After reading some of the passionate diaries concerning the primary candidates, I’m having déjà vu – four years ago here.  The fights were just a fierce, with lots of new blood here looking for a fight.  One thing I never understood was the "Dean or I’m not voting in November" crew.

So whatever happened to those people?  Did they eventually join the ABB (Anyone but Bush) crew, or did they really give up on the political process?  How many of those people are still here on DKOS?

I ask because I think a little perspective about the primary season would be a good thing around here.  I have my favorite, but I think we have 3 perfectly good candidates, and I will proudly pull the lever (NY’s last year with those old machines!) for either of them.

I assume in the end most people here will do the same, but a look back at 2004 would help.

What say you?

Only three diaries with the word "breaking" in the title are on the Recent Diary list as I write this.  Does this mean there is a shortage of the letters that make up the word "Breaking"?

Maybe Rove or Fox News is secretly behind it.  The SCLM (or MSM or Pravda or whoever it is) refuses to cover this story, but we can't let it die!  

We should impeach someone for this!

Sorry, I just couldn't resist.    

To recapture the debate in this country, we have to admit we are not like everyone else.

Finally, I think I understand the next move.  Its nothing new - Kos has been talking about it forever.  Howard Dean gets it too, but I didn't. It all goes back to too Tip O'Neil: All politics is local.  We have to recognize that the country does not think the way we think.  I'm not referring to liberal vs. conservative.  I'm referring to political groupies and policy wonks, and everyone else.

I supported Dean from early last year because he wasn't afraid to speak out and say that the emperor had no clothes when no one else had that message.  His early grassroots supporters seemed to be drifting towards him for similar reasons.  

But then, sometime last spring, the grassroots movement seemed to take over, and became a movement in and of itself.  The campaign became about "people powered Howard" more than his actual positions.  Now that it seems unlikely that Dean will be the nominee, I've seen a number of posts here saying that some Dean supports will either not vote in November, or will vote for a Third Party candidate.

My question to these people is how much these people really believed that there would be major changes in Washington if Dean was elected as compared to any of the other Democratic candidates.  For all of Dean's talk about the people having the power, I believe that little would have changed (or will change) if he was (is) elected about how business is done in Washington.

I received what I thought was a strange email today from Howard Dean, urging me to vote against the non-partisan elections proposal next week.

 The email stated that:

Why is this proposal on your ballot? The answer is easy. A Republican Mayor wants to weaken the Democratic Party in a city where there are more than 2.7 million registered Democrats. The Charter Commission was filled with Bloomberg appointees predisposed to favor his proposal. Only Father Joseph O'Hare and former Deputy Mayor Bill Lynch had the courage to vote no.

Simply said, Question 3 is undemocratic. Eliminating primary elections would mean disempowering community-based bodies that work on a grassroots level and provide a starting point for future candidates. Ending the primary system will weaken the ability of grassroots organizers like yourself who have helped to shape our democracy on the local, state and national level since the founding of our Republic.

This seems like very strange reasoning to me since the New York Democratic Party is anything but grassroots and open.  The machine might be weakened, but in most local races, the machine still controls.   I know - I am a member of a local club that controls every possible elected seat within its geographic boundaries.  And I can safely disclose that and still  maintain my anonymity because there are probably 20 other guys with my name who are members of clubs in the City that also control all of the elected seats in that area.

The only way new blood has entered the system is when a grassroots candidate pulled an upset in the Democratic primary (and this happens so rarely that its always reported in the News as a an "Upset over the Machine"), or when someone like Bloomberg side-steps the system, and ran as a Republican.  Bloomberg is a "Republican in name only" but to be a team player, he is now raising money for Republicans like Bush.  If we had had non-partisan elections, Bloomberg would probably be giving, and raising, funds for the Democrats.

Putting all this aside, I wonder how and why Howard Dean got involved with this issue.

To be a Republican in NY, like much of the Northeast, is not like being a Republican in the rest of the country.  The Northeast still favors "Rockefeller" Republicans, liberal on social issues, conservative on fiscal issues (well, what used to be known as fiscal conservatism in the pre-Regan and Bush days: controlled spending, a balanced budget).  Over the last few decades, Rockefeller Republicans and the national Republican party have been moving further and further apart, and share few positions.  The national party sees the Northeast as little more than a revenue source, with New York only receiving back $.85 of every $1 sent to Washington.

I'm not sure where this originated, but it deserves wide distribution!

GEORGE W. BUSH

Past Work Experience
I ran for U.S. Congress and lost.

I produced a Hollywood slasher B movie.

I bought an oil company, but couldn't find any oil in Texas; the company went bankrupt shortly after I sold all my stock.

I bought the Texas Rangers baseball team in a sweetheart deal that took land using taxpayer money.

With my father's help and name, I was elected Governor of Texas.