The Doctor Was In

The shiny skin of American politics is the flashy campaign rally—a smiling candidate, cheering crowds, optimistic music, a rousing speech or two. But behind the gloss inevitably lies the grab: events like Monday night’s Green Hills house party, where presidential candidate Howard Dean popped in to accept $50,000 from people willing to write a sizeable check for a chance to make eye contact with an aspiring leader-of-the-free-world.

The Dean event had a two-tier class structure typical of such affairs: $1,000 put you in the house for an early meet-and-greet reception, while $250 got you into a tent on the lawn for Dean’s remarks. Perhaps as a nod to the seaminess of our cash-for-a-handshake system, these events are generally low key—promoted quietly through invitations passed among acquaintances, absent from the candidate’s public schedule, and closed to the media. (My spouse, on the event’s host committee, got me in.)

Dean’s remarks pulled together stump speech snippets on everything from Iraq and North Korea to health insurance, jobs, education, children, the environment and even broadband. He was enthusiastically received, as a candidate tends to be by those bankrolling his efforts. Some were clearly dedicated Deanophiles, but many were there more out of exploration than devotion: still looking for their Democrat, and willing to write a pretty big check to inspect the goods. Dean did little to tailor his message for the place or the occasion, which left some in the crowd wondering if he came with much of a grasp of this state and this audience.

Dean’s critics have questioned whether he’ll play in the South, and his visit came on the heels of an awkward and much pilloried comment in an Iowa newspaper last week about his desire “to be the candidate for guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks.” Although he leads the Democratic field nationally, polls continue to show Dean doing worse than his rivals among Southerners. The latest Washington Post/ABC News poll has Dean at 34 percent in the South against President Bush, compared to 38 percent for Joe Lieberman, 40 percent for Dick Gephardt and 41 percent for John Kerry.

In his Nashville remarks, Dean fleshed out the argument that Democrats should find common cause with working-class white Southerners, who he says ignore their own economic interests when they vote Republican. To lure Southern conservatives back to the party, Dean wants Democrats to sidestep the wedge issues: “We need to push issues of the flag, abortion and gay rights off the table and say we’re not going to argue with you about that anymore.” He tags this kind of voter as critical at the margins: “Do I have any illusions? We don’t need 100 percent; we need 6 percent or 8 percent—and we’ll be competitive” in Southern states.

With a Feb. 10 primary, Tennesseans can expect to see more of Democratic candidates in coming weeks. Jim Hester, the executive director of the Tennessee Democratic Party, calls the state’s primary timing significant: “We don’t think we’re going to be in a position to pick a winner, but we think we’ll be in a position to winnow out a loser.” John Edwards and John Kerry have put the most energy into Tennessee, with paid staff in place. But Hester talks up Dean’s “unorthodox method,” which, through volunteer energy, e-mail communication and well attended meet-ups, has generated “as much activity as the other two,” even without paid staff.

Hester also tips his hat to Dean’s ability to bring new blood to the party. At Monday’s event, he noticed many new faces mixing with old party hands, and he’s impressed with Dean’s ability to raise money in small contributions from people under 30 (who, fund-raisers will say, never give money to anything). As Hester puts it, “it’s incumbent on us...to keep these Dean people enthused and involved, regardless of what happens.”