresno peace group that was investigated? Anyway, she asked that Californians join their local California Democratic Council clubs. She said that she has asked the DNC for help to get clubs similar to the CDC started nationwide (watch out for the blink if you click on their URL -- my gosh, they could sure use a website makeover).
Unidentified woman to DNC delegates, about the DFA crowd: "Look at all these people! We're still here. We're willing to work." Very articulate, very inspiring, whoever she was.
One of the final speakers -- [editor's note, by marisa] found out from Kyle B's diary on the Sacramento breakfast that he was yet another Kossack, Malacandra --spoke of the new activism inspired by Howard Dean: "I have a lot of respect for those of you who have been in the trenches all those years. . . . You're probably looking at all of us new faces thinking we're barbarians at the gate. We're all thinking we're the cavalry. The truth is, we're probably fresh horses."
Then some confusing announcements followed, leading many (including me) to assume that Howard Dean would, in fact, not be addressing the group, and that we were expected to clear out.
This was perhaps serendipitous, as we ended up wandering into the end of Simon Rosenberg's coffee and caught about the last ten minutes of his question-and-answer period (he addressed two questions, the first about gay marriage, the second a question/commentary about the rights of the disabled and the disenfranchisement of Dean supporters by party rank-and-file). Greg Meeks, a New York congressman who's also running for the vice chair position, popped into Rosenberg's meeting and spoke for a little while.
Rosenberg's coffee was attended by about 20 and made me wish that I could be in two places at once. :-)
Once that ended, we wandered back towards the DFA meeting area. I wasn't expecting that anything would be happening there, but lo and behold, SOMEONE was being introduced -- Howard Dean!
I didn't take notes on Dr. Dean's speech; I wanted to just enjoy it. As much press as was present, I figured it would be covered more than adequately.
This was my first time seeing him in person and it was a treat. The biggest surprise was his apparently spontaneous (and damned funny) recreation of the infamous "Dean scream." How anyone can not love a politician who is passionate, serious, committed, yet doesn't take himself completely seriously? He's wonderful (she said, preaching to the choir ;-)).
After he concluded, we meandered back into the hallway yet again, this time to wait for the DNC meeting space to open up for seating. Lots of press present to cover the caucus. The Driving Votes folks were impressively represented and organized, with matching t-shirts and press passes.
Wierdest moment of the whole day was my conversation with -- get this -- a young man handing out full-color glossy magazine-style propaganda for the Lyndon LaRouche PAC. I am not making this up. There were several college-aged LaRouche people handing these out. Alarming, yet interesting. I asked one if he'd been hired locally to hand out material.
He told me, no, he was "with the organization full-time" now. He said that he'd been with them for several months, since he heard LaRouche speak at his college.
There was something slightly creepy about the LaRouchies, so I asked him some more questions. What school was he going to? He left college, he said, to dedicate his time to the organization. It is a great way to develop leadership skills, he added.
He told me that the LaRouche PAC was paying for his housing and his food, and that he and the other people in his San Francisco-area group were studying Hamilton's work and it was really great to be able to learn about it and study it first-hand.
I asked him how many people were in his group (the word "pod" came to mind); he said 30 in the Bay Area, but there were about 60 in LA.
Very, VERY odd.
At any rate, the meeting room opened and my husband dragged me away from my side digression.
I did not take notes on the caucus proceedings, again, there was so much press coverage that I decided to just observe.
If you're still reading this long diary, then bless you. I am almost finished, I promise. :-)
My take on the DNC chair candidates:
Howard Dean: the DNC is crazy not to tap him for chair. He promises them that he will bring the fundraising, the energy, the grassroots, and he'll campaign in every state for EVERY state Dem organization.
(a couple of trivial observations: first, Howard Dean drinks a LOT of water. He downed glass after glass. Second, he's got a great sense of humor. At one point Donnie Fowler made a side comment to Dean, who said something back, and then cracked up laughing.)
Donnie Fowler: seems very young. I liked him, but my sense is that he's not our best hope.
Martin Frost: More seasoned than Fowler. Isn't he the guy who has been distancing himself from the word "Democrat"? His impassioned oration seemed forced.
David Leland: He's okay. Not Howard. He said he turned Indiana blue (I could swear Indiana was red in '04). I had a hard time hearing what he actually had to say after a woman on my row told me he had a Hair Club for Men haircut. Actually, I was afraid to even look at him for about a half hour after that; I thought I might start giggling. Sorry, David).
Tim Roemer: Um, no.
I'd seen him a couple of hours earlier without placing him. I knew he looked familiar, but what I thought was, "My gosh, that haircut looks expensive." Not that there's anything wrong with that.
One thing I did appreciate about him was that, in his closing statement, he addressed the abortion controversy directly. What he said was that he would not ever seek to change Roe v. Wade, and he made reference to his pro-choice mama. Earlier he had made many oblique references ("values", "morals", you get the idea), so it was somewhat surprising and even refreshing to hear him speak to the issue directly.
Simon Rosenberg: He, like Fowler, seemed very young. I was surprised at the breadth of his experience. I liked him. Pretty wonky.
Wellington Webb: Another one of the day's big surprises. Very charismatic, lots of specific ideas for change. I don't know much about him, but he was extremely appealing, second only to Dean himself.
And there you have it!