I do believe we actually might be headed for a brokered convention.

[lildreamer316]

I must be honest, I did not expect Hillary to pull the states she just did. But I am glad she did so.
I'm not sure what the delegate count is atm,but will post it downthread when I get it.
Your thoughts?

[Andrea]

1. I'm pretty happy

This is exactly what we needed today to move us toward a brokered convention. I'm in Columbus and I had a feeling she would win here. I wasn't too sure about Texas. Now that we've got a race probably all the way to the convention, we need to start our letter writing campaign to Howard Dean. We need to let him know that if we have a brokered convention, we want Al Gore. We need to identify any other party leaders that will have a voice in the backrooms as they try to sort out this mess and write to them, too. We need to spread the message far and wide. We need to let the leaders know that we don't want either of these unelectable candidates. We want Al Gore, we need Al Gore.

Who has suggestions for other people to write to?

Should we compose a short sample letter to post anywhere and everywhere? That way those that aren't comfortable with writing could just copy it.

[rosesaylavee]

3. Howard is the man with the power.

I say we focus on him. He would be the most responsive to a grass roots campaign anyway.

[rodbailey]

13. Hi all,

back after a brief visit/vacation to Las Vegas (lost) and Death Valley (is there a metaphor there?) and ready to start letter writing. I will send out e-mails to all the e-mail lists I have left from earlier work on the Gore effort (NY and some from a few other states). I also have a bunch of phone numbers from a lot of the New England states plus NJ, PA, OH, and MI as I recall if anyone wants to start calling folks to encourage them to write letters. I'm not sure that would be a great strategy since it would take a bit of explaining to do as to what we were trying to do, and lots of folks don't like to hang on the phone for that long for a call like that. But, if anyone out there wants to give it a try, let me know.

In addition to Howard, how about letters to Nancy Pelosi (still uncommitted, as far as I know, and often mentioned as one of the "wise ones" trying to figure out how to handle this), and maybe Bill Bradley (saw him on Leher News Hour last night and think he may be in the Obama camp, but also one of the names I've heard mentioned as one trying to sort this out to the benefit of the Party). Can't think of others at the moment, but I'll keep my ear to the ground. Some sort of a "sample" letter might not be a bad idea, but we don't want to flood Howard (and others?) with hundreds of letters that all say the same thing. Maybe a few "talking ponts" would be appropriate. I'll do a little thinking about that. And, I suspect a real letter (perhaps along with a reminder e-mail a couple of days later) would be more impressive than a flood of just e-mails. What do others think? And, we need addresses. I'll see if I can find an appropriate one for Howard, unless someone already has one.

By the way, I do guess part of me was hoping Obama would simply put it away on Tuesday and Hillary would be "encouraged" to drop out. In the long run, that might have been the best outcome to keep the Dems. from tearing each other apart over this. On the other hand, that scenario leaves Gore out of the mix, so here we are.

[Andrea]

14. Welcome back, Rod

I agree with most of what you wrote above, or maybe all of it. I'm a little undecided about the sample letter thing. I think it is much more impressive if they get lots of different letters all asking for the same thing, rather than lots of copies of the same letter. The problem with that is, a lot of people will not write their own letter, for various reasons.

Maybe we should start out by encouraging people to write their own letters, then follow that up a couple weeks letter with several different sample letters. Maybe we could encourage everyone who writes a letter to also post it in various places and email it to their address book, as a possible sample. I do that sometimes when I write letters. I put something like, "Feel free to use all or part of my letter if you wish, as long as you don't change the meaning." What do people think about that?

I think we should post notices about this everywhere we can think of, and not worry about duplicate posts. If people see posts on this topic from several different people, it will only serve to remind them and to make our campaign look stronger.

I'd also like to suggest letters to Jimmy Carter. I think he still has a bit of a voice in the party and I know he has encouraged Gore to run many times himself, so he would be in agreement with us. I'm still trying to think of others to write to.

[rodbailey]

17. Good ideas;

I agree that we shouldn't have all the same letters. The thought about "talking points" would be to make sure we are all highlighting (hopefully each in their own words) similar points - like continuing damage to the party as this race gets nastier and nastier; the need for someone who really does have foreign policy experience; a strong environmental issues candidate; a person who has proven he can win the national popular vote; someone known and respected by world leaders both then and now, etc.

I've got to go do some more data entry for my local congressional person in a bit (sort of a mind-numbing experience, but necessary, I guess) so I'll do some more thinking as I do that. Others please chime in with thoughts on critical points that make Gore the ONE and then maybe on this discussion string we can distill out what we think is most important. I can certainly go back to all the posting places I was using before when we had a Gore thing going here in Rochester, NY (local DFA, Craig's list, as well as my "circle of friends"). I'll even do it on the national Gore web sites (AGO, Draft Gore, etc.). And, I agree, multiple postings from folks on these sites is not a bad idea. Makes it look like a groundswell.

I tried to get to the DNC web site this morning to get an address for Dean, and I couldn't raise the web site. I'm guessing it is very busy these days.

[mak3cats]

15. Rod's back!

I always look for your thoughtful and informative posts; thanks!

BTW, I'm in your area (Niagara County), and active in the local Dem committees. I'll try to field some opinions on the current situation among the members. We have a function on Saturday; I expect ample opportunity for canvassing there.

[rodbailey]

18. Here's what I've come up with so far for addresses:

Howard Dean, DNE, 430 S. Capitol St., SE, Washington, DC, 20003; Rep. Nancy Pelosi, 235 Cannon HOB, Washington, DC, 20515; and Jimmy Carter, Plains, GA. I realize that address for Carter is pretty weak. I couldn't find anything more specific other than sending them to either the Carter Center or the Carter Library. Neither seems that fruitful. I'm not even sure of the zip for Plains, but that should be easy enough to look up. I gave up on the thought of Bill Bradley when I saw confirmed that he had endorsed Obama so probably wouldn't be keen on trying to suggest someone else at this point.

Anyone else got other ideas or a better address for Carter? I'll at least try to find the zip for Plains, GA and then probably start sending out e-mails to my list of contacts shortly.

[rodbailey]

19. A better idea for Carter,

send letters to the Carter Center, One Copenhill, 453 Freedom Parkway, Atlanta, GA 30307. I assume all letters will get to him sooner or later this way. BTW, the zip for Plains, GA seems to be 31780 (unless they have more than one). That's as much as I can find at the moment.

[rosesaylavee]

2. Amazing.

I am shocked she won those states. I have to admit I was hoping it would be over today and Senator Obama could just get on with it.

Ok, letters to Howard are in order now as it looks like its a brokered convention as little miss bossy pants will continue to refuse to admit she won't have enough delegates without the superdelegates coming to her side.

[mak3cats]

4. I wouldn't want to be Howard Dean right now...

...trying to come to an equitable solution is going to be difficult. With the likelihood that Florida and Michigan delegates are included (it wouldn't be democratic otherwise, but there should be new primaries so both names can be on the ballot), I think the count is going to stay pretty close. And I don't see either Clinton or Obama being willing to take a back seat to the other, so IMO a consolidated ticket probably isn't going to happen.

Here's my dream scenario: The powers that be agree on Gore as a compromise candidate, with Obama as his running mate, and promise Clinton the first Supreme Court vacancy. Both current candidates get rewarded, and, should Clinton get confirmed (hopefully, a stronger Democratic majority in Congress would make this possible), it makes her politically untouchable as far as the wacko right-wingers are concerned. She'll be in their cross-hairs forever, so this could be a good thing for her.

I'm so glad the rest of you are around; misery does indeed love company. However, bliss would love it even more!

[rosesaylavee]

5. My dream scenario...

I get to kick Hillary in the behind and tell her just what I think of her arrogance and selfishness. Peoples lives and welfare are hanging in the balance this election and she is jeopardizing a Democratic win in November. My dream continues and she cries and is thoroughly repentant for her thoughtlessness and promises to concede... AND promises to put the Clenis in a jar for the remainder of 2008.

:mad:

[Pastiche423]

6. Hey, that's my dream scenario too!

I sincerely believe that if Clinton were to somehow come up w/enough delegates, she would rip apart the Democratic Party. Her entitlement attitude is vicious and makes me ill.

[rosesaylavee]

8. Does your dream scenario

have air holes in the Clenis Jar? (Warning, this is a trick question.)

[Pastiche423]

9. I HATE trick questions!

lol

If the holes are for breathing, sure. I don't want him to die. I just don't want him back in our WH.

How'd I do?

[rosesaylavee]

10. Much nicer than me

I don't think I have ever been more sick of hearing his voice. And I voted for him two times and defended him thru the whole Lewinski thing. I am just done with him. As Colbert would say 'he is dead to me'.

Maybe enough air holes to keep him alive but not enough oxygen to encourage talking. How about that.

[Pastiche423]

11. Thaty's perfect!

Picture it -

Bill is inside a glass jar. His mouth is moving and moving and moving, yet not a sound is heard.

I like that visual better than mine:

[Andrea]

7. Her motive may very well be selfishness, but

I'm glad she's staying in. If she drops out, no brokered convention, no chance for a Gore candidacy. Since it's unlikely that either she or Obama could beat McCain, I don't think she's really making matters worse by staying in. What really screwed us as a party is whatever pressure was applied to John Edwards to get out. He was a moderating influence, kept the race from being a head to head fight, and was our most electable candidate.

[BuelahWitch]

12. I kind of felt like a sicko, but I was glad she won too

Not that I want a Hilary win, but the more those two are tied, the better chance for a brokered convention. We need someone in there who can do the damn job, not two people on power trip who want to "make history." Fuck history, I want my country back!

[Andrea]

16. We are completely on the same page

Regarding making history, I'd much rather see the kind of history that a Gore presidency would make than to see the history we could end up with: McCain invades Iran, finishes collapse of U.S. started by GWB.

[Mabus]

20. I'm a sicko too

So is the Admiral. We were hoping for a Hillary win.

BTW, whatever happened to the meme from earlier elections that America doesn't like electing a sitting Senator? We heard it with Kerry enough in 2004. Now we've got three of them running. I want a do-over.