Howard Dean in London - Photos!

As I mentioned earlier - DNC Chair Howard Dean made a real impression on his London audience earlier today. And now hot off the presses - here are a few snaps from the event.

Here he is waiting to be introduced:
















Here's our Democrats Abroad International Chair Christine Marques - fresh off the plane from Geneva - introducing the Governor:
















Here are a couple shots of him giving his speech and answering questions:




































My favorite thing about seeing Governor Dean? Well, what he said was all great stuff but I got a special kick out of his 50-state tie.

And you notice they're all blue...

Howard Dean Addresses Democrats Abroad

Today I had the rare pleasure of seeing DNC Chair and former Governor Howard Dean at an event for Democrats Abroad here in London.

Addressing a packed house of (I'm estimating) over 200 fired up US Voters, Dean was characteristically smart and passionate - a combination that is going to do our party a lot of good come November.

He spoke in his initial remarks about the importance of bringing the party together, and reminded us all that those people who supported Senator Clinton are feeling deeply hurt and personally insulted - not because their candidate lost which, as he said, we have all experienced and moved on from, but because things were said in the media that were sexist and that many women understandably took as a personal attack on themselves.

Moving into the general election, however, he convinced me that this Party has never been more ready for action than it is today. Dean's 50-state strategy has already started to pay dividends with earlier victories in statewide Secretary of State elections across the country that are going to ensure that ALL our votes are counted.

He also talked about our now fully up and running voter database that is able to target voters with detailed consumer information, and an amazing GPS system that the Obama campaign has now adopted from the DNC, that identifies target addresses in the immediate neighborhood of a potential volunteer so that our activists can maximise their effectiveness in thier local communities.

And so much more. Dean is an outstanding leader of this party, and doubly impressive to me because he has truly understood the crucial role of the voter group he was addressing today - Americans Abroad.

I've got pictures from the event, which I'll process over the next couple days so keep your eyes peeled for those.

Obama Persuades Move On to Scrap Its 527

As I was saying below - Obama intends to run this campaign without the "benefit" of 527 money freely spending on his behalf. To back this up, he has now agreed with the Obama-endorsing grassroots group Move On that they will eliminate their independent 527. This group raised $20 Million for John Kerry in 2004.

But the Obama campaign prefers to rely primarily on small dollar contributions from millions of donors rather than the larger amounts that can be given by big dollar men to independent groups.

I'm glad to be one of the millions of givers. If you aren't one already, you should be. Donate 51 bucks today for a whole new way of conducting our politics - in all 50 states plus Americans Abroad.

Obama Opts Out of Public Financing

Yesterday, Barack announced that he would not accept public financing for the general election. He made the announcement in the form of this video to his supporters:



As he discusses in this video, Barack is concerned that with the Republicans benefiting from potentially unrestrained 527 expenditure at the same time he himself as made efforts to reign in third party expenditure on the election.

The way in which Barack proposes to fund this election is through millions of small dollar donations from millions of Americans, who give directly to the campaign or to the DNC, both of which will be directly accountable to him. There will be no room for shady smear artists distantly connected to the campaign to cast aspersions on John McCain's character. There will be no donations ever taken from any lobbyists or PACs. And no lobbyist will work for his campaign.

I have an additional longstanding interest in this that makes me very glad that Barack has taken this decision (which must have been difficult for him given his longstanding support for the principle of public financing). In this Presidential campaign, Barack Obama plans to compete in every single state in the Union. He will staff Texas and Tennessee, Nebraska and Alaska, Ohio and Oregon.

I'm not aware of any Presidential election in my lifetime that has reached out to every single United States citizen - including those of us who live abroad. Normally you expect to be left out of the political sphere entirely unless you live in one of several poll driven "swing states".

This year we are ALL swing voters and Barack will speak to all of us about the kind of country he wants to lead and the kind of America we want to be. That kind of campaign takes a ridiculous, huge amount of money to run. But I personally can't see it as anything but a very good thing for Democracy.

Want to be a part of it? Give now. How about 51 bucks - one dollar for each state plus a "sweetener" for Americans Abroad?

Howard Dean Event in London - June 22nd

While I am posting about upcoming events, I should also mention a couple of other really wonderful events that are coming up, hosted by Democrats Abroad here in the UK.

1. Governor Howard Dean - DNC Chair and 50 state strategy genius - will be in London and speaking at Imperial College for Democrats Abroad on Sunday 22nd of June. Don't miss this rare opportunity to see the head of our party and find out first hand what's in across the land.
2. July 4th Picnic - Democrats Abroad's annual picnic in Regents Park will be held (slightly inaccurately) on Saturday July 5th. Don't miss this wonderful opportunity to celebrate Independence with your fellow Democrats.

And by the way, if you haven't already joined Democrats Abroad, I highly recommend that you do so - not only is it a phenomenal organisation full of wonderful people, but it also does amazing voter registration work, hosts exciting events, and will keep you informed during this crucial election cycle.

And I'm not just saying that because I'm on the Executive Committee.

Obama Goes to Denver A Little Early...

The Obama campaign is going to be hitting 3 key middle American swing states next week, visiting Nevada, Colorado and New Mexico.

These are all states that have been turning "purple" and could trend blue for Obama in November.

More broadly, these are states where Democrats can and should be building long-term party infrastructure and campaigning fiercely in every race - something that Howard Dean has been very helpful in supporting. These high-growth and formerly Republican areas are some of our strongest opportunities and I am glad to see Obama moving early to build on his advantage there.