my primary observations

1) Every campaign office I've ever been to looks almost exactly the same: industrial grey carpet, folding chairs, cheap cafeteria style tables, cardboard boxes of flyers, bumperstickers and other paraphernalia, mismatched phones, bathroom fixtures not quite securely bolted into the wall, random assortment of junk food....

2) Portsmouth's pizza situation has improved greatly since the days when my family would stop there between Bangor and Long Island.

3) 20 degrees sounds warm in comparison to 5 degrees, until you're outside in it for much of the day. And I spent a lot of time waiting in the car while my fellow volunteers were trudging through the snow to ring supporters' doorbells.

4) Getting out the vote is incredibly labor intensive. I think there's some room for innovation here-- someone needs to figure out the equivalent of Dean's strategy of using house meetings instead of canvassing to get lists of supporters.

5) 26% was on the optimistic side of my realistic expectations, but I thought Clark and Edwards might take more votes away from Kerry....

6) because he's so ^&%$^& boring!!! Okay, I am not noted for my objectivity, but that speech, oy. A collection of soundbites without any structure or power. Come on, Democrats, I don't expect everyone to support Dean, but is that really the best we can do?

7) Dean's speech, on the other hand, made me very proud indeed to be working for this campaign. I didn't get to see it live--they couldn't find a big enough venue for everyone, and in-state volunteers and overnighters got priority over folks who drove up for the day. I just watched it on C-Span. though, and it's the best speech I've seen him deliver in a long while. Perhaps ever, since I read rather than saw the speeches I liked so much early on. He's getting better at this--learning to speak with conviction and some passion without getting carried away.

8) It may be too late, of course. But damn it, it's good to care more about real, living politicians than the ones on the West Wing or your history books. It's good whether they win or not. (if at times a little embarrassing....I realized this while driving up I-95, when a song came on the radio that I'd last heard on a West Wing episode from sometime back when it was still good--season 2, I think. It made me realize that at that time I was much more attached to Jed Bartlet and friends than any real politician, and how much that's changed--first with Wellstone (but only after his death), then with Dean.)

9) Predictions? Schmredictions.

10) This was a good day, though I'm sort of sad right now--I don't think we're going to win, but there's nothing to be done about it except keep on keeping on and hope the Joementum shifts back in our favor.

11) I need to get some sleep.

update: but first I need to send you to this recap of the candidates' speeches.

Comments

[sidereal]

Oh, I'm past worry and despair into cold, unthinking stubbornness. This Democratic party of yours wants to not lose, not to win, and I'm going to walk barefoot to wherever Howard Dean is inspiring people at the time and shove money down his glorious, yeaaagghing throat if that's what it takes to wake them up.

And he will be warmly recepted in Washington, though we're late in the game.

[von]

Dean's speech was, brilliant.

(That's it for me for a few days. Travelling again . . . )

von

p.s. w/r/t "2) Portsmouth's pizza situation has improved greatly since the days when my family would stop there between Bangor and Long Island."

My Grandmother has had a little place in Birch Harbor ('bout an hour from Bangor, north of Ellsworth, on the coast) for years. Beautiful country -- she goes every summer, tends her garden, and allows us the privilege of joining her for as long as we can. Which is never long enough.

[Katherine]

Well, if you and Andrew Sullivan and Josh Marshall liked it I guess it really was a good speech.

Here's the most interesting thing about Dean's I've read though, from the comments on Calpundit:
"I've never warmed to Dean."

That's the biggest fault I've seen in the man. Dem's have been given (in Dean's case) a candidate that has the integrity, sincerity, character and conviction not seen in a Democratic presidential candidate since Bobby Kennedy and he turns out to be unlikeable.

It's down right cruel (from my point of view) - if the fates (via JFK) teach him some humility and manners -- who knows what will come of it.

I don't know about "not seen in a Democratic presidential candidate since Bobby Kennedy", and I don't think he's intrinsically unlikeable, but I think there's some truth to both parts of that statement.