I took the day to go to the DNC Northeast Regional Caucus in New York today. I got there thinking that I wouldn’t have a problem getting in but was told by a very nice young gatekeeper that I was out of luck. I had to have pre-registered. Lucky for me I stood there shocked while the nice man apologized for the rules change and assured me that I wasn’t the only person he sent packing because in that minute another man, who had also been told he couldn’t get in, but then did, showed up, figured out that I was getting booted and told me the magic words to say and to whom to say them. Five minutes later I was sitting in a beautiful balconied ballroom waiting to hear the candidates pitch about two hundred delegates.

I’ll put my notes from the forum at the end of the post. I have a feeling that they’re similar to other accounts I saw, but haven’t read yet, posted here, here, here and here. So first I’ll tell you who I saw and what I think I figured out from showing up today.

Rob Wilfong from the Daily Show sat two rows in front of me in the cheap seats behind the row of cameras. It was very funny to watch him tape a bunch of reaction shots to nothing in particular. It looked like his cameraman taped Frost’s, Webb’s and Dean’s opening remarks but I’m pretty sure he shut the camera off when Rosenberg started his. I think it was the luck of the draw and nothing personal - they had enough tape. And let’s face it, Dean’s the big name. One of Simon’s advance people was sitting next to me and when I told her that they weren’t taping her guy, she sighed, “He doesn’t get any press.” That’s the price you pay for being part of the dark DLC empire and avoiding press for so long. There were a lot of Simon boosters there, all very eager to talk about their guy and how he knows best how to build an effective network. I got the idea that they think because he’s been in the DLC pit, he can best figure out how to leverage it. I’m not sure about that. I saw the results of Clinton’s miserable Third Way thinking and I don’t want anymore of it. Lie down with dogs … There was a ton of Dean people from DFA, equally vocal about their guy and his organizational/inspirational skills. The other candidates had supporters but fewer as far as I could tell.

The caucus was like a big houseparty. Candidates for vice-chair were answering questions in hallways for small groups of delegates. The vice chair campaigns were fun in fact. Just outside the main ballroom, where the forum for chair candidates was held, they each had a mini-campaign site set up. If you walked too slowly past them, a sticker supporting someone would end up slapped on your coat. I got tagged by Marjorie Harris. I met Al Sharpton sitting at a table near the Harris people. I took the chance to thank him for his speech at the convention, which is one of the things I watch whenever I need to remember why I care to be involved in politics at all. Someone took our picture while I was gushing to him about his speech being the soul of the party so if you see a photo anywhere of a white woman in an orange coat shaking Sharpton’s hand, I’m the white woman.

The forum for the chair candidates was very good and informative. I heard Rosenberg say that this format was the best of all the regional caucuses. Each candidate was allowed a five-minute opening speech which did a good job highlighting the fact that there are real choices to make among the them. The only ones I wrote right off were Frost and Roemer. Frost just doesn’t seem to get what’s needed to fight the GOP machine. And Roemer is a Republican. At one point he said that we can’t let “special interests tell us what do to” on choice. If you read the other accounts you’ll read about the hissing that comment stirred up. That was me. My uterus isn’t a “special interest.” I figured hissing wasn’t as challenging as booing, but it’s equally effective and very spooky when a bunch of people pick it up, which they did. I will say that it took some guts for Roemer to take that shot because there was no wiggle room on Roe today. It was the go-to issue when a candidate wanted to prove that he’ll fight for core Democratic principles. I don’t know how much that will mean in future campaigns but I know that at least the delegates who came today were happy to hear commitment to Roe every time a candidate voiced it.

After the forum for the chairs, I went to a lunch hosted by the NJDems. There were also hospitality suites that I didn’t try to find. The Chair candidates floated in and out of the Jersey lunch to work the room before the vice-chair forum at 2:30p. Dean and Rosenberg came through when I was there. They were both trying to talk to as many people as possible and hit them with their selling points. Rosenberg is a forceful personality and very charismatic. I wanted to believe him. He’s an east coast Clinton. He emphasizes technology and media every chance he gets and the importance of using it to build an effective party. He mentioned the importance of blogs and called them something like our opinion media outlets. I forget the exact wording. I think he may be overestimating the sway blogs hold when there’s nobody above them picking up the threads like the GOP does for their side. But that’s why he’s the visionary and I’m the disgruntled blogger who contacted BlogPAC and never heard back. He also talked about getting funding for a liberal television network and expanding liberal talk radio, which would solve the problem of the cap on Blogistan. Dean answered media questions and clearly understands the need for opposition media but he really likes to likes to talk about getting votes by re-framing issues and talking directly to people year round. So the Dems will be the party that supports a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions. It will be the party of fairness instead of gay rights or even civil rights. Someone’s been reading his Lakoff.

In fact, they’ve all been reading their Lakoff, which is good news. I trapped Leland in the lobby and asked if as Chair he’d support a boycott of WalMart. And by “support” I mean not join in when the GOP calls us Commie elitists. His aide couldn’t get away from me quick enough but I held on to Leland. He said that we don’t want to talk about boycotting, we want to talk about buying union products elsewhere - and we want to remember that WalMart provides goods at low prices to people who are our constituents too. I didn’t bother to remind him that buying union products elsewhere is getting to be impossible in some areas or that our constituents are forced to buy at super discounts because we’re letting our unions die. Instead I reassured him that we didn’t want to destroy WalMart, just unionize it. He said that he would support that, of course, just frame it up better. Now Leland isn’t going to be chair, but his reaction wasn’t unique. The two words “boycott WalMart” clear a room and make Wall Street tremble.

I have to admit I was very disappointed by the low interest in labor issues from the candidates and from the audience. If Roe was a touchstone, labor issues were practically a pariah. The labor vote is sort of covered by “jobs.” When I asked any candidate how he would reach out to labor, I heard “We’ll talk about jobs and healthcare.” I should have asked what I meant which was How does the party plan to help save labor? Because our numbers are shrinking fast and after four more years of BushCo’s union bashing, membership could be down around 10%. When I mentioned something along those lines to Rosenberg as he was being shepherded into another delegate meeting, he politely and quickly told me that “that’s what labor groups are for.” I talked to Wellington Webb about the NAACP and race issues and got a similar vibe.

Lesson learned. Rosenberg and Webb are right. Labor, minorities, women, working poor, poor, environmentalists, fair traders and progressives in general aren’t going to get a miracle from the party no matter who’s the Chair. The party is too hooked on the heroin of big money to take any chances. The difference between the parties is that the GOP deals it, the Dems are desperate users. The corpofascists who run the country know that the GOP is ultimately their party and so they fund them appropriately, building whole communication networks for them. They feed the Dems just enough to keep them hooked and as it turns out, the Dems give them an excellent return on their dollar - like any junkie would. So any real change is going to have to come from the people, as usual, and it’s going to take incredible organization and commitment. GOP-type commitment, but without benefit of GOP-style moneyed outreach. That’s why I’m even more sure that Dean’s the right guy for the Chair job - and believe me, I was wavering for a few minutes today. (Damn that Rosenberg charm!)

The trick is going to be to get the roots stirred up to act and then get attention paid to them when they do. If, for instance, the SEIU and the rest of labor can manage a WalMart action, or if the NAACP can put a voting rights action together, DFA, among a hundred other groups, should be there. DFA = Dean. Dean = the Democratic party. So, even if the party chooses not to initiate action and heaven knows it won’t, it can be dragged in to comment and support any action that grassroots groups organize. Rosenberg is that extra step removed from the roots which makes it easier for the media and the faint-hearted in the party itself to ignore the connection between populist activism, the Dem’s message and their base. Dean makes the connections unavoidable. And Rosenberg is a nice, smart guy who values conciliation. Dean’s a fighter. He’s no Eugene Debs, but he’s no shrinking violet. And if it’s a fight he thinks he can win, he’s a bulldog. We face difficult times ahead that don’t call for compromise and Third Ways. We need a fighter at the top of the party. It’s up to us to make our fights ones he can win.

My notes:

Opening Remarks:

Frost: LIKES TO SHOUT! Since he’s from Texas he listed his east coast bona fides: he was inspired to enter politics by the civil rights movement and he clerked for the judge who wrote the Roe decision. Roe! Dems have to make it clear that we can keep America safe. He blamed all of the Dems’ problems in Texas on redistricting. He was also very proud of not losing his race by as wide a margin as he could have. He shouted about grassroots for minute then said that the Chair wouldn’t be the only spokesman for the party which suggested that Dean would overshadow the party.

Wellington Webb - Told the delegates that as Chair he would give them something to do so they don’t leave meetings without a viable role. He said that delegates should be informed about events in the planning stages. IA and NH should stay first to protect the small states. He said he has CEO and political experience - gotta work with the governors. The Party needs a message, the mechanics of the message and a communicator. As a person of color he would show that the party matches its words with its deeds. He mentioned that minority corporations only get 2% of the contracts for the party? I may have that wrong although the 2% number is right. He said that was a disgrace and he’s right.

Dean - Told the delegates that he’d have jobs for them too. He told the room that through DFA he’s built a group of committed Democrats who stayed active supporting Kerry even after he left the race for president. He wants to empower the state committees. Emulate the discipline of the GOP. Hire paid DNC employees to staff the states. Four year campaign, not 8 months. He made a big deal about targetting down-ballot races, which is key. He said that anyone who touches a ballot or counts a ballot should be targetted. I guess that’s a pragmatist’s view of election reform.

Rosenberg - Dems have to save the country from radical GOP. We’re on the right side of history. Wants to match investment in media organizations and build up local parties. New commitment to grassroots. He has experience in 48/50 states. Nobody knows him because he’s been in the trenches. War Room! I still say that nobody knows him because he was working in the DLC shadows. As Chair he will: bring whole party together, manage new tools and technologies, nuture grassroots, draw on his proven red-state success.

Fowler - He opened by scaring us. He said the GOP wage a permenant campaign, which is true. They want to decimate our party - also true. The Dems need to be invited home to dinner by America again. America needs to know our values: fair wage, equal pay, environment, healthcare… As the Simon woman next to me said - why doesn’t he tell us how to do that?

Roemer - 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! He told a story about a woman who showed him a ring that was found at the WTC with her husband’s finger still in it. So that creeped us out. 9/11! He was on that commission that BushCo finally supported. He did that. He won in Indiana. He took a shot at Dean by saying that he doesn’t only represent the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party. So props to Roemer for being honest about being Republican. On choice he said that we shouldn’t let special interest groups tell us what to do. If you read other accounts of today, you’ll read about hissing. I started that hissing. My uterus isn’t a special interest.

Leland - he’s from Ohio.

The Q&A: The moderator read a delegate question for one of the panelists, who would have 2 minutes to answer. Then, to be sure nobody fell asleep, he’d pick a candidate at random to answer the same question.

1. Would you speak out against a future BushCo nominee if he/she had support in the Senate but a majority of the DNC were opposed?

Webb - yes but we’d have to be careful in some cases - like with Rice. We wouldn’t want opposition to her to be read as opposition to an educated black woman. This point got cheers from educated black women.

PopQuiz to …. Rosenberg! Chair offers private advice. Can’t oppose leadership. Chair is consensus builder. He looked like he was in pain when he gave this answer so I give him credit for saying it.

2. How can DNC Chair work with Reid and Pelosi?

Leland: must deliver message to all parts of party and then all parts of party must deliver the message.

Dean, wake up! - He’s between Webb and Rosenberg on the idea of challenging leadership. (At this point I thought he had missed the question but then he brought it around.) Can’t embarrass a Dem in a conservative district. (that’s the difference between Dems and GOP) He said it’s smart to pick issues. Message should be built from states in not from Washington out. He said we should avoid problems by figuring out where everyone is ahead of time by working closely with the DCCC and the DSCC.

3. What are you going to do about the media machine the GOP have built?

Frost - get that small donor list that MacAuliffe put together and on Feb. 13 start asking those people to be organizers and verifiers in their communities. Spread message that way. (a Simon supporter who works in DC and was sitting next to me called MacAuliffe’s list “something from Oz,” which meant that it was either mythical or only available to they guys behind the curtain because he’s never seen anything from it. I liked that guy.)

Roemer, think fast - Money, message, mechanism. Electoral reform. (Roemer’s comments on electoral reform got a big response but nobody else really picked up on them. Nobody seems to get that we’ve been disenfranchised and that we aren’t going to get anywhere without the vote. They want to win by margins so great that the fraud won’t matter, but a third of America votes on machines that are unauditable. We need to take them to school.)

4. Specifically, how will you compete with right wing media?

Fowler - talk to people on the ground. He really didn’t answer this question.

Webb, you’re up again! - Salazar won by running to the middle. Then he said something about women that I didn’t write down, but at least it didn’t make me hiss.

5. The campaign has seen some elbows thrown. If you aren’t Chair, will you still stay active?

Frost - He’s been attacked via email. He will still be active in the party if he doesn’t win.

Webb - One first day he would ask everyone on the stage to join hands and work together. Wants to work so that next time there are women and latinos on the stage. Party’s actions must be consistent with its words.

Dean - I’d work through DFA. We’ve been getting people elected. “I love this stuff.” Dean got a big response here from the many DFAers in the room including me. That’s Dean’s magic. He’s inspired an army and he’s had success with it.

Rosenberg - He introduced some young people from Tufts who came to support him. Tufts Dems Rool!!! He wanted to make three points: 1. this is a new era of politics. It’s more participatory, one-to-one. He will help figure out how to build the new politics. 2. He mentioned his Democracy Alliance. Wants think tanks, blogs, media to take on Limbaugh. 3. Wants weekly meetings a la La Norquistimo. Right now the party doesn’t feel like it’s on the “same page.”

Fowler - I grew up in the party. We should be able to handle some elbowing during this campaign. If we can’t, we shouldn’t think we can be Chair. He plays basketball with his best friends and they knock each other down and draw blood but their best friends when the game is over.

Roemer - quoted Dr. King. He’s seen the mountaintop. Dems are party of the future. He’s had oppo research done on him. He’s had phone banking done against him. He’s climbing that mountain. (He’s Moses and Dr. King rolled into one.)

Leland - I love the Dem Party.

Then they talked about the Fowler Amendments, about which I am uninformed. I gathered that they are measures that want to make the budgeting more transparent and increase leadership diversity.
Dean: He’s confident that the issues raised by the Fowler Amendments will be worked out. When he’s Chair we will not waste time fighting over crossing t’s and dotting i’s. “I won’t stand for it.” That got a big response.
Rosenberg: opposed to at least one of the amendments because it won’t help diversity.
Fowler: stood up for his father and said that his dad is great and that he supports diversity.
Leland: the states have to take a leadership role in diversifying the party.
Webb: I’m the vice chair and I haven’t seen the budget. (think about that - he’s the vice chair and he doesn’t know what the budget looks like)

7. How can we win in the cities? How can we win in rural areas?

Frost - Don’t ignore rural areas in Northeast. Talk healthcare, jobs.

Dean - 95% of America wants the same things: national security, they want a strong military but they want the US to be the moral leader of the world, job opportunity, economic security and since most bankruptcies are caused by health expenses they want to hear about healthcare, and education. The Dems must be the party of change, the party of reform. Budget reform, healthcare reform, education reform that’s more than just a slogan, and election reform.

Webb - The reason the message doesnt’ get through is that we don’t show up until presidential election time. Talk jobs, public education, social security, Roe. Show up on Main Street and at truck stops.

Rosenberg - We have to have faith in ourselves again. We need to have rural/urban strategies for all fifty states. We need the courage to do the hard things - NH and IA shouldn’t hold the position they do in the primaries. We should give Af-Ams the chance to vote in the early stages. That got a big response from the room and rightly so.