The AC in the fancy bus was broken but Howard Dean's fervor was still on target this morning on Canal Street.  When he shook my hand, he thanked me for running a great campaign and complimented my website.  To remember the winning candidates in 50 states is difficult enough.  To remember the losing ones is nothing short of amazing.

Howard Dean's "Register for Change" bus tour hit New Orleans at noon today (sadly for the chairman, sans air conditioning on the bus) and You Are There!

GF and I showed up about 11:45 and waited with the growing crowd at the Victory '08 HQ for the bus to arrive.

I arrived at Austin yesterday just in time to hear Howard Dean speak outside the convention center.

It was one of those moments in life where timing is perfect.

In many ways Howard Dean's work as a presidential candidate and then as DNC chairman got me there.

Hi y'all. I'm sitting in the Darcy Burner panel about prepping to run. Darcy is full of cool geekiness and true courage: hope I get to interview her over the weekend.  

So, re: the Unofficial Netroots Nation Podcast, I've been getting to talk with some wonderful folks, both known and not. Here's the Chair of the DNC, our very own Gov. Howard Dean, talking with tlg, the incoming DNC member for Asia, backstage before his Keynote speech:

When we as American citizens are called upon to work for and support not only our chosen Party, but the candidate that our Party has selected for the General Election, then that is what we must do, to do other wise is to commit a serious wrong. The Constitution grants us certain rights and common sense requires that we should exercise those rights.

As our forefathers before us and the succeeding generations since have accepted the truth that all men/women are created equal; that by the very citizenship granted by this the Government of the United States of America, they must participate in the political system that these same forefathers had designed, to fail to do so will allow a government that will gather onto itself powers other than those granted by the governed.

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I'm at Netroots Nation this year promoting a new organization that I started called Music for Democracy.  Please take a look at my organization and if you are so inclined, blog about it !  :)

Have I got some linky goodness for you...

C-Span will be covering Howard Dean's Keynote address at 8pm, tonight.  You can check for updates, here.

They also (apparently) plan on covering several parts of the Netroots Nation convention.  You can check for updates, or watch the video (when it's uploaded) here.

Feel free to use the comment's section to wail, bitch, explain, and bemoan just why the hell you're not in Austin, and then we will form a Far Left Militant Group and go and get their stuff!  

Jonathon Singer, Chris Bowers, and I had the opportunity to sit down with Governor Dean for about 20 minutes following his Register for Change rally here in Austin. As luck would have it, my digital recorder malfunctioned, so I don't have the complete transcript, but Jonathon also recorded it, and he'll provide a more detailed transcript or perhaps a podcast at MyDD soon.

The conversation focused largely on the DNC's registration program, which will rally voters and new voters in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi in teh next week before traveling on. As a follow up to this registration effort, I asked if the DNC would also be focusing on voter protection, ensuring that the new voters registered in the program will actually be able to cast their vote, and that that vote will count. Dean said that the DNC is building a robust voter protection program. It's included compiling voting regulations from every secretary of state in the country to allow the folks on the ground in each state to know their state's regulations. They will also focus on training staff and voters in absentee voting, a loophole that's been left open in recently passed laws in various states.

We talked a great deal about the 50 state strategy, and Chris's summation is spot on:

Dean said that his main goal as chair has been to build a permanent political operation for Democrats in all fifty states, and that this goal is on the brink of being accomplished. He also said that he thinks there is no going back from the fifty-state strategy, and that this sort of broadly based political operation is here to stay for Democrats even after he is no longer chair. He was clearly very proud of this accomplishment. I was clearly in love with him.

I asked him whether he saw any unintended consequences of his 50 state strategy, and I was surprised by his response. To him, the most unexpected thing has been the number of former Republicans and conservatives that have been recruited in the program. He touched a bit on the issue that we've come to realize is so critical for the netroots--not just more Democrats, but better Democrats and that as we work to broaden the party base, it will be important to persuade on progressive issues, as well.

We talked about my region of interest, the west, a region that Dean obviously loves. He's bullish on our downticket chances in Wyoming, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado, and on Obama's chances in Montana, Nevada, Colorado, and potentially even Arizona. As the race heats up, Dean thinks it makes sense for Obama to consider campaign stops not only in these states, but in Nebraska, Alaska and even northern Idaho.

He put to rest the rumor perpetuated by an ad campaign, that Hillary Clinton would not be on the ballot at the DNCC in Denver. Clinton will be on the ballot and will speak at the convention--the DNC rules are clear on this. In relation to this, he talked about the importance of fighting back against these rumors, of answering the inflammatory e-mails with the truth.

Dean always inspires with his commitment to the long term project of party building. His short conversation with us today--as well as the fact that he's launching the registration drive from Netroots Nation and giving tonight's keynote address at the convention--demonstrates that we remain a critical part of that long-term effort. It's a mantra that never gets old: we have the power to take back our country.

Welcome back for more speculation! Today we'll poll the second-tier possibilities for Obama's v.p., from my new slimmed-down field of 28.

This elimination series will begin with the bottom 14 names, then eliminate the bottom vote-getter(s) and replace them with new names from just up the list for the next thread, reaveraging as we go (so each thread's bottom vote-getter(s) may not be the ones cut for the next--who's cut will be determined by the new averages generated from this elimination series's votes). I hope that'll be complicated enough to dissatisfy and confuse everyone equally. I'm hoping we'll have five or six candidates left when Obama picks and see if the DKos wisdom of crowds is. It should take about 14 threads to get all of the top candidates in the poll again, out of the 28 or so total threads.

Please discuss any v.p. candidates in the comments. The most correct format would be to simply state their name, unless you have further comments, in which case, "I believe _ _ should be Obama's v.p. running mate because..." "Oh my God, where's Jane/Johnny Politician?!" would be a bit alarmist, don't you think? I'm sure they're fine. I'm happy to hear all ideas, and of course I'm no official gatekeeper, so play nice.

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Howard Dean addresses Netroots Nation attendees in Austin Texas.

I'd add more, but I think Howard says it all.  Enjoy !

The chairman of the Democratic National Committee and governor of Vermont from 1991 to 2003 addressed the Netroots community at the 2006 and 2007 conventions. This year, we're especially proud to recognize his efforts to create an active, effective movement by organizing in every precinct and in every state.

Dean has been one of the most influential forces in the progressive movement.

Yay!  I get to meet Dean again tomorrow.  Dean is the person who got me involved in politics.  Way back in the dark days of 2003, the Daily Show was the only place I had heard anyone ask the question "Why the hell are we in Iraq?"  That is until Howard Dean said it and my heart skipped a beat, a political junkie was born.

As you'll hear on a number of diaries today, the DNC Register for a Change Bus rolled into Netroots Nation today at noon.  Governor Dean's speech clearly articulated how we are going to take back the White House and the Capitol this fall.

By registering new Democrats in every state.

Kossack Kath25 organized us yesterday to do just that... we registered 85 new voters in Austin.  

Photos after the jump...

At noon (central time) today, Howard Dean's Register for Change bus tour came to Austin. This was after hitting Crawford earlier in the day, where Dean reported that about 100 people attended the rally.

A couple pictures for you.

Dean's response to the crowd chanting "four more years" (i.e. of Dean as DNC chair) as he began to speak:

Register for Change isn't in Austin only because Netroots Nation is here. This tour is part of the voter registration effort that will aim to get new voters all around the country, even in traditionally red areas. In other words, this is the fifty state strategy in action.

More of this, please!

Dr. Dean just showed 'em how it's done in an interview less than an hour ago with MSNBC reporter extraordinaire David Shuster. It's part of the media kickoff to the DNC's national Voter Registration tour that BarbinMD wrote about yesterday.

To everyone lucky enough to be in Austin this week for the convention, another event has been added to the calendar. DNC Chairman Howard Dean will begin a nationwide voter registration drive with a rally at Netroots Nation to be held Thursday at 12:00, directly across from the convention center.

This is the kickoff event for Register for Change, a cross country bus tour designed to "build on the overwhelming enthusiasm and voter turnout seen during the primaries" and is a part of "the 50-state strategy and Senator Obama's commitment to running a 50 state campaign."

From Texas, the tour heads to New Orleans - a city that experienced the failings of Republican leadership in Washington firsthand - and then to Shreveport and Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Hattiesburg and Jackson, Mississippi. The second swing, July 25-26, will make stops in North Carolina and Georgia - two untraditional battleground states where voter registration efforts will help lead Barack Obama to victory in November. The tour will hit states in every part of the country, culminating in a swing through the Midwest on its way to the Democratic Convention in Denver.

And if you have any problem finding the rally, just look for the bus...

Update: For those of you who were wondering, yes, it is a bio-diesel bus.

As you probably know by now, Howard Dean kicks off a Democratic Party Voter Registration Blitz across the South starting this week in --ironically-- Crawford, Texas.

This is a great opportunity to show all naysayers that Dr. Dean's 50 State Strategy was the right prescription for Democratic Party success.

Have you ever wondered about the seemingly endless scandals that have become an everyday attribute of Conservative rule?  Have you ever been appalled by the incompetence smothered with a thick coating of self righteous greed?

Have you ever thought that these endless scandals can’t be an accident, or random coincidence?  

Well, wonder no more. It is by design.

In August, Thomas Frank will have a new book out.

It is called "The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule" and it helps to explain why there is so much failure and corruption when Republicans are in charge—it is part of their plan.

The August issue of Harper’s Magazine has an essay adapted from the book. This is perfect reading material on the way to or from Netroots Nations or whenever you can get your hands on a copy.

To the jump...

While attending the National Education Association's Representative Assmbly (NEA RA) over the week of July fourth, I was privileged enough to have breakfast with the head of the DNC, Gov. Howard Dean. As members of the NEA's Democratic Caucus, my wife and I were treated to an early morning speech by Gov. Dean followed by the NEA's plan to help get Barack Obama elected. It was one of the many highlights of a great week.

Follow me over the bump for the details and more pics.