Chapter Summaries
Moving Foreward
Jesse Jackson says that Howard Dean set the pace, and
sometimes the pacesetter doesn’t win. Gordon Corera, of the BBC, says Dean was
the only one on the radar overseas. Walter Shapiro, of USA Today, says the
Dean campaign will affect the next forty years of American politics. Dean’s
campaign seemed to have a new vision, with the Internet as the political currency. So what
happened?
Beginnings
People often made their choices for the 2004 Democratic
primary based on their personal experiences; watching Dean in the Vermont
legislature, meeting him when he campaigned for lieutenant governor, and lobbying
him for a pharmaceutical company producing the first HIV/AIDS drugs. Where and
how you met him varied, but the man himself drew people into supporting him,
so that they were ready to come forth when his Quixotic quest began.
The Kids are Alright
The energy and idealism of youth often fuels political
campaigns, particularly those of insurgents. While the Dean campaign gave a
drink from the fountain of youth to old Kennedy, McCarthy, and McGovern
supporters, Dean offices were usually the province of a generation that had
grown up with Bush, Clinton, and yet another Bush. For most, that was one Bush
too many. Look inside the caffeinated world of Dean offices in New Hampshire
and Vermont, and see the power plant that drove the campaign. The
overconfidence of campaign workers often just out of college proves a factor
in the campaign's downfall.
Working the Senior Circuit
At the other end of the voter demographic spectrum sits a
generation who grew up with a New Deal, and a World War, and a Democratic
president who was elected to four consecutive terms. In the New Hampshire
Seacoast, the Dean campaign tried to tap into that voter base. Rod Stewart
sings “I wish that I knew what I know now, when I was younger.” The wisdom of
the ages resides in Seacoast assisted-living and nursing homes. Canvassing
them provides some of that wisdom. In Portsmouth, campaign strategy made
Seacoast Seniors seem an insignificant demographic.
Big Howard’s First-born Son
The Howard Dean that existed before he burst upon the
national stage is revealed. Dean grew up rich, but hardly spoiled. Friends
from prep school, college and medical school remember a boy from a
conservative home who grew into the liberal values of the late Sixties and
early Seventies. Then his younger brother died mysteriously in Laos, and the
young man who had followed the family path to Wall Street turned to the
medical school where he would meet his wife. In Vermont, the evolution of his
medical career would occur simultaneously with his political education. Then
the medicine stopped, when he became governor overnight. Returning the state
to fiscal stability, conserving almost 8% of the state as public land,
creating a pro-business climate, seeking educational equity, and providing
health care were hallmarks of his 11 years in office. But he would become
restless, and when the civil unions furor made his continuing re-election less
than the certainty it had been, he turned his eyes to Pennsylvania Avenue.
The Great Debate. Or not.
Fast out of the starting gate against an incumbent sheathed
in an aura of invincibility, Dean found himself part of a field of
Presidential dreams, with enough opponents for the nomination to field a
baseball team. The debates were supposed to allow voters to winnow the field,
even though they largely came well before the first votes had been cast.
Whether it was a product of the field, or the format, they were largely
made-for-C-SPAN events. That is, until Ted Koppel decided to shake things up
at the University of New Hampshire. Look behind the scenes at a debate where a
media leader dropped any pretense of being the invisible scribe. Koppel's
gambit made him a target for other media and the candidates. In fact,
the responses of the candidates were the reason a brilliant idea failed.
Running for Delegate; No WASPs need apply
When Dean seemed the inevitable Democratic nominee,
supporters leapt forward to be a delegate for him at the convention in Boston
in July. By the time of the delegate caucus, the expansion of Dean universe
seemed to have stalled, but an army came forward to vie to be delegate. The
author was one of that army, who campaigned hard, and ended up back in the
mess tent. Along the way, 9/11 crept into his awareness, as he met a woman who
was threatened in August 2001 by a man identifying himself as Atta.
The Iowa Tarbaby
Dick Gephardt had run for president 16 years earlier, but
his continuing failures in the House made him decide to make a final stab at
the nomination. While the “old news” his campaign represented was exemplified
by having Chuck Berry do a fundraiser just before the caucuses, somehow the
Dean campaign decided to turn their scalpel on Gephardt. The world of
political advertising is explored, as is the battlefield on which Dean and
Gephardt would be mortally wounded. Trippi's agenda, and his incomplete
understanding of John Nash's game theory guaranteed the failure in Iowa.
I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream, for IA Scream
Howard Dean lost the nomenclature war when his speech upon
leaving Iowa became known as “The Scream.” Whether that would be the defining
moment in Dean’s political career is for history to decide. In the short term,
it is possible to question who gets to define a candidate for the voters.
Questions of “electability”, and “anger”, repeated as a mantra by opponents
and the media, tend to move from issues of perception to facts of reality. The
speech in Iowa is examined, by those who saw it, those who reported on it, and
media critics.
Media Culpa
Dean’s relationships with the media changed over the
campaign, as he went from rock star/cover boy/anointed front runner to the
seeming target of media power brokers. Political scientists, media mavens,
media critics and Dean Nation talk about the media’s ability to giveth
and taketh away. The Dean campaign's strategy of casting the media as the
enemy becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Media Cabal
At the 2003 Book Expo, Al Franken and Bill O'Reilly engaged
in a testosterone-fueled confrontation, and thereby hyped sales of their
books. In the world of the Internet, this played out into ridiculous and
seemingly paranoid speculation of a media conspiracy to defeat Dean and
bolster Kerry. Of course, Fox News helped by running with a story that they
had been told was not true, but facts should never interfere with fair and
balanced entertainment.
Idle Political Speculation
One of the great things about politics is that it allows you
to conjure up your own scenarios.
For example, suppose Hillary Clinton's early rejection of a possible 2004
presidential candidacy was merely an attempt to position herself to be the
savior of a brokered convention. If Terry McAuliffe had attempted to fast
track a weak nominee, knowing that he would lead to a brokered convention,
that would allow Hillary's ascension. Of course, unexpected success by the
Dean campaign would require that he become a DLC target.
And the only way that the two parties could present the world with a vision of
true democracy would be if they held open conventions, rather than having had
their candidates preordained long before the first votes were cast. In an
America bitterly divided, Lincoln must come again.
But Lincoln would not be a tall white man this time.
Political scenarios only come true when people work to make them happen.
Workin’ the media; Cruisin’ and schmoozin’ with the news
As a moth to a flame, so the author was drawn to the media.
His goal was to help voters see Dean in the same light that made Dunnan
volunteer in the campaign. Journalists report that Dean Nation in general was
hyper-sensitive to media coverage. The media received counterattacks when
Deaniacs
perceived bias. The counterattacks were sometimes rabid, occasionally ribald, and always
reported through the new media upon which the foundations of the Dean campaign
were built: The Internet.
Letters to the editor; Using the Pen to Defend and Advocate
for Howard
In an age using computers and Internet communications to
target media, "you have the power" translated into a Dean Nation eager to
scream out on the editorial page. The author was urged to join an organized
letter-writing campaign, which would provide talking points and media targets
for letter writing. Typical of a campaign with many Indians and all-too-often
invisible chiefs, the connection to the organization disappeared as soon as
the first round of letters was sent out. However, 'empowerment to the people'
meant that the author could continue on his own, one of a cacophony of Dean
voices crying out in the unenlightened wilderness of the traditional media.
The One Way Street from Manchester to Greenland Grassroots
Since empowerment is self-affirming, the author wanted to
have a greater impact within the campaign structure than doing data input,
canvassing, and calling neighbors who had already been called by the phone
bank. The headquarters for the Dean campaign in Manchester was always handing
down goals for more identified supporters, more house parties, more
letter-writing. But trying to get anyone to call back when you needed
something for a constituent, or to volunteer for greater involvement was
futile. Other grassroots supporters report the same experience, which raises
the question of who really had the power.
General Anxiety
Wesley Clark finally entered the race as a Democrat of
convenience. However, the flash of his brass was mesmerizing to some, and his
encampment in New Hampshire while Dean struggled in Iowa made him seem a
serious threat. Given a chance to bird-dog Clark and work the media, the
author jumped all over it, and cultivated his own 'press scrum' - to Clark’s
consternation and detriment. A leader of the movement to draft Clark as a
candidate talks about successes and failures that echo the mistakes of the Dean campaign.
Partyin’ with the Missus
Judith Steinberg was always the center of Dean’s universe.
Centered herself, she had never done more than dip a toe in the whirl of
politics. Ellen Goodman conducted a major interview with her, yet the front
page story in the New York Times on Steinberg forced her into the political
arena. When the growth of Dean support in Iowa and New Hampshire had
stalled and even reversed, she came forward, to stand by her man and provide
a humanizing affirmation. A look at the woman who shirked the media spotlight, as
she fought to define herself.
Doing the Tango with “Cash and Kerry”
Stalled in both fundraising and the Granite State, John
Kerry gambled big, both with his own (and his fabulously wealthy wife’s)
money, and in turning from New Hampshire to the Hawkeye State. The payoff was
huge, as the doctor-assisted murder-suicide in Iowa vaulted him into the
frontrunner spot that had been presumptively his a year earlier. With Kerry no
longer a dead man walking, the author and a student from Boston University
cross paths at a Kerry event, where they hope they can get Kerry to use his own words to return
himself to the political grave. Kerry takes a campaign theme park tour as he
tiptoes around a question about Malcolm X.
The Rising Son of the South
Another beneficiary of the Iowa negativity was the
relentlessly positive first-term Senator, John Edwards. A look at the
intriguing life of a man known for his sunny outlook, despite a personal
tragedy that he never paraded in front of the public. A look at John Edwards as well as his media efforts and his campaign
finances.
Getting Polled
In an information age, having supper interrupted by
pollsters seeking a political preference has become an unpleasant ritual for voters in
Iowa and New Hampshire. While polling numbers seem like entries into a
political scientist’s lab notebook, the process itself tends to produce
questionable data. A look at the polling process, and how exit polls sometimes
are inherently misleading.
Primary Lessons- Take Nothing for Granite
The lessons of New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary
aren’t set in stone. Still, both insurgents and establishment candidates
ignore those lessons at their own peril. A look at the modern history of the
Granite State primary, with leading experts on its history. The rise of
McCarthy, McGovern, Carter, and Clinton is contrasted with the decline of
Johnson, Muskie and Bradley, among others. Emotions run hot and cold for an
angry Bob Dole, a distraught Ed Muskie, a relieved Bill Clinton, and
presumptive nominees whose complacency would be their downfall.
Primary Day and Dirty Tricks
The “invisible primary”, all the polls, the record-breaking
fund-raising, the Iowa caucuses; none of those things really mattered in
Greenland, New Hampshire on the day of the primary. Our job was to get out the
vote, and see that the polling place ran well. During the day, rumors flew by
cellphone. Poll checking lists were taken, spies were seeking information for other campaigns,
and Dean was within one point of
Kerry; there was some truth to some of these things. The librarian from
Madbury describes how she had the Dean poll-checking list taken. Walter
Shapiro describes exit polls misleading Trippi to try to come up with synonyms
for “Comeback Kid.” State party chair Kathy Sullivan describes how she says the Dean
campaign pulled a fast one, in even having poll checkers at all. In a state
where we heard about the “Shaheen machine”, we ended up feeling as if it had
run us over.
Politics for $77, Alex
The way that money is raised and spent in political
campaigns took an evolutionary lurch with the 2004 election. Dean did harness
the Internet in ways that had only begun to be envisioned before, but he also
burned through a war chest by the time Iowa and New Hampshire were over.
This left the campaign engine running on fumes. While his fundraising is much
taunted and well documented, the profligate spending of a campaign that was
supposed to have cash to carry through June is not. Campaign finance experts
talk about Dean and his opponents, and the cost and benefit analysis of
empowerment.
Let’s do it the old-fashioned way
Suddenly, with the Dean campaign hitting the wall after New
Hampshire, its pied piper of the Internet, Joe Trippi, was gone. Trippi was
replaced by a traditional consultant who was, oh horrors, a lobbyist! Trippi’s
departure provided some clue to a campaign in turmoil. The campaign
portraying itself as "unlike any that had preceded it" would try to recover by
following the old recipes. The kids from the Portsmouth office were told that
they wouldn’t get paid anymore, and the emotional reverberations of the New
Hampshire loss rippled through the campaign.
Whatalongstrangetrippitsbeen.com
Campaign managers in other cycles have risen to
prominence in ways that seem more Vince McMahon than Thomas Jefferson.
Trippi was the preeminent political operative of 2004. The mercurial Trippi
was embraced by Dean Nation, saluted on magazine covers, and serenaded on
blogs. People who worked with him worshipped and feared him, sometimes at the
same time. Reflections on Trippi, the man who would be Carville.
Meet me in St. Louis, or Burlington, or Seattle, or
Cyberspace
The wired world began to come into focus in the primary
season of 2004. Web pages, blogging, MeetUps, and MoveOn all connected and
empowered people through the world of the Internet. Opinions, including
political opinions, are heavily shaped by an identifiable 10% of Americans.
Campaigns used the technology to build a database, and move that 10%, and the
other 90%, reflecting new thinking in politics. There was not a mass
extinction of the old ways due to the Dean comet, but the lessons learned from
the campaign inform political theory about how reflective evolution might
begin to incorporate the new ways.
Icarus Rising
In the long campaign trail to the first caucus and primary,
Dean seemed to be a Teflon candidate for many months, capable of nothing but
brilliant strategy, anticipating every next move possible in the chess game.
If time could stand still, these glory days would go on forever.
The Staff of Political Life
The people who a candidate relies upon, particularly a
candidate with no experience running his own national campaign, help determine
the candidate’s ability to weather stormy seas. The individuals Dean chose are
a reflection on the candidate; on his own personality, on his management
skills, even on his fitness to be president. An over-reliance on youth, as
well as ignoring the wisdom of veterans doomed the Dean cmpaign. This chapter looks at Dean’s key
operatives, through interviews with them and through the eyes of important
figures in other campaigns.
Melting Wax and Feathers Flying
When things went bad for the Dean campaign in December and
January, they went really bad. The campaign that once could do no wrong seemed
to be constantly on the defensive, and committing unforced errors. The
increased pace of the campaign eliminated any chance for reflectivity within the
organization. Campaign chair Steve Grossman enumerates the mistakes, including
his own. The media begins an autopsy, while the patient is still sitting in
the waiting room.
The Sum of all Fears
From the beginning of his involvement, the author feared
that the campaign’s modus operandi indicated deep problems within the
organization. Dean hadn’t even gotten to the cruelest month, when Howard Kurtz
revealed internecine conflict within the campaign that seemed to confirm the
worst fears of the grassroots. Joe Trippi, who had started his own grassroots
organization, ChangeforAmerica, on the same day he left the campaign, joined
the media chorus in diagnosing the historic arc of the campaign. Media critic
Noam Chomsky reflects on the role of the traditional media, both in its
portrayal of the struggle with the Dean organization, and in its complicity in
the meteoric fall of Howard Dean. The author suggests where the reader should
look for answers on what had really happened.
Howie, We Hardly Knew Ye
At precisely the time when the nation’s attention had turned
fully to the first ballots in the primary process, Dean was being drawn as a
caricature by opponents and the media. When the country began to let him into
their consciousness, they were told that he was private and unknowable, or
angry and unelectable. A look at the Howard Dean of the 2004 election season,
by writers who covered him, and people who worked for him, and self-reflection
from the candidate himself.
Regrowth at the Grassroots
Noam Chomsky castigates Eugene McCarthy as a
political fraud, because he just “went away” after the nomination slipped
away. Dean shows no signs of disappearing from the national stage.
DeanforAmerica morphed into DemocracyforAmerica, in an effort to continue the
grassroots movement that his campaign had symbolized. Dean works to remain a major player.
Because of his fundraising prowess other candidates vie for his support.
Meanwhile, Ralph Nader has come forth, yet again, to potentially hand another election
to the Bush cabal.
The Reckoning, and the Final Word
David Halberstam describes how an efficiency expert from the
United States helped Japan rebuild from the ashes, based upon unified cultural
goals. John Dower describes how our country could learn from the Japanese
culture that made an island nation a serious challenger to the most powerful
nation in the world. Sara Lawrence Lightfoot talks about how issues of
respect and symmetrical communication define every cultural interaction.
Howard Dean, in a single answer in an interview, reveals a measurable part of
his character that was his undoing.
Cast of Characters
Biographies of those interview subjects who were willing to
be identified.
Index
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