Barack Obama’s presidential campaign can honestly be called a Grand Experiment. It’s an experiment that the Democrats are betting will succeed, based largely on the fact that it accounts for Obama’s success in getting elected. To be sure, nobody can seriously claim to be swayed by the candidate’s record of legislative accomplishment, first they’d have to find it. No, it is Obama’s string of victories due primarily to his grassroots organizing efforts that have the party’s heart’s a-twitching like Chris Matthews’ tingly leg. Add Howard Dean’s fifty state strategy to the mix and you have the makings of a beautiful friendship.
From the Huffington Post, June 5, 2008:
Now, four years have passed. And the Democrats have nominated a candidate that seems perfectly equipped to test-drive the party’s 50-state vehicle. Obama has built his candidacy off of the pledge to expand the electoral playing field. Moreover, his campaign has leaned on an ability to drum up both grassroots support and the recruitment of Republicans and independents — two stated objectives of the Dean vision.
On Thursday, Obama symbolically endorsed the DNC’s efforts, declaring that Dean would remain party chairman heading into the general election.
The Obama/Dean association goes back much farther than June of this year, however. In 2004 Howard Dean founded Democracy For America after losing in the presidential primaries that year.
Governor Howard Dean founded Democracy for America in 2004 to build on the grassroots momentum for reform that his bid for the presidency sparked. The movement propelled DFA into a successful national organization committed to the “50 State Strategy.”
Their stated mission on their website is a simple one:
Democracy for America is our nation’s largest progressive political action community. With over 725,000 members nationwide, DFA is a grassroots powerhouse working to change our country and the Democratic Party from the bottom-up. We provide campaign training, organizing resources, and media exposure so our members have the power to support progressive issues and candidates up and down the ballot. Join us in the fight to take our country back!
But a longer statement outlining the group’s mission, dated June 20, 2004, goes into a little more detail:
DFA has a long-term goal that looks past November 2004. This organization will rebuild the Democratic Party from the bottom up — it will take time, but we must start building a base now for the future, just like the Republicans did 40 years ago.
