I Wrote a Handwritten Letter to Howard Dean and Received a Letter Back Today:

[mod mom]

When I went to the mailbox today, a letter with my name/address hand written in blue marker stood out. I brought it down to the Obama office where I volunteer and folks there agreed it appeared to be an actual signature not a stamp. There was references to the '04 Ohio election that I wrote about, some of which I would like to share with you. He thanked me for my activism and wrote this about elections:

"YOU HAVE RAISED THE IMPORTANCE OF VOTER PROTECTION AND ELECTION TRANSPARENCY. AS YOU WELL KNOW, THERE WERE MANY PROBLEMS IN 2004-IN OHIO AND NATIONWIDE. WE ARE DETERMINED THAT THIS WILL NOT HAPPEN AGAIN. IN AUGUST, THE DNC LAUNCHED AN UNPRECEDENTED VOTER PROTECTION EFFORT ON A SCALE NEVER ATTEMPTED BEFORE."


I also thought the following 2 sentences written by Gov Dean would help clarify the position on MI and FL:

"I WANT TO EMPHASIZE THAT THE DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE WILL BE DETERMINED IN ACCORDANCE WITH PARTY RULES. OUT OF RESPECT FOR THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGNS AND THE STATES THAT DID NOT VIOLATE PARTY RULES, WE ARE NOT GOING TO CHANGE THE RULES IN THE MIDDLE OF THE GAME".

Anyways, I hope this will reassure some folks here.

PS. I hope folks here will get involved in Sen Obama's 50 State VOTE FOR CHANGE voter registration. It will not only help our chances to win the presidency, but will help all the Democratic races down ticket. You can find a location near you at the link below:

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/vfc_landing_page /

[LakeSamish706]

1. Very interesting... Thanks for sharing. n/t

[99th_Monkey]

2. Maybe you should mail a copy of the memo to Hillary. ~nt~

[PassingFair]

3. He's got more guts than any other person I know.

She's gonna flame herself out on this, I'm afraid.

[TheDoorbellRang]

4. We are so lucky to have him at the helm

hang in there, Howard!

[Zodiak]

6. I was so proud to vote for him in 2004

I didn't get him as President, but we got him fighting for us nonetheless!

[mod mom]

9. Me too! It was Dr Dean who first inspired me to become politically active. I appreciate

his fight for us Democrats. Remember how the DLC types trashed his 50 state strategy and attempted to diminish his importance? They were wrong and we will win in November with Sen Obama's 50 state Vote for Change strategy of building the party with new voters and especially young people so that our party stays strong for years to come!

[olkaz]

22. No kidding! Howard Dean's 50-State strategy is saving the party.

And I love how the Clinton camp loathes him. The DLC is shrinking back to the dark corner further every day.

[JimGinPA]

5. Thanks For Sharing That...

And for writing him in the first place.

K&R

[SoCalDem]

7. Change the WAY we vote for nationally held offices ONLY

States & localities could still use their vapor-vote 3000s, SuperDuperVoteEaters..platinum, diamond encrusted Diebolds or whatever..

BUT for offices that convey a winner to WASHINGTON DC, we MUST have a NEW way..A singular system for ALL states.,.

1. Infinitely recountable
2. Simple to count & tally
3. Storable (hard copy)
4. Easy to read/understand/use


A simple 5 x 7 card and a sharpie pen is ALL we need..all we have EVER needed

The names of congress, senate, presidential candidates could either be displayed and then WRITTEN by the voter on the appropriate lines or the names could be printed IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER , with a CheckBox IMMEDIATELY BEFORE the name... as in connected with a line,,a short line.. a la...(checkbox)___AL Gore

In ANY given year this special ballot would never have more than THREE choices , and in some years, would only have ONE choice (congress votes every 2 years)

Each polling place could have a "counter" like they have in banks, that counts the number of UNVOTED ballots in the am, and then counts the spoils & the voted ballots at the end of the day..

voters sign in
vote and drop the ballot into a box

150 unvoted ballots in the am
100 sign in
3 people requerst new ballots
there should be 47 UNVOTED ballots and 3 spoils , which would have an immediate giant "X" drawn on the front.

A simple chalk board, legal pad whatever.. is all one would need to tally the TWO major candidates for each race..then that total called in to central vote counting.

The whole counting process is videotaped and everything is then packed up for counting the "lesser candidates's" totals via scanner/counter.

No one waits up until 2 am to see how many votes the Independence party candidate won in the 4th district of Anywhere, USA.

There are plenty of PEOPLE..real live humans who would LOVE to get paid every 2 or 4 years to manage this easy type of election..

What the states, localities do with their state offices & local propositions, is of NO concern to me...except in my OWN area, so if Ohio wants to make their state elections quirky & complicated, I don't care at all, but I DO care if they muck up the presidential, congressional or senatorial races, because who they send affects ME too

[atufal1c]

11. Delete

[Mme. Defarge]

8. Excellent --

congrats!

[KaryninMiami]

10. Which is why I will always be a Dean fan- he is exactly what our party needs.

Also why I will donate to the national DNC but to the Florida Democratic (Clintonista) thugs who hijacked our primary votes and are now demanding that they count them anyway-- including my congressperson Debbie Wasserman Schultz-- you'll never get a dime from me until we have a major change in teams.

Love you Howard- Nelson, Meek, Thurman, Wasserman-Schultz- you are a disgrace.

[scarletwoman]

12. Way cool! k&r (nt)

[Rose Siding]

13. "WE ARE NOT GOING TO CHANGE THE RULES IN THE MIDDLE OF THE GAME"

That's all we need to know, really, isn't it?

The only remaining question is about how much earth Sen Clinton will scorch in her vain quest.

[MilesColtrane]

21. She'll scorch it and salt it with nuclear waste so no Democratitc votes grow there...

...for years.

[Me.]

14. So Basically She's Wasting Her Breath

And one must ask to what purpose. She must know this. So what is she expecting, people in the streets? Frankly I regard this as a hissy fit from someone who thought they were inevitable and simply cannot believe what has happened. She can't accept responsibility for the fact that she ran a lousy campaign. I'm so glad Dr. Dean is at the helm. Which by the way is another misjudgment on their part. They made him party chair to stop him from running for pres. again, that was the deal, remember? Who knew he would take it so seriously and build the party from the bottom up when the likes of Emmanuel, Schumer, Carville etc., were whining about money and castigating him for being a fool. He knew exactly what he was doing and it will serve Obama well. The joke is on them but as we've seen, they have no sense of humor.

[mod mom]

15. or she's hurting his chances and the joke is on us. They've made a lot of $. Someone

must be owed corporate favors.

[Me.]

16. I Worried Aboout That

but am beginning to think that not only is she becoming irrelevant, she is starting to become a national joke. Her speech yesterday was so insane in its premise that its like she's running her campaugn in another dimension. Obama, meanwhile is quietly moving on, picking a veep, taking over the DNC. It like all the partygoers have gone home and she's the only who hasn't taken her host's hint and is standing there with a lampshade on her head.

[mod mom]

17. Me,

I believe you know how I feel about the Clinton and their ties to Jackson Stephens (bush/BCCI financier). She appears to truly believe Sen Obama CAN'T win (as she states) Perhaps she know the folks behind controlling the outcome of elections (think Diebold etc) would only allow someone who would adopt their pro-corporate fascism. Either Clinton or McCain would allow bush to fade away without conviction and would most likely continue the policies that Bill and Bush put into place. I think Obama's strategy of building a base that can't be stolen (to large of a margin) is brilliant. I hope Gov Dean is correct in his comment on election protection. This time we HAVE TO fight for our victory.

[AzDar]

18. Why, that is just COOL !

[billyoc]

19. Nothing gets the same attention as a handwritten letter.

Thanks for posting the news.

[greguganus]

23. ESPECIALLY IF HE WROTE IT IN ALL CAPS. n/t

[mod mom]

24. He didn't of course. I wanted his statements to stand out and be definitely separate from mine.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

20. That's thought provoking

That there will be no changing of the rules mid game, which would be viewed by many as unfair to the states that did not break the rules, speaks volumes. Since those involved in the presidential campaigns have already been privy to this information it begs the question. Just what exactly is Hillary hoping to gain by this? What is her end goal? She knows what the ultimate results will be and yet she continues. She's a politician through and through. Politicians do nothing without having an ultimate goal in sight. What is it?

[dana_b]

27. it's a game, or so I've been told

yesterday I wrote an e-mail to green 960 in San francisco - specifically to a lady named Angie, and she read my letter on the air. It basically stated just what you said and one of the pundits said "look, you have to remeber that politics is a game. We like to think that the fight fo r the presidency is some noble cause, but to them it's a game". I didn't like the answer but I understood it.

[Terri S]

25. I've emailed him numerous times about this

Goes to show you what a difference a hand-written letter makes. I've never received a reply to my emails, and I was beginning to worry about whether he would stand strong on the rules.

Thanks for posting this, and encouraging me to take out the old paper and stamps to make the most impact.

[dana_b]

26. thank you. you and Howard have help calm my fears.

Hillary will still fight, but at least we know how it will go on the 31st.

[dchill]

28. Good on you! K & R!

Way cool!