Four Years Ago, Wisconsin Was Where It Ended

Four years ago, the Wisconsin primary was where Howard Dean made his last stand. After a disappointing third-place finish, Dean pulled the plug on his campaign.

I was 19 at the time, and Dean's campaign was the first presidential campaign I had ever been involved with. When I began supporting him in March of 2003, I knew he had little chance, but I liked what he had to say. In addition to working and getting ready to go away to college, much of that summer was spent attending meetups, printing up and handing out flyers locally, and taking trips to New Hampshire to knock on doors.

Seeing Dean go from long-shot to frontrunner was incredible, and seeing it all come crashing down after Iowa broke my heart. By the time Wisconsin came around, Dean's withdrawal from the race seemed inevitable, and I thought I was prepared. But when he actually dropped out, I fell apart all over again, not only because I was sad to see a great candidate go down, but because the campaign had become a part of my life that I was sad to lose.

Fortunately, I was not alone among Dean supporters who felt that the organization we had built was worth maintaining in some form. Dean and his campaign team had not merely built a campaign organization; they had built a grassroots movement that had challenged the party establishment and demonstrated how powerful the grassroots could be when armed with new technology. After Dean withdrew from the race, he and some of his advisors brainstormed about how to channel the grassroots energy the campaign had generated.

Thus, Dean for America became Democracy for America, a political action committee dedicated to supporting fiscally responsible, socially progressive candidates at all levels of government, with the long-term goal of rebuilding the Democratic base from the bottom up.

In May of 2004, three months after Wisconsin marked the end of Dean's campaign, Democracy for America launched the Dean Dozen, an effort to highlight and support "twelve diverse candidates that represent the spirit of grassroots democracy." Among the 12 candidates selected for the original Dean Dozen was a little-known state senator from Illinois named Barack Obama, who had recently won an upset victory in the Democratic primary for the open US Senate seat.

Even before he was selected for the Dean Dozen, Obama had already drawn comparisons with Dean for his outspoken opposition to the war and the grassroots energy he inspired. But when he picked Obama for the original Dean Dozen, Howard Dean probably never imagined that four years later, Obama would be standing in his shoes.

Obama's 2004 convention speech had made him a celebrity, and he did not have to struggle to build name recognition or begin his campaign on a shoestring budget the way Dean did. But he was still clearly the underdog, and for most of last year, Hillary Clinton becoming the nominee was treated as almost a given. Despite his celebrity status, few within the party or in the media thought Obama could take on the party establishment and overcome Clinton's institutional advantages.

Yet Obama defied the odds, building a grassroots on-the-ground organization that enabled him to win in lily-white Iowa (and later  caucus states). As a former community organizer, Obama understood the importance of grassroots activism, and he has been able to build upon the movement that Dean started. For me, a Deaniac who is now supporting Obama, this campaign feels to me like an extension of the Dean campaign. Like Dean, Obama is an anti-war progressive who gets crowds riled up and generates a lot of excitement among rank-and-file Democratic activists. Yet with more inclusive rhetoric, as well as a smarter, more targeted on-the-ground strategy, Obama has succeeded where Dean fell short, expanding his appeal beyond the base of enthusiastic activists while continuing to grow the base by bringing new people into the process.

Wisconsin marked the end of Dean's campaign, but it was the beginning of a movement, a movement that has empowered the grassroots to take on the party establishment and enabled Obama to overcome Clinton's institutional advantages. But if Obama loses Wisconsin, which polls show to be a real possibility, it could once again be the end, not only for him, but of some of the power grassroots activists have successfully fought for. Grassroots and netroots supporters (including Kos) helped Dean take over the DNC and implement the 50-State-Strategy, but if Hillary Clinton wins the nomination, we all know that it's only a matter of time before Dean is replaced with an establishment hack in the mold of Terry McAuliffe.

I know that we as Deaniacs and netroots activists began the primary season divided, with some of us supporting Obama and some supporting Edwards (and a few supporting Dodd, Kucinich, or other candidates). But at this point, the choice should be clear. The contest between Clinton and Obama is not a fight over ideology or the details of a health care plan - it is a fight for the soul of the Democratic Party. It is a fight between grassroots empowerment and traditional establishment control.

So therefore, to my fellow Deaniacs, and to other progressives who believe in the power of grassroots activism, I issue a call to arms to help Obama win Wisconsin and beyond. Make phone calls, donate, travel to Wisconsin or later states if you can. Do not get complacent, and do not forget that if we let Obama go down, we'll be letting a movement go down as well.

Note: The poll below is only for people who supported Dean in 2004. If you were not a Deaniac, please don't vote.