Dean Endorses Kerry

Today Governor Howard Dean officially endorsed Senator John Kerry for President:

"While my run for the White House ended last month, our work to take back this country has only just begun. George W. Bush's policies continue to fail to deliver on issues that matter most to Americans, and we desperately need a change of leadership come November," said Dean, speaking at a rally with Massachusetts Senator at The George Washington University's Kogan Plaza.

"John Kerry is a fighter with a distinguished record of service to this country, and I believe he has the experience, strength, and vision to get this country back on the right path," Dean said. "John Kerry is fighting every day to defeat President Bush because he knows that four more years of George W. Bush's right-wing ideological agenda at home and weak leadership in the world would be devastating to our country for many decades to come. The future of our country depends on defeating this president, and John Kerry is the candidate that can beat this President in November. If our party stands united, we will send George Bush back to Crawford Texas.

"I'm honored to have earned Howard Dean's support in the mission we share: bringing new leadership to our country," said Senator Kerry. "Over the last year, Governor Dean's voice has reminded us of the power of grassroots politics to change America. He's started a conversation with thousands of Americans who had turned away from politics for too long, a conversation that, with his help, we will continue and intensify and spread to thousands of other Americans in the months to come. We may have started this campaign by discussing our differences, but we will win it by reminding America that what unites this country is so much more powerful that what has ever divided us in the past."

Additional stories can be read at CNN, the Washington Post, and the New York Times.

Audio Recording of Dean's SF Speech

If you missed Howard Dean's speech in San Francisco on March 18th, you can listen to it here. It's an MP3 file and it runs for 40 minutes, including the introduction by Will Easton and Stephanie Linder of SF4Dean.com.

Dean Announces New Organization

Yesterday, at events in Seattle (click to listen) and San Francisco, and today in New York, Governor Howard Dean announced his new organization.

Still using the same DFA initials as his campaign organization (Dean for America), the new organization, Democracy for America, "will be committed to 1) strong, sustained grassroots involvement in the democratic process, 2) promoting an America where candidates and office holders tell the truth about policy choices and stand up for what they believe, 3) fighting against the influence and agenda of the two pillars of George W. Bush’s Washington: the far right wing and their radical, divisive policies, and the selfish special interests who for too long have dominated politics, and 4) fighting for progressive policies, like health care for all; investment in children; equal rights under law; fiscal responsibility; and a national security policy that makes America stronger by advancing progressive values."

At the San Francisco event, a crowd of more than 1,000 supporters squeezed into a room set up to seat 600, and joked by saying, "With crowds like this, maybe it's not too late to get back in!" The crowd went wild, and he had to make sure they all knew he was only kidding.

Dean stated, "Democracy for America will be committed to promoting an America where candidates and office holders tell the truth about policy choices and stand up for what they believe. The era when politicians equivocate about matters as fundamental as war and peace must end."

For people wanting to be on the new DFA mailing list, sign up here. The new organization will not migrate the old mailing list over to the new list, so you must sign up again. The Dean blog will still be at BlogForAmerica.com.

Read Governor Dean's speech here.

Mark Your Calendars: Dean Book Signing in Vermont

Do you live in the Vermont area? Howard Dean will be doing a book signing of his book, Winning Back America, at the Burlington, VT Borders book store on March 23, 2004:

AUTHOR:	Howard Dean
TITLE:	Winning Back America
DATE:	3/23/2004
TIME:	7 PM
EVENT:	In store signing
EVENT LOCATION:	Borders # 276 29 Church Street Burlington, VT 05401 802-865-2711

Dean to Speak in Seattle, San Francisco, New York

From Blog for America:

Governor Dean will be speaking about the new organization in the following locations.

Seattle, Washington - 9:30 AM on Thursday, March 18th
San Francisco, California - 6 PM on Thursday March 18th
New York, New York - 11:30 AM on Friday, March 19th

Stay tuned for exact locations. Events will be open to the public and the Governor looks forward to seeing you there!

Dean Wins Vermont

Today Howard Dean won his first primary in his home state of Vermont. Here's his statement:

I want to thank the great people of Vermont tonight who overwhelmingly endorsed our campaign for change. This win means so much to me.

Two years ago, I entered this race to talk about health care, children, and to demand change and leadership in our party. This party and this country still needs change, and tonight you have helped further that process.

While I ran for president I often said that America would be a better place if it was more like Vermont. I still firmly believe that to be true: We still need health care for all children, affordable prescription drugs for seniors, and equal rights for all Americans.

Throughout this campaign, I have appreciated the strong support from the people of Vermont. Our campaign owes a huge debt to the hundreds of Vermonters who worked at our headquarters--answering phones, stuffing mailings, and responding to emails--as well as to all of those who canvassed on our behalf in New Hampshire and elsewhere.

I will never forget the work and the heart that you put into our campaign. Thank you.

I look forward to continuing the energy and the campaign for change that our movement began. We will be announcing more details of that effort on March 18th.