3200 Attend Dean Rally in Austin, TX
I just got back from the Howard Dean rally at the Plaza Saltillo (4th and Comal) in east Austin where Howard Dean held the largest rally by any Presidential candidate in the 2004 cycle outside of their home state. The open air plaza had a small stage area at one end, and had covered walkways on the other end and along the two sides. The area could hold several thousand people. One side opened up to Fourth Street and the back opened up to Comal. As people entered those sides, they were greeted by volunteers who gave attendees name tags and asked them to do three things. First, people were asked to sign the petition to get Howard Dean on the ballot for the Texas primary on March 2, 2004. Second, people were asked to sign a pledge card to vote for Dean and support Dean at the precinct caucuses on the evening of the primary; and third, everyone was asked to give money to the Dean campaign (any amount.. $10 to $2000). There were stations on the far side of the plaza for people to do all three of these things, and upon completion of each, attendees would receive stars to place on their name tags. Those with all three stars were eligible for a drawing at the end of the night: ten winners would have their pictures taken with Howard Dean and then he would sign the pix. It's a great idea that ought to be replicated elsewhere.

At 8 PM the rally began with Former State Representative (and current Texas coordinator of Howard Dean) Glen Maxey as the emcee. He began by explaining the star system, talking about Dean, meetup.com, house parties, etc. Then he asked people that he had selected earlier to give one- to two-minute testimonials on why they supported Howard Dean. The testimonials were mixed in with dancing children and with Glen Maxey giving updates on how much was raised so far at the event (the goal of the rally was to raise $10,000 - additional money had been raised at two fundraisers earlier in the day). As I left, it looked as if $15,000 had been raised!

Finally, a little after 9 PM, Howard Dean arrived to wild applause, and he immediately lunged at the people at one side of the stage to shake their hands. State Representative Eddie Rodriguez (D-Austin) welcomed Howard Dean to east Austin and his district; just elected last November, he spoke about how his first legislative session was one of the worst ever for Texas: how gay rights were attacked, abortion rights were attacked, and thousands of children were knocked off of health insurance coverage. Rodriguez said that he did everything he could to stop Republicans--including going to Ardmore, Oklahoma, for a week with 50 other House Democrats; at that remark, he received wild applause. Finally, Rodriguez introduced Howard Dean by giving him his endorsement (I believe the first endorsement of a state representative in Texas for Dean).

Howard Dean first thanked everyone for coming to the event. Dean then went on to say his line about how "we won't beat Bush with Bush-lite" and that events like this were proof that he was connecting with people and energizing the grassroots of the party. Dean first attacked Bush on the economy. In something I haven't heard before, Dean said that "[Bush]'s using Argentina as our model of fiscal stability". Dean continued to say that we can't trust Republicans to balance the budget, and that they haven't done it in 34 years. We were better off when Clinton was president when we had jobs and balanced budgets. Dean said that he supported the repeal of all of the Bush tax cuts and that he would give voters a choice. You can either have Bush's tax cuts to the super-wealthy that have bankrupted this country or you can have a balanced budget, more jobs, health care access for all Americans, and you can have special education fully funded. Somewhere in there, someone in the crowd shouted "Give 'em hell, Howard!" Dean replied, "Like Truman said - I don't give 'em hell. I just tell the truth and they think its hell". The crowd laughed.

Dean went on to discuss health care, and how the proposed patients' bill of rights was pretty limited in scope and that what Democrats ought to be fighting for is health care for all. He compared his record to Bush's. In Vermont, 99% of children are eligible for health care and 96% have it. Texas is, of course, a different story. Next, Dean used a standard part of his speech to attack Bush on affirmative action, and how he was outraged that Bush called the University of Michigan system a "quota" system. Dean then spoke on his support for gay rights. He told the story of how an 80-year-old man stopped him at an event one time and thanked him for signing the civil unions bill. Dean asked the man if he had a gay son, lesbian daughter, or another gay family member. The man said, "No, I'm gay". The man was a veteran that had fought in Normandy in World War II, yet he had been in the closet his entire life because of discrimination in America against gays and lesbians. Dean thought that was an outrage and that gays and lesbians should have the same rights that he and his wife have. Dean went on to conclude that Republicans want to divide us on race, gender, religion, income level, sexual orientation, etc. Dean said that he is "tired of being divided". Dean made a pitch to the crowd to go to his website: DeanForAmerica.com to sign up to volunteer. Finally, he told the crowd that "the power to change this country is in your hands, not mine. You have the power to take this country back". He kept saying "you have the power, you have the power, you have the power" as he pointed to the crowd and the crowd roared.

Finally, Glen Maxey took the microphone and reminded people to give money and sign the ballot petition and pledge card. Dean, however, instead of walking off the stage, almost dove into the crowd in front of the stage and started shaking hands. He did that for about five to ten minutes until someone told him that he needed to stop and talk to the television cameras so that he'd get on the 10 PM news. I got home just around 10 PM and Dean got decent coverage on the major networks.

Overall, it was a great event. Glen Maxey did a wonderful job of getting the word out about the event. Over 20000 emails were sent, 10000 robo-calls were made, 10000 flyers were distributed and signs were put up at every voting location in Austin in the city council run-off election on Saturday. Dean has lots of support in Austin, and throughout the state of Texas. Democrats in Texas got swept last November, and many of the candidates on the Texas Democratic ticket worked to play up their conservative or pro-Bush credentials in order to win the support of independents, moderates, and conservatives. What happened? The undecideds voted for the real Republican, and lots of Democrats didn't bother to vote. Many of us in this state are looking for a Democrat to support for President that will unabashedly, unashamedly support the principles of our party. We see that candidate in Howard Dean.

Posted by: Byron L.