I saw the Gov give his concession speech in Madison, WI. I think TV cut away to Edwards, so you probably missed the end, where Dean instructed us to “Never give up, never give up, never give up.” And I don’t intend to. The values and issues we were fighting for are much bigger than one candidacy.
Now that I’m no longer employed by Dean For America, a couple things can change on this blog. First, hopefully the frequency of posts will increase–back to once every two days (which was the norm at one point if you can believe). Second, I can speak freely about the campaign. Thus I start off with two points of analysis.
One, we shouldn’t and can’t blame the media for our loss. The media may not have liked us as much (which was probably somewhat a function of us not liking them), but the media is what it is and we knew that going in. As much as we tried new things on this campaign, sometimes you just have to play by the rules. And the rules include looking good on TV for earned media, creating good advertisements for paid media, and “sucking up” to reporters. Blaming the media is akin to a sports team blaming the ref; it doesn’t make help you win the next time.
Two, Karen Hicks, the New Hampshire state director, rocks my world. She cultivated and created an incredible team in NH. Similar to Confucius’s “deliberate tradition,” Karen created a deliberate culture of honestly, loyalty, integrity and teamwork. As she says, we were handed a very hot potato after Iowa, and it’s a testament to the months we spent on the ground that no one challengesd us for second place on Election Day. Without a doubt, it is more likely than not that she will someday manage a Presidential campaign; when that time comes, I will gladly drop everything and work my tail off for her.
Oh, and let the Gary Locke for VP campaign begin.
Good night all; I’ll be heading east to NH tomorrow. Past that, who knows: but I’ll keep you updated when someone does.