Attendance at the JJ

rick, i was there as well and sitting close to where you were. at one point i took some time to walk around the arena so that i could see the right hand side. i’d say that in the balcony, 50% were dean supporters, 5% gephardt, 5% kucinich, 15% edwards, 25% kerry.

the kerry peeps were well organised and enthusiastic, and i was shocked at how small the geppy presence was. the kucinich folks seemed to be having a great time, and the edwards camp appeared to be having fun as well. personally i think it’s silly to argue over numbers, but realisitically we outnumbered everyone else by a long shot. i’m going to post my pics soon, maybe that’ll help determine the count.

sorry i missed you!

oh, but i also forgot to note that the kerry sections on the left side were only about 2/3 filled up. everyone else’s sections were packed to the rim. sorry for the omission.

Anna – so sorry to have missed you! We must have been in the same section. Would have been great to say hi…

—Rick

I have photos of the Jefferson Jackson Dinner here: http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/timothy.sipples@sbcglobal.net
Click on “Iowa…” to view them.

Here are some thoughts I posted to dailykos.com about this past Saturday’s event:

==> Post #1:

Just got back from the Iowa Jefferson Jackson Dinner in Des Moines. I’ll get some photos up as soon as I recover from exhaustion, but I wanted to get some thoughts down in virtual ink before I forget.

First of all, I read the AP story describing the dinner. Were we at the same event? AP is looking for conflict between the candidates, and there really wasn’t much. Just some very oblique attacks by Kerry and by Edwards. Pretty tame, really.

I was in the Dean balcony. My overwhelming reaction was: “Man, these Dean people HAVE THEIR SHIT TOGETHER.” The level of organization was just phenomenal. Little stuff like staggering the bus loading and unloading (since they had such a big group) using a color coding system. Assigning well-trained coordinators to every bus to coach the attendees. Having every coordinator stand in the hallways to thank volunteers as they left. Picking up all reusable signs. (They have extraordinary discipline re: spending money.) Having a Plan B if one of the other candidates “went nuclear.” (We didn’t have to use Plan B, but we had it available if we needed it.) Getting the best and highest number of sign positions in the hall. And so on.

The Iowa Democratic Chairman was pissed at Clark and Lieberman. “One of these people here tonight will be President.” (And lots more references like that.) Ouch.

Here’s the order of who had the most (volume, signs, organization, people) in the hall:

1. Dean
2. Kerry
3. Edwards
4. Gephardt
5. Kucinich

Decent gap between Kerry and Edwards, then a GIANT gap between Edwards and Gephardt. Gephardt did not come to play. (He warned that ahead of the event.) There was an awkward moment of quasi-silence as Gephardt walked in compared to the top three candidates on that list. (A fair amount of cocktail party applause from the floor, but dead silence from the volume-generating balconies.) Edwards did a lot with a little. He had one section of people that was in good camera shot, and John Edwards did a lot of acknowledgement of them.

Oh, forgot outside: Fred Phelps’ not-so-merry band of sickos were outside. “God Hats Fags” and all that stuff. (Another sign in praise of 9/11.) The Dean folks were doing a pretty good job keeping big Dean signs in front of them.

Hillary Clinton was the emcee and did introductions for all the candidates. She said at the outset that she didn’t want anyone counting words or otherwise trying to divine any special meaning from her introductions, since the candidates themselves provided them. However, kudos to the Dean people: they were the only ones that figured out the system. HRC read short bios for the other five candidates (e.g. “In 1971, John Kerry was…”), but her intro for Dean was along these lines: “I appreciated Howard Dean’s support for the healthcare plan I worked so hard to achieve…” etc. A bunch of us were wondering if she was endorsing Dean. It sure sounded like it. Dean remembered that Hillary was the one reading the intro, so, if they did write it, they wrote it for her. Smart, smart, smart. They got the pronoun right.

OK, a couple other things I really liked about Dean at this event: (1) He stayed at his table and listened intently to all the other candidates. I believe Kerry, Edwards, and Gephardt bailed at one or more points. He’s the damn frontrunner, and he still shows respect for the other candidates. I noticed, and I’m sure others did, too. (2) He went through the balcony section (the “cheap seats”) and shook hands with his supporters. I didn’t see that happen otherwise.

Gephardt’s speech was workmanlike. He had the uneviable position of speaking first, and he did OK. But he wasn’t there to play like the other candidates. No cheering sections (and tickets that he’d have to buy) and few signs.

Kucinich was up next, and he had a great run-on sentence with lots of dreams about a better future. HRC even called it a “revival” speech immediately afterwards. It was fun, although it took him a while to get rolling.

Edwards came up next. The only thing I remember is that he constantly exchanged looks with his cheering section, which meant turning his back to the cameras. And, while doing so, he’d stroke his chin with his hand (out of nervousness?) I haven’t seen him do that before, so I’m not sure what that was.

Then Kerry. He has a theme now called the “Real Deal.” (Remember “New Deal”?) He was a bit hoarse but did OK. I don’t know what Real Deal is still.

Then Dean. He has the luxury now of pivoting to general election message (“I am tired of the President dividing us by…”) He’s quite simply behaving like a frontrunner, talking like a frontrunner, and setting themes like a frontrunner. Another example: “One quarter of my 200,000-plus contributors are under 30. We’re helping bring young people into the Democratic Party who will be with us for generations.” The Dean folks won the volume award with all the supporters.

Then, finally, Carol. Everybody loves Carol, and she did great. Funniest line: “I may not have as many signs here tonight…”

Overall impression, though? Dean is unbelievably well organized. I’ve never seen anything like it. (I know you’ve all heard that before, but it’s just incredible.)

==> Post #2:

In the previous Open Thread I made some comments about my first person experiences at the Iowa Jefferson Jackson Dinner last night. A couple of those points are worth expanding in this thread.

1. Dean is in full overdrive reaching out to the Democratic Party establishment, and there’s evidence he’s succeeding. For example, there’s nothing quite like a bankroll to make political consultants’ hearts skip a beat. Everyone likes a paycheck. Dean spends very carefully and frugally but does spend. He’s also making the case — convincingly, I think — that he’s going to work downticket as well. Iowa Congressman Leonard Boswell, for example, is in full overdrive talking about how Dean is going to help him get more Iowa Democrats to Washington.
2. TNR vastly overstates things by saying that Dean doesn’t have Clintonistas on his team. In Illinois, for example, the campaign chair is David Wilhelm’s partner. Steve Grossman isn’t exactly an outsider either, and he’s Dean’s fundraising chair. (Just two examples off the top of my head.)
3. Should Dean win the nomination, it wouldn’t surprise me to see him pick a VP that appeases any residual “insider” sensitivities. Watch for that. (Yes, we all know who that probably would be, but it’ll all depend on how the next few weeks unfold. So far, so good.)
4. Whether by her design or Dean’s, Senator Clinton’s most gracious and praiseful introduction was for Howard Dean. (You can read in the other thread how I think this one happened, but the Dean folks understood the exact dynamics at work and executed brilliantly.)
5. Message. “Win With Dean” was the message last night. As in, YOU win with Dean. It’s about YOU, not about us. It’s about getting you (Democratic insiders) hoardes of Democratic bodies for years to come. We serve you lobster, and Gephardt serves you macaroni and cheese (if that). We love you, we want you, so please get on board now. That was the message. Deftly delivered, I think, but unmistakable.
6. Conversion. One thing I noticed was a definite separation as the night started. The floor crowd (candlelight and silverware) started the night off a bit cold toward Dean, and the cocktail party applause was for Gephardt. By the end of the night, they were applauding Dean, I think because they realized he won the night (and perhaps in disappointment with Gephardt). Iowa Democrats, especially the insiders, are just like anyone else. They want to be loved, feel respected, and they like the biggest bouquets of flowers delivered with a giant wet kiss. Dean did that and more. I don’t know if any of that picked up on C-SPAN, but it was what I saw watching the crowds.
7. Order of appearance. Dean had the perfect speaking slot: fifth, just before the final speech, Braun’s. (Luck of the coin toss, apparently.) And Boswell (bless him) basically had an intermission (the traditional “pass the bucket” cash drive) just before Dean came on. It was like we heard from the warm-up bands and now the big act is up. So Dean got a double kick, and Kerry (particularly) had to hold his nuclear bombs. The night kept building to his appearance, then the Deanocrats got ample time to build the chanting (“We Want Dean”) during the “intermission.” HRC introduced Dean with that most deeply personal first person pronoun introduction (written for her or not, it worked), and she had to quiet down the Dean chating crowd to get the intro started. Dean also had to say “Thank you” about six million times to get the balconies to turn down the volume for just a moment. Carol bookended the whole thing beautifully. (Everybody likes her, everybody knows she’s in the next Cabinet, and there’s not a negative bone in her whole body. She was kind of the after dinner coffee for the evening.)

As an aside, the Dean folks must be awfully pleased with their execution last night. It was a small dress rehearsal for January, to exercise the ground organization, and they done good. That was the whole point: to show the folks on the floor a little bit of what they can do 50 weeks before the big dance.

Anyway, last night is one big example of what the Dean folks seem to be doing elsewhere. I’m sure they know that any “outsider” campaign ruffles feathers, and they need to pave the way for healing and unity to take on the Big Evil. (Doesn’t hurt that it really is the Big Evil.) Reagan had the same problem (briefly) in 1980, with the establishment wing of the Republican Party represented by George H.W. Bush that year. Iowa is just one of the more obvious places that courtship is going on this year. And it sure is fun and exciting to watch.

==> Post #3:

It would not surprise me if the Iowa Democratic Party knew exactly how much money they raised from each candidates’ supporters, down to the section numbers. I can only speak to the bucket that passed by me, and I didn’t see anyone in our Dean section fail to put some paper (not coin) in. We were having a good time, and we were happy to chip in. A buck here, a fiver there, and pretty soon you’re talking about real money. Even if everyone gave at the same rate (big if), if you have the biggest turnout you provide the biggest tribute.

And another thing. Dean distributed 99 signs throughout the balconies with each county name. They knew by section where each county had supporters seated, so they’d shout out “Clarke County,” they’d get their match, and pretty soon all 99 were represented. (There was no cheating on this one. They really did have at least one real person from each of Iowa’s 99 counties.)

OK, I’m sweating the really small stuff here, but that’s the whole point. It’s all part of the process of reaching out to attract additional supporters, in this case Iowa’s elected officials, county chairs, precinct captains, union local officials, activists, business leaders, etc., etc. It was like a peacock parade, with each bird (candidate) spreading its feathers to strut its stuff. Some birds decided to stay behind in the coop, some had their feathers missing, and one of them paid a visit to the Clinique Spa for the full treatment before appearing.

==> Post #4:

At the Dean rally (at the high school), he made a point of joking about how his supporters hear the same lines over and over (and why he does it). Basically he said it was a little like a Grateful Dead concert in that fans still wanted to hear the totally familiar. So that little bit of “inside baseball” wasn’t evident from the C-SPAN broadcast, but what it did do was prepare all the Dean balconies for the repeat lines to come in the big hall. (It wasn’t ALL repetitious, but a lot of it was.) This accomplished two things:

1. We basically had the applause rehearsal at the high school without even knowing it at the time. (We knew when to cheer and when the natural breaks were.)
2. We weren’t disappointed. We knew exactly what to expect — he just told us he was going to repeat himself — and we knew we were there to help Dean spread the words again to people who haven’t heard.

The joke at his own rally didn’t make it into the big hall, obviously.

Takes you task is a bit of a mild way of putting it. Glad you didn’t say something like perhaps Kerry was to busy figuring out who to get rid of next or something. Seems to me Daniel D protests a bit too much.

How come there weren’t any Pickup Trucks with Confederate Flags? No one held up a Confederate Flag in the Howard Dean Camp. Me thinks Howard Dean is out of touch with his supporters.

One interesting point (NOT) made on Fox News Channel is that all of these Primary Democrats (all 9 elitsts) are going to end up spending 1 million dollars per week.

One of Rick Klau’s points he made on this forum was to show how much money is being made by the various Democrats in comparison to President George W. Bush.

Well with at least 3 Democrats still neck and neck with each other through the nation (I.E. Beyond Iowa and New Hampshire), Howard Dean along with the other candidates will most certainly spend millions of dollars just to win the political nomination.

This whole ‘Jump for Glee, Jump for Joy’ ‘Anyone But Bush, Hurraah!’ is actually a stupid philosophy. It basically puts democrat against democrat and supporters against supporters and the money gets drained and drained during the Primarys. One of the most fought after Primarys is going to be most of the most expensive ever.

So… Economically and Realisticlly, it makes absolutley no economic sense or political sense to have 9 candidates vying for the nomination. Why is it that Democrats can’t simply find a Front Runner in the bunch like us Republicans can?

You have a short memory. From the Feb. 2000 Primary Watch (Concord Monitor, Concord, NH):

[i]Big bucks: Bush’s campaign has now raised more than $68.7 million, more money than any other presidential candidate ever has, and is about to break all spending records as well. In 1996, Republican nominee Bob Dole spent $42.2 million for his entire campaign.

Bush spent almost $17.3 million – some $200,000 a day – in the three months before the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary and is nearing the spending record for an entire presidential campaign.

His spending total for the period between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31 was far more than any of the other contenders for the Republican nomination, according to reports filed yesterday with the Federal Election Commission. Bush already has spent almost as much money – $37.3 million – as most of the other candidates will be allowed to spend for their entire campaigns. (He has not agreed to spending limits and will not be eligible for federal funding.)[/i]

Oh yes, and by my count, at this point in the Republican race in ’99/‘00, there were at least 7 GOP contenders. Bush, McCain, Bauer, Keyes, Forbes, Hatch & Buchanan.

You have a short memory. From the Feb. 2000 Primary Watch (Concord Monitor, Concord, NH):

[i]Big bucks: Bush’s campaign has now raised more than $68.7 million, more money than any other presidential candidate ever has, and is about to break all spending records as well. In 1996, Republican nominee Bob Dole spent $42.2 million for his entire campaign.

Bush spent almost $17.3 million – some $200,000 a day – in the three months before the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary and is nearing the spending record for an entire presidential campaign.

His spending total for the period between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31 was far more than any of the other contenders for the Republican nomination, according to reports filed yesterday with the Federal Election Commission. Bush already has spent almost as much money – $37.3 million – as most of the other candidates will be allowed to spend for their entire campaigns. (He has not agreed to spending limits and will not be eligible for federal funding.)[/i]

Oh yes, and by my count, at this point in the Republican race in ’99/‘00, there were at least 7 GOP contenders. Bush, McCain, Bauer, Keyes, Forbes, Hatch & Buchanan.

Allison,

your not very bright are you?

It would have been very interesting if Allison were to explain who the OTHER neck and neck candidate in the Republican Primary with Bob Dole was.

Or why President George W. Bush was able to amass far more money than in RECORD HISTORY for any political party and campaign when going against John McCain. (Who by the way was the ONLY SINGLE significant Primary contender). Bush was seen prior to the Primary Voting to be able to gather money on a CONTINUAL basis…. In that regard. It was never a problem for Bush to spend as much as he did because he kept getting more donated to him hand over fist.

With around 9 candidates of which at least 5 are significant with at least 3 neck and neck… This is a VERY different situation.

Geeze. Allison. Nice SPIN WORK but you need to go back and study some more and reach beyond the third grade intellect.

Ah yes, when refuted with facts, resort to name calling. That’s the way to win people over to your position! Boo hoo, I’m so upset….

If you want to reach back to ’96 when your guy got thumped by Clinton, let’s go there. Or would you prefer to go back all the way to ’92 when your sitting president got womped by a governor from Arkansas in his first national bid? That would be fun.

Since you asked me to “explain who the OTHER neck and neck candidate in the Republican Primary with Bob Dole was”, that man’s name was PAT BUCHANAN. He actually won the NH primary that year. Have you forgotten already? The other guy in the race was Lamar Alexander, by the way. What ever happened to him, anyway?

Here’s the quote from the Monitor back then:

“Pat Buchanan scored a close-but-shocking win over Bob Dole in the nation’s first primary Tuesday night, turning this battle into a wild, three-man scramble for the nomination.”

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