Fifty Ways To Win

More from Dr. Dean...

We're trying something different for the next 50 days -- and the payoff could be historic.

For the first time in decades, we Democrats have a true 50-state operation on the ground. Over the last year and half, we've invested in building the infrastructure for a permanent Democratic Party -- one that doesn't need to be rebuilt from scratch for every election.

How is this going to pay off this November, in what could be the most momentous election in a decade?

We're transforming our 50-state strategy into a 50-state voter turnout operation for candidates up and down the ballot everywhere.

The election is in 50 days -- will you make a donation now to fund the unprecedented 50-State Turnout operation?

http://www.democrats.org/50days50states

This work has to be done. Candidates everywhere are fighting every day to get their message out and organize supporters. Whether it's getting our message out about changing course in Iraq, getting serious about destroying bin Laden and al Qaeda, restoring fiscal sanity or finally providing health care for everyone, there's a lot of work for our candidates to do.

Our 50-state strategy gave many of them a head start by getting an operation in place early in this election cycle.

For the next 50 days it's up to us to come through with a 50-State Turnout operation to win elections in every state.

The future of our party -- and our country -- depends on it.

Thank you,
Governor Howard Dean, M.D.

P.S. -- There are some great examples of how the 50-State Turnout is coming together in this U.S. News & World Report article from a few weeks ago. Read these excerpts and then make your donation:

http://www.democrats.org/50days50states

Dean's List
By Dan Gilgoff
U.S. News & World Report

DIAMONDHEAD, MISS.--Here's what the front line of Howard Dean's revolution looks like: two dozen senior citizens seated inside this gated community's clubhouse listening intently as operatives from the state Democratic Party pitch them on becoming precinct captains. A rep named Jay Parmley approaches an oversize easel and flips to a page showing John Kerry's share of the 2004 presidential vote here in Hancock County. "28%" is scrawled in magic marker. "Kind of scary," Parmley says.

But he flips the page to show former Democratic Gov. Ronnie Musgrove's share of the vote here in his unsuccessful 2003 re-election bid: "43%." The discrepancy, Parmley explains, shows that the better Mississippians know a Democrat, the more likely they are to vote for him. Which is why he's here recruiting precinct captains. If Democrats can define themselves on a "neighbor to neighbor" basis, Parmley says, their candidates can win again, even here, in a red county in a red state.

If that doesn't sound revolutionary, consider this: Mississippi's Democratic Party hasn't trained precinct captains for more than a decade. Until recently, the state party consisted of a single full-time staffer. In 2004, the Democratic National Committee invested so little here that activists shelled out thousands of their own dollars to print up Kerry yard signs. That all changed last summer, when newly elected DNC Chairman Howard Dean began rolling out his "50-State Strategy," a multimillion-dollar program to rebuild the Democratic Party from the ground up. Over the past year, the DNC has hired and trained four staffers for virtually every state party in the nation--nearly 200 workers in all--to be field organizers, press secretaries, and technology specialists, even in places where the party hasn't been competitive for decades. "It's a huge shift," Dean tells U.S. News. "Since 1968, campaigns have been about TV and candidates, which works for 10 months out of the four-year cycle. With party structure on the ground, you campaign for four years."

You can read the whole article here:

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/060716/24dems.htm

You can donate to fund the 50-State Turnout operation here:

http://www.democrats.org/50days50states