The Chicago DNC fundraiser

When I looked back at the last few days I calculated that I have participated in six political events in the last nine days and a year ago I told my husband , ”I promise you I will have more time after the election.” Last night I attended the DNC fundraiser in Chicago with guest speaker, Howard Dean. Even though I had dug deep in my pocket to attend the DFA event the week before, I figured I could choke up a few more bucks to see the man who gave me so much inspiration.

My husband, Bob, had not participated in any of the other events but combing a dinner out in Chicago with Howard Dean successfully motivate his attendance. Choosing the right outfit is important. I decided to go with the black suit and hot pink shirt instead of my favorite red suit. This time I was not a host so I decided to save my red suit for those events where I was a more important player. We had opted for the “Cheap” $50 tickets passing over the $250 host and $1000 sponsor choices.

Going to Chicago is always an adventure. We thought we had allowed enough time but an unusually bad traffic jam found us stuck in the middle of barely moving line of cars. The sign over-head stated we had 117 minutes to the loop and the event started in thirty minutes. We decided to abandon the car in a Chicago neighborhood and hop the subway. This always puts a little more excitement to the event because in Chicago, one is not always sure that the car will be there when you get back. We have been in several big city subways in the last year but it has been thirty years since we have lived in Chicago so we were disoriented. We had difficulty getting the machine to exchange our money for a ticket and then figuring out how to get the ticket in the entrance gate was also a challenge. All this time I keep feeling like a middle age couple dressed up in suits looking ripe for mugging. Seeing the cars lined up in traffic as we whizzed by on the EL-train, helped us to feel like we made the right decision.

The event was held at the Elephant and Castle club. There have been other events there but the irony of the Elephant name still bothers me a bit. When we entered the lobby a cheerful lady named Rachel told me she remembered me from the previous week's event and instructed us to take the elevator to the 3rd floor. Bob was somewhat impressed that people are starting to know me. As we exited the elevator there was a sign-in table. They were sure that no one entered without paying first.

The room way a typical hotel low-ceilinged, reception room. There was a platform in the front, which I was happy to see, for the short Howard Dean to stand. As we entered, we saw around 200 attendees standing in small groups. They were holding drinks and talking. Bob and I decided to check out the food table and picked up plates and loaded them with chips, salsa, carrots and a large pretzel. We went over to the drink table and paid for our soft drinks. I reminded myself that this is a fundraiser.

The big plate of food was mistake. As I am standing in the middle of the room, I am trying to balance the food plate, drink and talk at the same time. I looked around the room, to see how others were managing this. I observed that no one else had opted for the food. People from the country DO eat, but I guess people from the city eat only when they can sit.

I was glad to find other IL DFAers present and I introduced Bob to them. He is becoming known and Holly j’s husband. We then got into a conversation with a young woman. I asked her if she came because she was a Democrat or a Howard Dean fan or both. She explained the she is a Democrat and was encouraged to attend the event by her mom and work. She is employed by CPT radio, Chicago area’s Air America radio station. William, our WEB master at our DFI website, joined us. When the young woman stated she was originally a Kerry supporter, William, in amazement, stated that she was only the second person he had met that started out as a Kerry supporter.

Our conversation turned to discussing the different political groups we were involved in. William stated he has been active in several different DFA groups and also enjoyed the “Drinking Liberally” group. The radio-woman also talked about how the AAR was looking at starting up social groups to promote politics. They were both discussing the fact that they are finding that their groups were only attracting young adults and wondered how they could get others involved. This made me laugh because the topic of our middle-aged progressive group was, “How to get young people involved.”

Bob nudged me and quietly told me to observe that most of the people in the room looked like they were the age of our children. This was probably the most inspiring point of the night. Here I was standing in the middle of a room filled with 20 to mid-30 year-olds that were inspired to work for a better America. Yes, they are out there and they are actually attending A DNC event. Hint: if you are a young adult and want to meet other intelligent, motivated adults, attend a Democratic fundraiser.

I knew it was time for Howard to enter because the high-end supporters started entering the room. These people had name-tags on. When I noted this fact to Sandra, she told me, “But yes, those are very expensive nametags!” My husband, the Deaniac, planted himself by the door in hopes of a handshake. I put myself up front in center so I wouldn’t miss any visual details of Dean’s speech. Conlin gave a quick introduction as Howard entered the room. Dean climbed the small platform and started right into his speech. My husband and I have debated about how Dean was dressed. I thought he looked great with a good haircut and nice charcoal grey suit. It was topped off with a hot pink tie, but my husband called off it red.

Dean talked about how Democrats need to define ourselves and that we should not let the Republican’s be the ones to send out the message about what Democrats stand for. He went on to discuss the Democrat’s, “Contract with America” and went into specifics points. I am not the kind of reporter that will go into this, so if you are interested you can find the details here.

The primary points were, 1. We need honesty in government from finance to election reform 2. We need to be energy independent that will help our economy while improving national security 3. We need to invest in public education with real science and financial support. Dean also talked about the importance of affordable health care but thinks that the Democrats will push affordable for all rather than insist on National Health Care Plan.

Dean re-emphasized his fifty state plan. He interjected that some people are concerned about him becoming part of the DC bubble, then he laughed at himself staying, “You don’t have to worry about that as long as I keep saying comments like, “hiding the salami”.”

Dean talked around forty minute focusing on the Democratic strategy. He went on longer than planned and motioned several times to his staff that he knew he had to get off to catch the plane. He wrapped it up, waved and exited quickly passing my husband standing at the door. My husband and I felt that there was a big part of Dean missing. Where was the true interaction with the audience that comes form a question segment? Where was the meeting face to face with supporters during the hand-shaking portion?

These are my closing thoughts. I have attended many of Howard Deans rallies and talks, My husband said, “If I would give grades with the Sleepless Summer tour getting an A++ this speech was a B-/C+. Dean’s talk was articulate and made several important points that I can embrace like renewable energy and supporting education. But there was something missing. Passion, and inspiration were absent. I know details and technical plans are necessary, but using Howard to talk about these seems to be an under use of his talents. I was one of the supporters of having Dean chairman of the DNC and I still think his enfluence is important to the Democratic party, but I miss the Howard that was not afraid to speak for me. I miss the passionate less refined orator.

Finally, where does the Democratic Party stand on the war? Dean made no mention of it. This was the elephant sitting in the room that the name of the conference center proclaimed. While healthcare and renewable energy are steps in achieving the American dream, the Iraq war appears to be the unclaimed illegitimate child of BOTH parties. If Democrats want to do a “make-over ” to America, providing healthcare and supporting educaton are like fixing the hair and putting on makeup and forgetting about the two missing front teeth caused by the Iraq war.

Thought you would like to know that our car was still there for us when we returned.