Dean Meetup Meetings...

[PaDUer]

Has anyone attended the Dean Meetup meetings, or is anyone here involved? What's your opinion of it?

[AWD]

1. It's energizing

It feels great to discover all these people who feel the same way as you do, and it really helps knowing that you're not alone. Makes campaigning fun, especially this early in the season.

Try it.

[ret5hd]

2. going tonite, 7pm, angelos in w. fort worth.

[hotphlash]

3. I'm gonna wait a bit. Still looking at Kerry.

I want to see a debate or two before I go to a meetup.

[madfloridian]

4. Yes, they are great.

:hi:

We have double the number signed up for this one.

[intheozone]

5. yes, I have been going since March

here in Sacramento, CA the first meeting in March had about 20 people. Last month's meeting had 125 people. Can't wait to see how many will be there tonight. Last month we did letters to Iowa voters, and everyone particpated, willing. People we excited, energized and happy to be there. If you haven't attended one, you should, even if you go alone you'll come away feeling better.

edit: to fix subject line (so glad that is an option now)

[dofus]

6. I've also gone to several of them

here in KC and find they lift my spirits in this sorry time.

[PaDUer]

7. Have you all bought

your notebooks yet? Who's there that supplies them? It appears that the Dean Meetup is moving slowly, but moving. I also see the Edwards Meetup is attempting to find a meeting place..Who collects the money to join and who's present at the meetings?

[ryharrin]

11. What do you mean bought notebooks?

And there's no money to join, so I don't know what you mean by that. The only people present at the meetings are local people interested in Howard Dean. You don't even necessarily have to be a Dean supporter, you can go just to find out more.

[PaDUer]

14. here's the link for this---

Here's the first paragraph for the info..please check out..
http://www.meetup.com/faq/plus/

Meetup Frequent Questions
How much does it cost to join Meetup+?
$19 per 6 months or $29 per year. That's around $3 per month. (It's free to sign-up for Meetups.)

[dofus]

15. Why bother with

Meetup +? In a word, don't.

It doesn't cost anything to do the Dean Meetup thing, other than any costs incurred if you order something at the restaurant where it's held. Which is actually a bit of a problem, and here in KC it's been discussed about holding the Meetup at a non-restaurant site, but apparently the Meetup organization itself selects the venues.

[onecitizen]

8. I tried to go to one......

tonight and only 5 others had signed up so they cancelled!! BooHoo.

I wish they would have let the 6 of us meet. That way we could start organizing. Doncha think? Or is it not done that way?

[UnapologeticLiberal]

13. I thought you need 5 to have a meetup

I thought 5 was the minimum. I hate the way the meetup site is designed...you can't see the e-mail addresses for the other people, so you cannot contact them to arrange to meet.

[nostamj]

9. sadly, in brooklyn

it's at a loud crowded BAR. went to one, passed on tonight's.

an utter and complete waste of time. IMHO.

too bad. I do like what the man's saying but... a loud crowded BAR???

no thanks.

[David Zephyr]

10. Been To One, Tonight's My Second.

Embryonic still, but a cultural happening seeing so many people from different walks of life and stripes ready for an election that won't happen until over a year from now.

Good stuff.

[MGKrebs]

12. Been to 4 now.

The way I understand it, at meetup.com there is something called a meetup+ member (perhaps they have to pay to be a member). Those folks get to nominate venues for meetings for their group. Then, when you or I go to meetup.com and find the group we are interested in, there will be a place for you to vote on the nominated venues. The winner gets the meetup.

Someone told me that they way meetup does it is that they contact the nominated venues and make a deal with them. They basically solicit bids from these establishments to host the event. The restaurant gets the business, meetup gets a fee. I suspect sometimes that the venues that would make a good meeting place don't submit a good bid, so they don't get on the final list. Ours was in a loud restaurant tonite.

I think it's a pretty good business idea. Kudos to them. It's a legitimate service they are providing, and everybody wins.

[yellowdog]

16. Went to my third one at a coffe house on Wednesday night.

Like a couple other people have said, they can be very energizing. I am also on the local Dean steering committee and we have seperate meetings for that.

[deutsey]

17. I loved the first one I went to so much, I organized a new one!

I went to a Dean Meetup in Baltimore and was really impressed with the grassroots enthusiasm I felt there. It was nothing like I've ever seen at a political campaign event.

However, I wasn't sure I'd be able to make it to B'more that often because I live on the other side of the Bay. Soooooo, I decided to organize one in my hometown. We had 36 people attend it last night, not including the reporter from our local paper who was there as well. The Dem candidate for the US House was also there. The political oldhands were saying it's very unusual to have this many people show up for political meeting in our area. :-) We're already looking into a larger venue for next month.

It was great!

Here are some links for photos of Dean Meetups around the country (this is just a small sampling of photos currently available; many more will be posted later today).

Augusta, ME
http://dean2004.meetup.com/photos/?locale=465&time=200308061900

Austin, TX
http://dean2004.meetup.com/photos/?locale=27&time=200308061900

Bellingham, WA
http://dean2004.meetup.com/photos/?locale=36&time=200308061900

Boston, MA
http://dean2004.meetup.com/photos/?locale=51&time=200308061900

Houston, TX
http://dean2004.meetup.com/photos/?locale=196&time=200308061900

New Hampshire
http://dean2004.meetup.com/photos/us/nh/manchester

Pamona-Claremont, CA
http://dean2004.meetup.com/photos/?locale=608&time=200308061900

Washington, DC
http://dean2004.meetup.com/photos/us/dc/washington

[newyawker99]

18. I am locking this thread.

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NYer99
DU Moderator