Thursday, March 03, 2005

Howard Dean in Jackson, Mississippi

So I got to see Howard Dean the other night here in little ole Jackson, Mississippi. Attended a reception, thanks to Rita Royals of the Mississippi Democratic Club of Jackson (thanks also to Marianne Royals Wynn), at a private residence. He gave a little speech in the backyard and took some (pretty good) questions.

He noted that there were some places in America where being a Democrat was socially unacceptable and he wanted to change that. Expected characters were there (Wayne Dowdy, Gov. Winter, Gov. Musgrove) along with some of the money people I presume.
The big dinner, at the Clarion Hotel, was packed with ravenous Democrats! It was like a rock-n-roll show. Very encouraging for local Dems (of which I am one). The dinner sold out (I think they could have charged more than $75 a plate actually), some people were in the lobby listening and eating pizza. Gov. Winter made Howard's introduction and did just an excellent job. Huge roar from the crowd when Dean said Dems are gonna run in every state.

Anyway, you can listen about it here or read about it here.

Marshall Ramsey has a marginally funny cartoon here and the Jackson Free Press has a good interview with the man here

1 comment:

Frank Garrison said...

Matt D,

Personally, I think giving up on the south is bad. For 3 reasons

1. $ -- There may not be any chance of Dems taking MS or AL in a presidential race (or even a Senate seat) anytime soon, but Dems still need $ from folks in the south

2. Dean noted that the AG, Sec. State, the House in MS are all in the hands of Dems. If Mike Moore ran against Lott, he'd have a fighting chance. Just because the Dems are down does not mean we're out.

3. There NEEDS to be opposition everywhere. There needs to be an alternative. It's time for the Dems to be an opposition party and learn how to to do it right.