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The auditorium in Keene was full. Overflowing full. The largest candidate crowd to be seen in Keene, NH this primary season was waiting for Howard Dean to speak. I was among them.
This would be my only chance to see Dean, for obvious reasons. This speech was still during the Iowa “rehab” phase of the campaign, so I was interested in seeing the man himself, rather than vicariously discussing him over electrical wires.
There were 1499 other people interested as well, most seeming to be Dean supporters already. At each event, I did a rather unscientific study of whom I thought to be uncommitted voters – anyone not wearing a button or waving a sign usually made the cut, as did those who did not readily applaud a particular candidate at the appropriate applause line parts of his speech. For this speech, anyway, it seemed as if the Dean supporters filled the house. I was guessing there weren’t too many undecideds here.
Dean was introduced to a crescendo of applause, and I was surprised, to put it mildly, at what I saw. Gone was the sport coat and chino crusader of past days, replaced by a man in tailored suit and salon haircut. What I saw before me here was someone who realized that perception matters far more to those beyond the auditorium. I made a mental note that this was part of the rehab, and a good part at that. In order for the message to travel it must look its best.
His stump speech was delivered with conviction, yet with an aura of substance that I had not seen before. What I saw before me now was a man who had learned the cruelest lesson of all – it matters not only what you say but how you say it. I found myself in agreement with much of what he said, and wondered how many others in the audience were thinking ”what if.” This was a campaign now, not a crusade, and what a difference that would have made in Iowa. I watched a man who was walking the line now between red meat and silk napkins, using both with aplomb and leaving no one hungry at the end of the meal. This man, I thought, could have made it work.
Iowa and NH have stopped him, I’m afraid, and the southern and western states will put the final nails in. Perception has won the day, and there will be no surge now, no true message changing the minds of America. As I watched the throngs in Keene hang on his words, I realized that he gives them what they never thought they could find again. Hope.
The (mostly) young audience has seen for the first time how politics can work, from both sides. They worked for a man who thought together they could take the giant statue of the political status quo and throw it off its moorings via marching feet and boundless energy. Despite their efforts, it still stands, though now it rocks gently in the breeze, unsure of its final resting place. In this climate, to even get it moving was victory in itself. It will most probably be up to others now to push it even farther, but I think they’d like some help. I think I know some damn good movers.
Thank you, Dr. Dean.
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