Reply #2: They just need to get Parag out there.

[TayTay]

Parag Mehta was the guy with the high energy. He was a White House Fellow for two years (2000-2002) and was the only Democratic writer in *'s Admin in 2001. (Funny guy. He said a reporter came in to do a story on the speech-writers and asked each one what their favorite political speech was. The Repubs all mentioned Lincoln or Reagan. Parag, a Hindi, said, "The Sermon on the Mount. Well, think about it. It's all about 'Blessed are the Peacemakers' and taking care of the poor. I'm a Democrat and that's our message. Besides, it was a speech by a Jewish guy, made in front of an audience of brown-people and it was all about sharing. How could I not love it?" I adore Parag. He said he's still a Deaniac, probably more so because Gov. Dean called him up early last year and made him Director of Training for the DNC (national.)

Gov Dean must hold on to his 50 State strategy. I saw it and it's amazing. Everyone in Worcester at this meeting was not only on board, but had already moved on to improvements, databases and on-line voter feedback forms so that the state DNC can assess issues and needs and get back to field people within days (hours for the General election, I think.) If you ever hear that Parag Mehta is coming to do a training event run, don't walk, then schedule a nap for afterward (and I asked him to go to PA-07, MH. It's on the schedule. Help is on the way.)

Btw, I saw Ayanna Pressley there at a panel. (She was at the Boston Party and was the woman who made sure everyone had a photo with the Senator.) Her bio is amazing. She was JK's Senate scheduler for six years (the only African-American scheduler on the Senate side) and, it says, 'key architect of the daunting logistics to mount a run for the Democratic nomination.' I saw Setti Warren at panel discussions and Tracey Lewis who was also at the Dec event. Nice, nice people who were absolutely serious about Massachusetts getting local and getting very serious again about grassroots. It was great and odd, but, if anything, they had even more energy when talking about local stuff than national. Again, I learned a lot. (And the state people know not only have my name, but my husband's name and our address and pictures. I guess I have to go do stuff now or else.)

Hey Whome, BlueMassGroup did a 'politics on the Web' event that was interesting. The State Party can't figure out why they don't get any comments on their web site. (Cuz they only post news stories.) We had local candidates asking about how to get on the web and do interviews with the bloggers and stuff. Want to interview someone for your site? We have these unloved Lt. Gov. candidates running around trying to get some exposure and trying to get people to pay attention to a down-ticket race. They will apparently show up if you promise them coffee. (Didn't someone make something of that office once? Geez, you'd think people would remember.)